Luke 21
A widow's two coins outweigh the rich men's gifts, the beautiful temple is predicted to be rubble, and signs of the end are catalogued.
Summary
The observation about the widow's offering is triggered by Jesus watching the wealthy put large amounts into the temple treasury. The widow's two lepta — the smallest denomination of coin — are declared to surpass all other contributions because they represent her entire livelihood rather than a portion of abundance. The scene is brief but resonant: it is one of the few moments in the Jerusalem chapters where the crowd recedes and an individual, overlooked figure is noticed. As the disciples admire the temple, Jesus predicts total architectural destruction. When asked for a sign, he warns first against deception — many will come in his name — and then describes wars, earthquakes, famines, and pestilences. Before all this, he tells them, you will be handed over to authorities, an occasion for bearing testimony; settle in your minds not to meditate beforehand on your defense, for he will give you words and wisdom.
Luke's version of the Jerusalem discourse differs from Mark's at the crucial middle passage. Where Mark describes an abomination of desolation standing where it ought not, Luke writes: when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know that its desolation is near. Then flee — those in Judea to the mountains, those in the city out, those in the country not into the city — for these are the days of vengeance, when all that is written must be fulfilled. Woe to those with child and those nursing in those days. This will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people; they will fall by the sword and be led away captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Then the cosmic signs: sun, moon, stars in distress; roaring seas; people fainting from fear. And then the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. The parable of the fig tree makes the point that visible signs indicate nearness: when the tree puts out leaves, summer is near; when these things happen, the kingdom of God is near. This generation will not pass away before all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but his words will not. The chapter ends with Jesus teaching in the temple by day and sleeping on the Mount of Olives by night, with the people coming early in the morning to listen.
- Luke 1Chapter 1 opens with a formal literary preface — Luke addresses a certain Theophilus and claims to have investigated everything carefully, setting himself apart as a self-conscious historian among the gospel writers.
- Luke 2Chapter 2 contains the nativity scene that dominates Western cultural memory of the gospels: the census under Quirinius, the journey to Bethlehem, the birth, the manger, the swaddling cloths, the angels appearing to shepherds in the fields at night.
- Luke 3Luke situates John's ministry with extraordinary chronological precision — the fifteenth year of Tiberius, the governorship of Pilate, the tetrarchies of Herod and Philip and Lysanias, the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas.
- Luke 4The Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness for forty days, where the devil offers him bread, political authority over all the kingdoms of the world, and divine protection — and is refused at each turn with a quotation from Deuteronomy.
- Luke 5By the Lake of Gennesaret, the crowds press against Jesus and he steps into Simon's empty boat to teach.
- Luke 6The chapter opens with two Sabbath controversies: the disciples pluck grain as they walk through fields, and Jesus defends them by citing David's eating the showbread when his men were hungry.
- Luke 7Three distinct episodes give chapter 7 its range.
- Luke 8Chapter 8 moves quickly across a range of narrative modes.
- Luke 9Chapter 9 is a turning-point chapter.
- Luke 10Jesus sends out seventy (some manuscripts say seventy-two) in pairs ahead of him into every town and place he intends to visit, with instructions similar to the twelve's but addressed to a larger group and a longer journey.
- Luke 11The chapter opens with Jesus praying in a certain place; when he stops, a disciple asks him to teach them to pray as John taught his disciples.
- Luke 12With ten thousand pressing around him, Jesus addresses the disciples first: beware the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
- Luke 13Some report to Jesus about Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
- Luke 14Jesus goes to eat at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees on the Sabbath, watched carefully by those present.
- Luke 15The Pharisees and scribes grumble that this man receives sinners and eats with them.
- Luke 16Chapter 16 contains two of Luke's most difficult parables.
- Luke 17The chapter opens with warnings about causing stumbling — better to have a millstone around your neck and be thrown into the sea — and the obligation to rebuke and forgive a brother who sins seven times in a day and repents each time.
- Luke 18Jesus tells the parable of the persistent widow to teach that they ought always to pray and not lose heart: a widow in a city where a judge neither fears God nor respects people keeps coming to him demanding justice against her adversary; he eventually grants it not because of justice but because she is wearing him out.
- Luke 19Jericho contains the Zacchaeus scene, unique to Luke: a chief tax collector who is wealthy and short climbs a sycamore tree to see Jesus over the crowd.
- Luke 20Chapter 20 is a series of confrontations in the temple.
- Luke 21Looking up at those putting gifts into the treasury, Jesus observes that a poor widow puts in two small copper coins — the smallest unit of currency — and says she has put in more than all of them, because they gave from their abundance and she from her poverty gave everything she had.
- Luke 22Satan enters Judas Iscariot and he goes to the chief priests to discuss how to betray Jesus.
- Luke 23The assembly brings Jesus to Pilate, accusing him of perverting the nation, forbidding tribute to Caesar, and claiming to be king.
- Luke 24Very early on the first day of the week, the women — Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and others — bring spices to the tomb and find the stone rolled away.