The widow example is twisting scripture. as crazyguy said, it was an observation. Plus no one required her to put in the coins, it's just what was going on. i think asking the elders to read the biblical passages is a lot more convenient than them just paraphrasing or summarizing to get a feel of the context. But to stay calm and not arouse suspicion, there isn't much that can be done.
and numbers are important- that's is one factor that is looked into to give people privilages and to climb up the ranks. Not enough hours, you don't qualify.