Mark 12:41-42

Mark 12:41-42

[41] And  sat  over against  the treasury,  and beheld  how  the people  cast  money  into  the treasury:  and  many  that were rich  cast in  much.  [42] And  there came  poor  widow,  and she threw in  two  mites,  a farthing. 

What does Mark 12:41-42 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

There were13trumpet-shaped metal receptacles (Heb. shofar) that the priests had placed against a wall of the women"s courtyard to receive the Jews" offerings. [1] The court of the women was within the court of the Gentiles, the outermost court of the temple. A low barrier separated the court of the Gentiles from the other courtyards and the temple building that lay within this enclosure. The court of the women was farther from the temple building than the court of Israel, which only Jewish men could enter, or the court of the priests, which only the priests could enter. Jesus had given His preceding teaching in the court of the Gentiles. Now He evidently moved into the court of the women.
While there he observed how (Gr. pos) the Jewish men and women who had come to celebrate Passover were putting their voluntary contributions into the receptacles.
The woman whom Jesus observed was not only a widow but a poor widow. She contrasts with the many wealthy people there. The two small bronze coins (Gr. lepta) that the widow contributed were together worth about one sixty-fourth of a denarius, the day"s wage of a workingman in Palestine. Mark told his Roman readers that they were worth "a fraction of" (NIV) one Roman cent (Gr. kodrantes, a transliteration of the Latin quadrans).