Mark 12

Mark 12:1

Jesus follows His answer to the question concerning His authority posed to Him by the priests, scribes, and elders with a parable… The parable concerns an absentee landlorda common figure in those days.

Mark 12:2

Servants sent to collect rent were either beaten or killed by the servants of the tenant farmer. Finally, certain they would honor him, the owner sent his own son. But the son was killed just as readily as the others. In a similar parable, Isaiah identified the vineyard as Israel (Isa_5:7). Thus, it was a loving God who sent prophet after prophet to Israel, only to see each one beaten or killed. And it was a God of incomparable love who sent His own Son to die for the very ones who nailed Him to a Cross. This not only speaks volumes concerning the patience of the Father in sending servant after servant and warning after warning, but also concerning the stupidity of man who thinks that because God must be off in some corner of the cosmos, he need not listen to His servants; he need not reverence His Son; he can do whatever he wants. Mankind mistakes the patience of God for impotence. But when He comes, judgment will fall upon those who have not reverenced His Son. So clearly did the priests, scribes, and elders get the point of Jesus’ parable that they knew He had to be done away with.

Mark 12:13

Unable to trap Jesus with their question concerning authority, the priests, scribes, and elders made way for the Pharisees and Herodians to question Him concerning His integrity. The Herodians supported Herod, who was a puppet of Rome, and the Pharisees wanted no part of Rome, so these two groups would normally be as close as cats and dogs. But because they realized Jesus was a threat to both of their empires, the Herodians and Pharisees came together in a shared hatred of Him.

Mark 12:14

“Master,” said the Herodians and Pharisees, “You’re a great teacher, One who can’t be manipulated. Therefore, we have a question to ask You: Should we pay taxes or not?” If Jesus said, “Yes, pay taxes,” the people of Israelwho hated paying taxes to the despised Romanswould have turned against Him. If, however, He said, “Don’t pay taxes,” He would have been arrested for insurrection. Either way, the Herodians and Pharisees thought they had Him. “Health, Wealth, and Prosperity” teachers would call Jesus a dismal failure. Foxes have holes, the birds have nests, but the Son of man had nowhere to lay His head (Luk_9:58). He didn’t even have a penny to use as an illustration.

Mark 12:16

In Jesus’ day, the first thing a ruler did after conquering new territory would be to mint new coinage containing his image as a continual reminder to the conquered people that he was indeed their leader and that his authority extended as wide as his coins were circulated.

Mark 12:17

Although the people in the realm were able to use his coins as currency, the person whose image appeared on the coin actually owned the coin. In this case, it would have been the image and coin of Caesar Tiberius. If the coin with the image of Caesar belonged to Caesar, Jesus reasoned, the person made in the image of God belongs to God. Just as the priests, scribes, and elders had failed to trap Jesus concerning His authority, the Herodians and Pharisees were also unable to do so concerning His integrity.

Mark 12:18

Believing only in the five books of Moses, the Sadducees didn’t believe in miracles, angels, or resurrection because they saw none of those elements in the Pentateuch. They were smaller in number than the Pharisees or Herodians, but, being the wealthier businessmen, they were the elite of the day. According to Deuteronomy 25, if a man died childless, it was the obligation of his next younger brother to marry his widow and bear a child to be his heir, to carry on his name. In order to examine Jesus’ theology, the Sadducees pose this question concerning a hypothetical woman who had been widowed seven times over.

Mark 12:24

Ignoring altogether the absurd hypothetical situation of the widow and speaking to them from the Pentateuch itself, Jesus reminded the Sadducees that five hundred years after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had passed from the scene, God identified Himself to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And by using the present tense to do so, the implication was obvious that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were still aliveverifying the reality of resurrection.

Mark 12:28

In asking which is the greatest commandment of all, the last question addressed to Jesus dealt with priority.

Mark 12:29

Jesus answered with the Shema, Deu_6:4, the verse the orthodox Jew quotes many times each day and wears inside the phylactery on his forehead and wrist.

Mark 12:31

The Jews had six hundred thirteen commandments from the Old Testament law. Three hundred sixty-five were negative commandmentsone for each day of the year, and two hundred forty-eight positive commandmentsone for each of the two hundred forty-eight generations from Adam to their day. In Psalms 15, however, David reduced this number to eleven; and in the sixth chapter of his book, Micah reduced it to three (Mic_6:8). Here, Jesus reduces it to two; and in Gal_5:14, Paul would reduce it to one: love.

Mark 12:32

Realizing that relationship far surpassed religion, the scribes could do nothing but agree with the beauty, simplicity, and logic of Jesus’ answer.

Mark 12:34

After answering their questions regarding authority and integrity, theology and priority, it is now Jesus’ turn to ask a question…

Mark 12:35

Quoting Psalms 110, which the Jews knew to be a prophecy concerning Messiah, Jesus asked how David could call his son his lord. The only way a son could be greater than his father was if he was more than simply the son of the father. In other words, the Messiah for whom the Jews waited was more than a political leader or religious instructor, more than mere man. He was God.

Mark 12:38

Addressing those who weren’t trying to trick Him, those who heard Him gladly, the common people, Jesus said, “Watch out for scribes who make a great show of religion, but are first on the scene to swindle widows.”

Mark 12:41

It was most likely between the columns on Solomon’s porch that thirteen chests called “trumpets” were located in which people placed money to help the poor. Jesus was not as interested in what people gave as He was in how they gave. After dealing with the questions of His foes, Jesus finds a friend. The foes of Jesus will always raise questions. And the “foe” within me does so as well whenever I am cynical or critical. How I long for the day when that part of my nature is removed completely. Jesus’ friend, however, is presented in complete contrast to the religious bigwigs of the day who chose to criticize and question rather than to give. May God help us to be like this faithful woman, and to show Him our love as we give of our money, energy, time, and heart in His Name.