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The Widow's Offering for All Her Possessions

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[Mark 12:44]

They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything--all she had to live on.

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The temple that existed when Jesus was on this earth is called the “Herod Temple”.

It was given because it was created by King Herod. In the Herod Temple there is a place called'

The Woman's Garden'. There were 13 offering boxes here.

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Nine of these were places where offerings were made instead of temple taxes or sacrifices.

And four were the chests to put donations for the repair or decoration of the temple.

Only male and female Jews were allowed to enter the place where this offering box was located.

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Jesus was sitting across from the offering box in the temple.

There were many people gathered there to make donations.

Jesus was looking at the people who gave money.

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Among the donors, several rich people lined up to donate.

They were giving out a lot of money.

They kept putting a lot of money into the offering box as if they were competing.

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Next to the place where the rich donate, a woman who seemed very poor even to see was

standing to give an offering. She was a woman living alone without a husband.

She donated two small copper coins.

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Lepton was the lowest currency name in Judea at the time.

Lepton was equivalent to half the value of Godlants, the lowest monetary unit of Rome at the time.

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To see how little Lepton is, let's compare it with other currencies.

At the time, for one adult working a day, he was paid 1 Denarius.

1 Denarius is 128 Leptons. Lepton was only 1/128 of the daily wage.

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Jesus was watching the woman donate two Leptons.

After the woman gave the donation, Jesus gathered his disciples.

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He told the disciples about the woman's offering:

“Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "

I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.“

[Mark 12:43]

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The disciples who heard Jesus' words couldn't understand them.

The other rich people donated a lot of money, but the widow gave only two leptons.

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Jesus explained the reason as follows. “Everyone else had a generous life and made an offering

with ample money, but the widow gave everything she had—all the money she needed for life.”

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Jesus' words mean this. Others, especially the rich, have made so many donations.

However, they had a lot of money that couldn't be compared to the amount they gave.

The amount of their contributions seems to be large,

but it is only a small amount compared to their total wealth.

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On the other hand, this woman's offering was different from the rich.

This woman's possessions consisted of two leptons.

She gave all of her fortune as an offering. Jesus knew this and said it.

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The rich boasted in front of people in making large offerings.

They were more concerned with people's praise than God's praise.

The rich were stingy at helping their neighbors with the large amount of money they had.

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Jesus did not commend their offerings because he knew all the intentions of the rich.

Rather, Jesus said that the woman's offering of two leptons was greater.

Jesus knew her heart how much a woman who gave two leptons money loves God.

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We must give our offerings with all our heart, thinking about the grace we have received from God.

Offering is an act of expressing the size of each person's heart to love God.

The size of the donation is not important, but God is happy to receive the donation that

believers give to God with their love for God.

(This is the sample conclusion provided by CTM. Please feel free to change the conclusion to best suit the listeners of your sermon.)