Section 6
is a stronger word than "poor" and indicates a penniless condition.
In verses 3 and 4 the Lord said, "Truly I tell you that this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all these out of their abundance put in their gifts, but this woman out of her lack has put in all the livelihood which she had." The Man-Savior was God living in humanity. As such, He was concerned to see how God's people expressed their loyalty in their offering to Him. In this way He appraised the widow's loyalty to God. The Man-Savior's observation is more penetrating than man's.
Luke 21:1-4 should not be separated from chapter twenty. In the warning against the scribes and in the appraising of the poor widow, Luke once again shows us a high standard of morality. The morality of the scribes was very low, but the morality of the poor widow was very high.
Why did Luke put these two instances im mediately after the opposers' examination of the Man-Savior? He did this because the governing principle of his Gospel is the highest standard of morality. This principle controls the writing of this book. Therefore, the first four verses of chapter twenty-one should be taken with chap ter twenty so that we may have a clear view of