The episode of the widow’s mite is located by Mark at the end of a chapter which contains warnings about the Temple, its priests and its leaders. Is it placed here by association? Or is it, as some have argued, originally a parable which is now presented as an incident?

Whichever reasoning one accepts, the story gives an important teaching on almsgiving: it is not the quantity of the donation, but the quality of the sacrifice which God considers.

The scene is set in one of the Temple courtyards, probably the Court of Women, around whose walls were placed 13 trumpet-shaped chests for offerings. The woman who comes forward with her offering is a widow, therefore one of the least in society. She places into the offering box two tiny coins, whose value was just one sixty-fourth that of a labourer’s daily wage. With less than enough for herself, she has given all she had to live on.

Jesus measures the worth of her offering in terms of the self-offering involved, and praises her above those who come with fat donations. Another way of illustrating this truth is the remark of Mother Teresa: We cannot do great things for God. We can only do little things with great love.