ONE of the last lessons which Christ Jesus taught his disciples was the real significance of the widow's mite. The occasion was just after his triumphal entry into Jerusalem and previous to his trial before Pilate. He sat by the treasury in the temple, and as the people passed by he drew his disciples' attention to that amazing picture of contrasts,— the many bringing their measured gifts as a result of their material prosperity, and the poor widow out of her want casting in all her living. And when he used those memorable words, "Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury," he made clear for all time the great spiritual fact that abundance is not to be measured by numerical quantity or material magnificence. One farthing! and yet it was worth more than all the rest put together. The value of the gift lay in the unselfed motive and complete reliance upon God, who, according to the Scriptures, careth for the widow and the fatherless.
Indeed, as Jesus went out of the temple on this occasion, and his disciples said unto him, "Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!" he, answering, foretold the destruction of all that they then beheld. He knew that neither rich gifts nor imposing structure could be in themselves the foundation of safety and prosperity. The church of the gospel he taught and practiced must be founded and continued through faith, unselfed devotion, and gratitude such as were expressed in the gift of the widow's mite, which qualities only the Master saw. Another individual might have used astutely that same farthing with worldly faith, and made it the foundation of a material fortune, afterwards bringing to the temple a half-superstitious thank offering for the wealth acquired. But Jesus pointed to an act which was in its humble way in keeping with what he had explained to his disciples shortly before this incident.
In the tenth chapter of Mark, when discoursing on the subject of riches after his talk with the young man who had great possessions, Jesus said: "Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last first."
