A sermon preached at Covenant Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas on October 11, 2026.
And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on” (Luke 20:45–21:4).[1]
The Pharisees’ spies tried to entrap him, the Sadducees tried to refute him, but Jesus silenced them all. No one spoke but a lone scribe, a Bible scholar, saying, “Teacher, you have spoken well” (20:39). It’s heard as a compliment but given what Luke reveals about the murderous intentions of both the Pharisees and Sadducees, it’s hard not to question the man’s motives. Did he genuinely mean it? Perhaps. Or was the man’s compliment a kind of way to express his authority as a scribe, a compliment couched in self-regard? While we do not know for certain, I don’t think it is a coincidence that Jesus’ warning in our passage today is of this man and his kind. And what a warning it was!
As students of the Bible know, the unstudied perception of Jesus often differs from the pages of Scripture. Jesus is often conceived of as mild-mannered, even passive, and compassionate to a fault. But as we see in our passage today, Jesus was a fearless man of courage and outspoken criticism of Israel’s leaders, who would murder him.
Case in point, in the hearing of everyone, Jesus issues a public denunciation in the form a warning to his disciples. One might think he would reserve such harsh counsel for a private moment, to avoid giving offense. But Jesus isn’t worried about giving offense. He is, however, greatly concerned about the discernment of his disciples. So, he issues a warning: “Beware of the scribes” (20:46).
Mind Discerningly
What specifically are Jesus’ disciple to beware of? The scribes, yes, but also certain characteristics of the scribes, such as hypocrisy, deception, and pretension. Each of these is related to one another, but each example Jesus gives has its own nuance.
For, example, Jesus begins with the scribes’ daily attire; they were those “who like to walk around in long robes” (20:46). Of course, everyone in that day wore what we might consider a “robe.” The key word here is not robe but “long.” Why? Because such length denoted prestige, attire not to be confused with that of a common laborer, whose manual work prohibited a long robe. The clothing of a scribe sent a message to everyone who saw him, as he walked around in the marketplace, as he sat to eat at the feasts, as he worshiped in the synagogue. He was not a man of manual labor but a professional, a scholar of high degree and piety.
It was important then for him to be seen, to be noticed, loving to be acknowledged with “greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts” (20:46). Yes, the scribes liked to look good, but they loved public recognition. When they would enter a room, they expected adulation, along with the best seat in the house, whether it be the house of worship or a fellowship luncheon. In other words, they loved to be made much of.
It should not surprise us then that their public prayers flowed from pretension, masked by many words. There is, of course, nothing wrong with long prayers; sometimes we have much to pray about. But when prayers become theatrical self-promotion, they are no longer petitions to our heavenly Father but diffuse performances for the congregation. Rightly does Proverbs caution: “When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent” (Prov. 10:19). Part of the brilliance of the Lord’s Prayer, I think, is its brevity.
But Jesus’ warning goes deeper than words: All that the scribes are doing is merely a smoke screen for a heart bent on deception. Though they seem respectable, Jesus says, they “devour widows’ houses.” In first-century Israel, the widow without family support was especially vulnerable, with no means of supporting herself. Often the sum total of her worldly wealth was her house, if she had one. Jesus does not tell us how the scribes preyed upon widows specifically, but it is possible that a scribe, as a scholar of Jewish law, would serve as an executor of a widow’s estate and thereby employ some form of financial deception. Whatever the case, Jesus’ point is a deceiver seeks out not the strong but the weak, and when it comes to vulnerability, a widow was an easy target.
For these deceivers, Jesus describes a harsher judgment: “They will receive the greater condemnation” (20:47). Why greater? Because the people looked to these teachers of the law as the keepers and promoters of truth. They were highly regarded for their knowledge of the law, they were esteemed as trustworthy, but they used the goodwill given for sinful, selfish gain.
We can only imagine how difficult it must have been to discern the ways of the scribes, given their prominent role within first-century Jewish culture. As Jesus warned his disciples, surely someone was thinking: If you can’t trust a scribe, who can you trust? But blind trust is not the way of wisdom, as we see throughout Scripture. For example, Joseph, who discerned the plot of Potipher’s wife; Daniel, discerned the satraps ploy to entrap him; Stephen, discerned the murderous hearts of Israel’s leaders. And, of course, Proverbs teaches us, “The discerning sets his face toward wisdom,” but “The simple believes everything” (Prov. 17:24a; 14:15a). Discernment is a trait of godliness grown within us by the Spirit of wisdom himself, through what Hebrews describes as the “constant practice [of distinguishing] good from evil” (Heb. 5:14).
Live Authentically
But Jesus’ caution and call for discernment is not simply about the scribes. We must be self-discerning too. Just as the scribes dressed to play the part, how many of us get too wrapped up in what we wear? Just as the scribes loved to hear their name praised, how many of us put too much weight in what people think and say about us? The scribes prayed pretentiously long prayers, how many of us want to be recognized in the church for our knowledge or proficiency? How many of us put on our churchly “airs” every Sunday morning, thanking God (or perhaps ourselves) that people don’t know who we truly are? But whether we are fooling everyone else or simply ourselves, God sees through it all. He knows who we truly are.
And this is one of the reasons the gospel is such good news. Our sin does not surprise God, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 6:23). For us and for our sin, God sent his only Son, “the righteous for the unrighteous” (1 Pet. 3:18). And “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). In all of this, God took the initiative, not in response to our self-improvement, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). And. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17).
As new creations, we are being conformed by the Holy Spirit in Christlikeness. We have been freed to take off the mask of hypocrisy and to live authentically for Christ’s sake. Though “Man looks on the outward appearance . . . the LORD looks on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). It matters not what we wear, nor what we are called or where we sit but whether we are in Christ. Who we are is rooted in whose we are—our identity is in Christ. Let us then live authentically.
Give Generously
Consider, for example, what Jesus witnesses in the temple. He’s watching those who bring their gifts to the offering box. He sees the rich and presumably their large gifts, but he also sees a widow who puts in two copper coins. She brings her offering not in the grand attire or accolades of the scribes but meekly, likely unnoticed by others. But Jesus sees and knows that she has given not out of her abundance but poverty.
“Truly, I tell you,” Jesus says, “this poor widow has put in more than all of them” (21:3). Her two coins were less than two percent of an average daily wage, a minute amount compared to the gifts of the rich. And yet, Jesus recognizes her, because the Lord weighs the value of things in this world differently than we often do. God looks to the generosity of the heart not the size of the gift.
The apostle Paul teaches us, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). God delights not in our giving alone but in the joyful disposition of the giving heart. And such a joyful disposition comes not from the money given but the indwelling presence of the Giver of all good things. All that we have received is for Christ’s sake, who gave himself for us. We are then the recipients of the greatest gift of all, and this good news informs our giving too.
J.C. Ryle says, “Let it be a settled principle with us to watch against stinginess, and whatever else we do with our money, to give regularly and habitually to the cause of God. . . . A giving Saviour ought to have giving disciples. Freely we have received: freely we ought to give.”[2] We do not know specifically why the widow gave her two copper coins that day, but even then, her giving is telling of an authenticity. You can’t give all you have to live on without your love of God transcending your circumstances. You can’t give all you have to live on without a trust in God’s gracious provision. You can’t give all you have to live on without knowing, as the Lord Jesus taught, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). When your heart is right before God, you will live authentically and give generously, because you live not for yourself but for the One who owns it all.
But we need not consider this widow’s testimony as only a lesson in giving our tithes and offerings. True devotion entrusts everything to God. What do you have that God has not given you, whether family, finances, or faith? Even the widow’s two copper coins were a gift from God that she chose to give back. She also trusted that God would meet her needs beyond her offering. Likewise, we may entrust everything to God, because everything we have is from him to begin with. Who knows you better than the Lord? Who knows what you need better than the Lord? Who cares for you and all that you have better than the Lord?
What do you need to entrust to God today? Perhaps it is your money, or perhaps your work? Perhaps it’s your family, your children, your grandchildren. Or, perhaps it’s yourself, your heart, your soul, entrusted by faith to the One who knows you best and loves you most. Such questions call for discernment but also faith, trusting the Lord, “for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (Heb. 13:5b). Amen.
[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version
(Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
[2] J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke, Vol. 2 (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2012), 264.
