Beware of Religious Men & a Widow’s Offering

Meditations based on readings from

The Story of My Life As Told by Jesus Christ

January 23, 2020

Beware of Religious Men & a Widow’s Offering

Page 240

Mark 12:38-44;

Luke 20:45- 21:4

Jesus made these comments about the hypocrisy of self-righteous religious men after his encounter with the Pharisees and the Sadducees. At the conclusion of Jesus’ teaching on the greatest commandment, he commented on the Messianic title ‘Son of David’. Jesus only needed seventy words to delight the crowd and confuse us (Mark 12:35-37). Unlike the crowd, we are not familiar with the Messianic prophecy of Psalm 110 that Jesus quoted. This Psalm helped the New Testament church realize that Jesus, the Messiah, was the Son of God. This a crucial point because it opens the door to begin realizing Jesus is not just the Messiah King, the natural born heir to King David’s throne; he is the living embodiment of Israel’s God.

The story of the widow’s mite is certainly a beautiful example of giving from the heart and very compelling in its own right. However, following Jesus’ reference to Psalm 110 we can see that Jesus wants us to look below the surface. The widow didn’t put in just two copper coins. She gave all she had. The Messiah is not just a descendant of King David, another human king among human kings; he is Israel’s God who has given all he had. (See Philippians 2:5-11)

My Takeaway: When I read, “he is Israel’s God who has given all he had”, I again recall the lines in my favorite prayer: “I acknowledge you to be my Creator and my God. I render to you the reverence of my being and my life. I am not my own. I am yours. By creation and redemption, I am yours. I will devote myself to your service this day and forever.”

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2020 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.