What Does The Widow Want Us To Know?
The lectionary gospel reading for Proper 27 features the familiar story of the poor widow and her tiny donation to the temple treasury, which Jesus says is more meaningful than the contributions of “many rich people [who] put in large sums.” Jesus tells the disciples that while the wealthy “have contributed out of their abundance,” the widow’s two copper coins are “everything she had, all she had to live on.” But as team member Mary Austin notes in this installment of The Immediate Word, the verses that begin the passage -- in which Jesus warns his listeners to be wary of the