Thursday, November 22, 2012

How much was the widow's mite actually worth?




According to Mark 12v42, the widow gives “2 very small copper coins” (NIV),  2 lepta in the Greek.
The lepta was the smallest coinage in circulation – so we might compare it to an offering of 2p.
Mark says (v42) a lepton is a quadrans - the equivalent Roman coin, which the NIV says is “worth only a fraction of a penny”.
James R. Edwards (Pillar Commentary on Mark) says a lapton was 1/64th of a denarius.
A denarius was the standard wage for a day’s labour (Mt 20:8-10).
Say a labourer is paid £7.25 and hour, making the daily wage £54.25
£7.25 X 7 = daily wage of £54.25
So we might guess that the widow’s offering would be worth roughly £1.70 today
£54.25 X (2/64) = £1.70
Though that might not be quite the point.
Jesus says her offering was worth more than all the others (v43).
“They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on.” (v44)

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