Ronald Knox Widow's Mite Mk 12:44

MASS – 32^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Widow’s Mite.

“She put in all that she had her whole livelihood”.

There is nothing ornamental about the “Widow’s Mite” Gospel in the Knox/Cox vignette of this pericope.

Ronald Cox's examination or commentary conveys his experience of the chronolgy and the geography, his familiarity of the Mount of Olives to the Temple. "He walked, with his apostles, towards the Golden Gate; . . ."

Ronald Knox may also be described as having put all that he had his whole livelihood into the Word. After translating the whole Bible he goes on to write about it. See this trilogy of his constant sharing his interest with readers:

A Harmony of the Gospels

The Gospel Story, Ronald Knox & Ronald Cox

A New Testament Commentary for English Readers.

A Harmony of the Gospels, R. Knox Translation

Public Life	Our Lord in Judea
§88. The Widow's Mite	§88. The Widow's Mite
MARK 12:41-44 41 As he was sitting opposite the treasury of the temple, Jesus watched the multitude throwing coins into the treasury, the many 42 rich with their many offerings; and there was one poor widow, who came and put in 43 two mites, which make a farthing. Thereupon he called his disciples to him, and said to them, Believe me, this poor widow has put in more than all those others who have put 44 offerings into the treasury. The others all gave out of what they had to spare; she, with so little to give, put in all that she had her whole livelihood.	LUKE 21:1-4 1 And he looked up, and saw the rich folk 2 putting their gifts into the treasury; he saw also one poor widow, who put in two mites. 3 Thereupon he said, Believe me, this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 The others all made an offering to God out of what they had to spare; she, with so little to give, put in her whole livelihood.

Chronological Harmony: Tuesday 1 April 30 A.D.

Gospel –trans. Ronald Knox	Ronald Cox.
Continuous Narrative	Explanations
The Widow's Mite As he was sitting opposite the treasury of the temple, Jesus watched the crowd throwing coins into the treasury, the many rich with their many offerings; and there was one poor widow, who came and put in two mites, which make a farthing. Thereupon he called his disciples to him, and said to them, 'Believe me, this poor widow has put in more than all those others who have put offerings into the treasury. The others all made an offering to God out of what they had to spare; she, with so little to give, put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.	The Temple Tuesday 4 April The crowd dispersed after our Lord's touching words of fare­well to Jerusalem (p. 324). He walked, with his apostles, towards the Golden Gate; there he turned and entered the Women's Court; from the Nicanor Gate he could see the altar of burnt offerings, and the sanctuary where God dwelt among his people (this scene recalls Jesus' first appearance in his Father's house, pp. 18-20). Although he was tired, he would not miss an opportunity of instructing his disciples: God wants men, not their money. The religious value of an act is in the intention; it is internal, not external. The only gift that pleases God is the heart.

THE GOSPEL STORY

Ronald Knox & Ronald Cox.

This is a new and exciting presentation of the New Testament: all the lucidity of the Knox translation combined with an up-to-date and scholarly commentary in one volume, This is a book that really explains those elements in the Gospels that are not clear to the twentieth-century reader -the back-ground of Jewish daily life, custom, traditional figures of speech and ritual in Roman-occupied Palestine. The left-hand pages contain the entire life-story of Jesus Christ told in the words of the Evangelists as rendered by Monsignor Knox. On the right-hand pages is Father Cox's commentary directly opposite the text it refers to. Further points for readability are quotation marks for direct speech, omission of chapter and verse numbers, 'thee' and 'thou' replaced by 'you' throughout and conversion of measures of time and distance into their modern equivalents, so that 'the ninth hour' is now 'three in the afternoon'. Father Cox, a New Zealander who studied at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and in the Holy Land itself, worked in close collaboration with Monsignor Knox-as is shown by the latter's witty epigram prefacing the book-and all changes were made with his permission and cooperation.

NOTE on book dust cover.

The picture on the dust-cover shows the Apostle John with his Gospel, and is a detail from a Roman sarcophagus, c. 33D-40 A.D., in the Lateran Museum, Rome. It is reproduced, by permission, from an illustration in the Atlas of the Early Christian World, Nelson, Edinburgh.

18s. Burns & Oates

1959

Ronald Knox, A NewTestament Commentary for English Readers.

Burns & Oates 1953

MARK 12.38-44. The Pharisees denounced; the widow’s almsgiving.

Mathew gives us a whole chapter (23) on the text of verses 38-40, and omits the story of the widow altogether. Curiously, in his long chapter on the Pharisees there is no reference, as in Mark and Luke, to their "swallowing up the property of widows". I t looks as if Mark depended, here, on a source different from Matthew's; possibly the connexion of the two passages is due to their subject, not to historical sequence. The traditional view that Mark wrote primarily for a Roman public seems reinforced by the fact that he gives here the Latin equivalent, "farthing," for the two "mites" which were Greek.

also by Ronald A. Knox ON ENGLISHING THE BIBLE.
Mgr. Knox has verified some of his difficulties in the tremendous task of making the Bible comprehensible to modern readers. . .