Mark 12

In the last days before the cross, Jesus teaches in the temple and faces a series of tests from the religious leaders. He tells a parable that exposes their coming murder of God’s Son, then answers questions about taxes, resurrection, the greatest commandment, and the Messiah. The chapter ends with a poor widow whose small gift Jesus honors above the large gifts of the rich.

Mark 12:1

Jesus tells a story of a landowner who prepares a vineyard with great care and then leases it to farmers. His listeners knew Isaiah’s song of the vineyard, where Israel is God’s planting. The owner has done everything needed; the rest depends on the tenants.

BSA: parables (“illustrated stories”): Jesus uses a picture from daily life to show what the leaders could not easily face if he said it plainly.

See also: Isaiah 5:1-7.

Mark 12:2-5

At harvest the owner sends servants to collect his share. The tenants beat one, shame another, and kill another, and they keep doing it. This pictures how Israel often treated the prophets God sent. God was patient, sending messenger after messenger.

BSA: share (“portion, due”): The owner asked only for what was rightly his; the tenants refused him even that.

See also: Jeremiah 7:25-26.

Mark 12:6

The owner has one last person to send, his own beloved son. He hopes the tenants will respect him. Here Jesus points to himself as the Father’s Son, sent after all the prophets. God’s patience reaches its fullest, costliest offer.

BSA: beloved (“dearly loved, cherished”): The one sent is not a hired servant but the one dearest to the Father. respect (“reverence, have regard for”): The owner hopes the son’s very presence will draw honor from them.

Greek: ἀγαπητόν (agapēton, G27) — “beloved, dearly loved.” This is the same word used of Jesus at his baptism, when the Father spoke from heaven. Jesus is quietly telling the leaders who he is.

See also: Mark 1:11.

Mark 12:7-8

The tenants see the son and reason that if he is gone, the property will be theirs. They kill him and throw his body out of the vineyard. The leaders wanted to keep control of God’s people for themselves. Jesus was later put to death outside Jerusalem’s walls.

BSA: heir (“the one who will inherit”): They killed him precisely because he was the rightful owner’s successor.

See also: Hebrews 13:12.

Mark 12:9

Jesus asks the question and answers it himself. The owner will come, deal with the wicked tenants, and give the vineyard to others. God’s work will go on, but those who rejected his Son will lose their place of leadership in it.

BSA: others (“another, different ones”): God’s vineyard is not abandoned; it passes to new keepers who will give him his due.

Mark 12:10-11

Jesus quotes a psalm about a stone that builders threw away but God made the chief stone of the corner. The rejected Son will become the foundation of God’s new house. What looks like defeat is the Lord’s doing, and believers marvel at it.

BSA: cornerstone (“the head of the corner, the chief stone”): It is the stone that sets the line for the whole building, so everything else is measured by it.

Greek: κεφαλὴν γωνίας (kephalēn gōnias, G2776) — “head of the corner.” The Greek literally says the stone becomes the head of the corner, the stone that holds two walls together and guides the whole structure.

See also: Psalm 118:22-23; Acts 4:11.

Mark 12:12

The leaders understand at once that the parable is about them. They want to seize him but fear the crowd, so they leave. Truth can be perfectly clear and still be refused. Their fear of people outweighed any fear of God.

BSA: fearing (“being in awe of, reverencing”): They stood in awe of the crowd rather than of God, whose Son stood before them.

Mark 12:13-14

Two groups who normally opposed each other join forces: Pharisees, who resented Roman rule, and Herodians, who backed Herod’s family. They flatter Jesus, then ask a trap question about the Roman tax. A yes would anger the people; a no would bring Rome down on him.

BSA: impartial (“fair, unbiased”): Their praise was true in itself, but they used it as bait to lower his guard. taxes (“tribute, census”): This was the hated head-tax paid to Rome, which reminded Israel that it was under foreign rule.

Greek: κῆνσον (kēnson, G2778) — “poll tax, census tax.” This is a Latin word written in Greek letters. It names Rome’s own tax, which makes the question a politically charged one.

Mark 12:15

Jesus knows their hearts. Their flattery covers a plot, and he calls it what it is. He asks for a denarius, a Roman silver coin, so that the answer will come from the coin in their own hands.

BSA: hypocrisy (“acting like they were something they were not”): They played the part of honest seekers while hiding their intent to trap him. denarius (“a Roman coin equal to a day’s wage”): It was ordinary working money, something everyone there used daily.

Greek: ὑπόκρισιν (hypokrisin, G5272) — “play-acting, pretense.” The word comes from the stage, where an actor spoke from behind a mask. Jesus sees the real face behind theirs.

Mark 12:16-17

The coin bears Caesar’s face and name, so it belongs to him. Pay him what is his. But people bear God’s image, so give God what is his: yourself. Jesus answers without taking either side in their trap, and they are amazed.

BSA: image (“a likeness or representation”): The coin carries the emperor’s likeness, which points to the deeper question of whose likeness we ourselves carry. marveled (“were amazed, astonished”): His answer left his questioners with nothing to use against him.

Greek: ἀπόδοτε (apodote, G591) — “give back, pay what is owed.” The word means to hand back what is due, not merely to give a gift. Each owner receives what already belongs to them.

See also: Genesis 1:27; Romans 13:7.

Mark 12:18-23

The Sadducees, who accepted only the books of Moses and denied resurrection, bring a made-up puzzle. It draws on the law of marrying a dead brother’s widow to raise up a family for him. A woman marries seven brothers in turn; they ask whose wife she will be at the resurrection. They hope to make the idea look foolish.

BSA: resurrection (“a standing up again from death, a rising again”): The word means the dead standing up whole again, which is exactly what they wished to ridicule. raise up (“produce, bring forth”): The old law aimed to keep a dead man’s family line alive through his brother.

See also: Deuteronomy 25:5-6.

Mark 12:24

Jesus says their problem is not a clever puzzle but two missing things: they do not truly know the Scriptures, and they do not reckon with God’s power. Those who limit God to what they can picture will misread both his word and his works.

BSA: mistaken (“to lead astray, in error”): They had wandered off the path, even though they thought they were defending the Scriptures. power (“divine ability, strength”): The God who made life can certainly raise the dead.

Greek: πλανᾶσθε (planasthe, G4105) — “you are wandering, led astray.” This is the root of our word planet, meaning wanderer. Jesus says they are drifting off course.

Mark 12:25

Risen life is not simply a continuation of earthly life. Marriage belongs to this age. In the resurrection believers will be like the angels, living in a new kind of life, fully with God. The Sadducees imagined resurrection too small.

BSA: angels (“messengers of God, heavenly beings”): Like them, the risen will live in the nearness of God, not bound by death and its needs.

See also: 1 Corinthians 15:42-44.

Mark 12:26-27

Jesus goes to the Sadducees’ own ground, the books of Moses. At the burning bush God says he is, not was, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Long after their deaths, they still belong to him, so he is the God of the living.

BSA: am (“exist, present tense”): God speaks in the present tense, which implies the patriarchs are still his and still alive. badly mistaken (“greatly erring, led astray”): Jesus repeats his charge firmly, for they were far off the truth.

See also: Exodus 3:6; Luke 20:38.

Mark 12:28

A scribe, an expert in the law, has been listening and is impressed with Jesus’ answers. Unlike the others, he seems to ask sincerely. With over six hundred commands in the law, people debated which mattered most, and he asks Jesus.

BSA: debate (“discussion, reasoning together”): He had listened to the whole exchange before stepping forward with his own question. most important (“first, greatest”): He asks which command stands first, the one on which the rest depend.

Mark 12:29-31

Jesus gives two commands from the law: love God with your whole self, and love your neighbor as yourself. The first begins with the great declaration that the Lord is one. Love for God comes first, and love for others grows from it.

BSA: Hear (“listen, obey”): In Scripture, truly hearing God means taking his word in and doing it. heart (“the seat of thoughts, feelings, and emotions”): The heart is the center of the whole person, so love for God involves the inner self, not only outward acts. neighbor (“someone near or close to you”): Love is aimed at whoever is close at hand.

See also: Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Leviticus 19:18.

Mark 12:32-34

The scribe agrees and adds that such love is worth more than all burnt offerings. Jesus tells him he is not far from the kingdom of God. Understanding the truth is close to the kingdom, but the next step is to follow the King himself. After this, no one dares to ask more questions.

BSA: burnt offerings (“wholly-consumed sacrifices”): These were the fullest altar gifts, yet the scribe sees that love of God and neighbor is what they were meant to express. far (“distant, remote”): Jesus says he is near, though not yet inside.

Greek: μακράν (makran, G3112) — “far, at a distance.” Jesus uses a word of distance. The man is close to the kingdom, but being close is not yet the same as entering it.

See also: 1 Samuel 15:22; Hosea 6:6.

Mark 12:35-37

Jesus now asks the question. The Messiah is called David’s son, yet David, led by the Holy Spirit, calls him Lord. How can he be both? The answer is that the Messiah is David’s descendant and also his Lord, a hint of Jesus’ true identity. The crowd listens gladly.

BSA: Christ (“the anointed One, Messiah”): The title means the one anointed by God to be king and deliverer. right (“the place of honor and power”): The Lord invites the Messiah to share his own seat of authority. delight (“gladly and with great pleasure”): The common people enjoyed hearing Jesus, unlike the leaders who resisted him.

See also: Psalm 110:1; Acts 2:34-36.

Mark 12:38-40

Jesus warns the crowd about scribes who love public honor, such as fine robes, respectful greetings and the best seats, but who use their position to take advantage of widows. Their long prayers are a show. Hidden greed and show under the cover of religion bring a heavier judgment.

BSA: defraud (“cheat, take advantage of”): They preyed on the most vulnerable while looking holy. condemnation (“judgment, decision against”): Those who use religion as cover face an even stricter verdict.

Mark 12:41-44

Jesus sits near the temple treasury and watches people give. Rich donors give much, but a poor widow drops in two tiny coins, everything she has. Jesus values her gift above theirs, for God sees the heart and measures giving by what it costs, not by its size.

BSA: treasury (“a place where money is kept, like a temple treasury”): It was the temple’s collection area, where gifts for God’s house were dropped in. poor (“needy, destitute”): She was in real need, which makes her gift all the more striking. poverty (“state of need”): She gave out of her lack, not out of leftovers.

Greek: βίον (bion, G979) — “livelihood, life, means of living.” Jesus says she gave her whole livelihood. She trusted God for tomorrow’s bread.

See also: 2 Corinthians 8:12.