Where has she come from as she enters the Temple?  Home duties?  Family responsibilities?  She is a widow, a woman alone, unsupported.  We don’t know if there is a son looking after her, or perhaps she lives with her daughter’s family, as Peter’s mother-in-law did.  She walks to the Court of the Gentiles, the only place where women were allowed.  Does she even notice Jesus’ teaching?  Perhaps not.  She has one mission—to bring her offering.  She is used to the rich people who

She slips into the crowd unseen and pulls at her head covering so that her face is not easily recognized.  She wants to be one of the...