“Long robes... who devour widows' houses”
Beware of the scribes. They like to walk around in long robes, and they love the greetings in the marketplaces, the chief seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets. They defraud widows of their houses, and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will receive greater condemnation. (Luke 20:46–47 BSB)
What it sounds like today
A vivid but vague accusation of greed.
The cultural key
Scribes, as the literate legal class, commonly served as trustees and estate managers for widows, who often could not administer property themselves. The position invited abuse: fees, skimming, outright absorption of the estate. 'Devour their houses' is the sound of a trust being eaten from inside. The long public prayers are the cover: piety as reputation insurance for men living off the powerless. Mark then cuts, in the very next scene, to a widow dropping her last two coins into the temple treasury. Luke, like Mark, gives the Gentile-legible costume list (long robes rather than phylacteries and fringes) and runs it straight into the widows' houses charge, with the widow's two coins in the very next scene.
Recovered meaning
Religious office used as a feeding mechanism, with performed devotion as camouflage. The juxtaposition with the widow's offering is the point: watch who is being consumed to fund the spectacle.