Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 12:41

"And he sat down over against the treasury, and beheld how the multitude cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much." — Mark 12:41 (ASV)

This is the final incident in Jesus’ public ministry. This story contrasts the greed of the teachers of the law with the liberality of the widow. It also serves as a transition to the story of how Jesus gave his all for humankind. The setting is the court of the women, into which both men and women were allowed to come, and where the temple treasury was located. Jesus sat down on a bench where he could watch the people bring their offerings and put them in one of the thirteen trumpet-shaped boxes used for that purpose. It was not the rich with their large gifts who caught Jesus’ attention but a poor widow. She placed in the box two of the smallest coins in circulation in Palestine. That Mark felt it necessary to explain the value of this Jewish coin by using a Latin coin only known in the west suggests strongly that he was writing to Romans.