41Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. 42Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. 43So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; 44for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood."
It is interesting that this lesson follows the lesson of the scribes who flaunt their positions. It is almost easy to brush that lesson off reasoning that you are not a scribe so it doesn't apply to you. All of a sudden Jesus hits home about giving. You can't avoid hearing this lesson is for everyone, whether so rich that giving seems easy or so poor that it seems you have nothing to give, or like most people, somewhere in between.
Giving isn't a matter of amount. For example, giving out of what you have in abundance, that which you already have too much of, that which you will not miss, is not giving much at all. Just as the scribes in the previous lesson who were doing things for their own gain were not real religious leaders at all. But giving of self, whether great or small in quantity, is giving at its greatest.
Wouldn't you hate to have Jesus watching over you as you put your offering into the treasury? Wouldn't you hate to have Him assess how great your giving is? Actually, He is watching over everything you do. He knows the kind of giving you are doing.
So is He saying we are all to give till we too are at the poverty level? No, I don't think He isn't necessarily commending the woman for giving her whole livelihood so much as He is commending her for giving of herself. Just as the previous lesson pointed out that the important thing in religious leadership is the spirit in which it is done, here too, the important thing in giving is the spirit in which it is done. He is saying that the amount doesn't matter. He wants us to give of ourselves, not of our abundance.