What does Luke 21:3 mean?
Every day, Jesus and His disciples go to the temple Mount, where He teaches. At night, they sleep outside the city at the Mount of Olives (Luke 21:37–38). On this day, Jesus is sitting opposite the temple treasury: the room where the offerings are stored. As He watches, several rich people drop off exceptionally large donations (Mark 12:41). Then, Jesus notices a destitute widow. All she has to offer is two copper coins: 1/50th of a day-laborer's wage. It is all the money she has, and she chooses to give it to God (Luke 21:2).Jesus compares the woman's donation with those of the rich people. They can give a lot with ease because they have even more at home (Luke 21:4). She now has nothing. A modern Getty-Townend song says, "not what you give, but what you keep, is what the King is counting." The measure of giving is not how much we hand over, but whether we hold back.
God isn't dependent on the widow's two coins any more than He needs to rely on greater offerings. The heart of the widow who gave her last two coins is the real treasure. She expresses genuine trust and honor for her Lord. The rich men giving for the sake of popularity are only interested in publicity.
Directly after Jesus' words about the generous widow, Luke turns to Jesus' prophecy that the temple will be destroyed. "There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down" (Luke 21:6). Compared to the throngs giving money for the temple treasury, the woman's offering is next to nothing. But Jesus' words put the great amounts of money donated by the rich into another helpful perspective. No matter how that money is used to repair and embellish the temple—or even if it is just kept in storage—in less than forty years it will all be gone.
During the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, Roman soldiers set the temple on fire, then tore the stones from each other to scrape out melted gold.
