2BeLikeChrist Bible Commentary - Mark Chapter 12
Commentary - Mark Chapter 12
Mark 12:1-9
Mar 12:1 And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country.
Mar 12:2 When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.
Mar 12:3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.
Mar 12:4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully.
Mar 12:5 And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed.
Mar 12:6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
Mar 12:7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’
Mar 12:8 And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.
Mar 12:9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others.
The Parable:
The master of a house puts a lot of work into a vineyard.
He leases it out to some tenants and then moves away.
Around harvest time, the master sends servants back to the vineyard to collect what is due him.
But the tenants who are leasing the land beat one of the servants, kill one, and stone another.
Finally, the master decides to send his son, assuming the tenants will have greater respect for him.
But the tenants drag the son out of the vineyard and kill him.
The Interpretation:
God had put a lot of work into the nation of Israel.
He trusted them to keep His commandments and statutes.
But they often failed Him.
God sent many messengers to the children of Israel to ask them to give Him what He deserved (worship and reverence and faithfulness and single-hearted devotion).
They treated God’s messengers very poorly.
God continued sending messengers, eventually sending servants like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and Malachi.
Some were beaten, some were stoned, and some where killed
Eventually, God sent His Son.
You would think the people would respect His Son but it wasn’t the case.
In just a few days, the rebellious tenants of the nation of Israel would take Jesus outside of the city and kill Him.
They would attempt to make themselves the true rulers of God’s people.
Mark 12:10-11
Mar 12:10 Have you not read this Scripture: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;
Mar 12:11 this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
This is a quotation from Psalm 118:22-23.
Jesus was to be the cornerstone on which the Church was built.
The cornerstone was the first (and most important) stone laid in a foundation.
All the other stones in a building were placed according to the level and positioning of the cornerstone.
The Church rightfully belongs to Him (like the heir in the parable).
But those who had been entrusted with the revelations of God (Jews) would reject Christ.
They did not consider Him foundation material.
So like the master’s son, they tossed Him out of the vineyard and killed Him.
But God had accounted for their stubborn hearts and woven His redeeming work through the hardness of their hearts.
He wasn’t surprised at their rejection.
His will couldn’t be stopped by their rebellion.
We all ought to spend some time marveling at God’s plan for salvation.
Mark 12:12
Mar 12:12 And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.
It didn’t take the chief priests and elders long to realize they were the target of Jesus’ piercing words.
They were so angry they wanted to kill Jesus right then and there but were afraid the people would turn against them.
Mark 12:13-14
Mar 12:13 And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk.
Mar 12:14 And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?”
These passages show us just how dense the Pharisees were.
They’ve been embarrassed countless times and they are back for more punishment.
One could make the case the Pharisees in Jerusalem hadn’t been put to shame as thoroughly as the Pharisees in Galilee, but if you remember, there was a delegation of Pharisees sent from Jerusalem to Galilee previously in the book.
Either way, whether it was because of inexperience or extreme stubbornness, the Pharisees would have to learn their lesson again.
This time they sent their disciples (Matt 22:16) and the Herodians to do their dirty work (maybe they thought Jesus wouldn’t recognize them).
Who were the Herodians?
Not a lot is known about this group.
Many believe them to be supporters of Herod (makes sense with the name).
They were probably a sect of the Jews, just like the Pharisees and Sadducees, but the gospel records mention them much less frequently.
Every time they are mentioned they are set in opposition to Jesus’ work.
Their interests may have been more political than spiritual.
In an effort to “trap him in his talk” the disciples of the Pharisees and the Herodians approach Christ with an inquiry about taxes.
They start off with some flattery, hoping to conceal their true intentions.
Then they ask, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?”
What is their angle here?
They probably thought they could catch Jesus no matter which answer He gave.
If He told the people to pay their taxes, He would lose popularity with the people and the Pharisees could go around proclaiming Jesus to be a Roman supporter (obviously not what the people were looking for in a Messiah).
If He told the people they didn’t have to pay their taxes, Jesus’ enemies could report Him to the Roman authorities and have Him arrested.
“Genius!”… or so they thought.
Mark 12:15-17
Mar 12:15 But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.”
Mar 12:16 And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar's.”
Mar 12:17 Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” And they marveled at him.
Jesus was not deceived by their flattery.
He knew immediately who they were and why they came.
In Matthew’s account, Jesus accuses them directly of being “hypocrites” (Matt 22:18).
He then asked for a denarius (coin used for paying tribute).
They brought Him the coin shown below:
This is likely the same coin referred to in Matthew 20:1-16 during the parable of the laborers in the vineyard.
The man pictured is Emperor Tiberius who reigned from 14 AD – 37 AD.
He asked them whose likeness was on the coin and they responded “Caesar’s.”
Jesus told them to give Caesar what belonged to him and give God what belongs to Him.
You’ll have to forgive me if I’m wrong about this next point but I can’t help but think Jesus is asking people to connect an unstated truth when talking about the likeness on the coin.
Why does Jesus ask for the coin?
Everyone knew who was on the coin!
They didn’t need to physically see it!
I think it may have been an object lesson.
Jesus was setting up His critics and the listening audience for a truth the coin revealed about their relationship to God.
Jesus’ enemies confirmed the coin bore Caesar’s likeness and Jesus tells them that what bears Caesar’s likeness belongs to Caesar
Give Caesar his silver if he asks for it.
But if they had read the Torah they would have also had to confirm a greater truth based on this principle.
Whose image and likeness did they bear? God’s (Genesis 1:26)!
What does that mean?
It means what bears God’s likeness belongs to God.
So give Caesar your silver and give God your heart!
Is it possible the text should be understood as follows:
“Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s” He said to them [gesturing to the money] “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, [gesturing to the individuals surrounding Him] and to God the things that are God’s.”
It is possible to interpret the text this way but I wouldn’t be dogmatic about it.
After looking at the other 2 gospel accounts, I don’t see any evidence to prove or disprove this understanding.
It would certainly be a masterful answer!
Either way, upon hearing Christ’s answer, they marveled and walked away without anything else to say.
Mark 12:18-27
Mar 12:18 And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying,
Mar 12:19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.
Mar 12:20 There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring.
Mar 12:21 And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise.
Mar 12:22 And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died.
Mar 12:23 In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”
Mar 12:24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?
Mar 12:25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
Mar 12:26 And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?
Mar 12:27 He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”
Another challenge, this one from the Sadducees.
If you haven’t looked at the notes from Matthew 3, I would encourage you to do so because they contain some important information about the beliefs of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
As is mentioned by Mark, the Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection of the body after death.
The question they bring to Jesus is probably one they believe is very tricky.
They seem to be setting Moses’ Law against the resurrection.
Suggesting if one is true the other can’t be true.
The Hypothetical Question:
To understand the question, it is important we know some Old Testament laws.
According to the Old Testament Law, when a married man died without having a son, the widow was not to marry again outside the family.
Instead, the brother of the man who died was required to marry his dead brother’s widow and have children with her.
The first son of their union was considered the son of the dead brother.
You can read about this in Deuteronomy 5:5-10.
The Sadducees’ exaggerated question asked, what if this happens 6 times in a family with 7 brothers? On earth she would have been married to 7 different men, so who will be her husband when she and her 7 husbands are resurrected from the dead.
They obviously believed this was a great dilemma.
The Answer:
Jesus obviously doesn’t believe this is a great dilemma.
Their confusion about the issue is due to their fundamental misunderstanding of the marriage relationship in eternity and their failure to look closely at the scriptures.
In two short statements, He dismantles the false dilemma and uses Moses’ own record of God’s words in Exodus 3:6 to show them the foolishness of their view on the resurrection.
(1) The question about the woman’s true husband following the resurrection is irrelevant because in eternity marriage doesn’t exist in the sense we know it today.
The resurrected will be like the angels who are neither married or given in marriage.
(2) In regards to the resurrection, God’s own words when speaking to Moses out of the burning bush confirm there is a resurrection and life after death.
Exo 3:5-7 - Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Then the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters.
When God was talking to Moses Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were 400+ years dead.
But God didn’t say, “I was the God of your father, the God of Abraham…”
God said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham…”
Jesus indicates God’s words here were very specific and not accidental.
He was not the God of a bunch of long gone dead people who existed only in past tense.
He was the present tense God of some people who were long gone from the earth but still very much alive.
The Sadducees “question” was mute.
Physical marriage does not translate to spiritual realities.
And, the resurrection of the dead is a truth confirmed by Moses.
No contradiction or dilemma existed between the commands of Exodus 3 and the resurrection of the dead.
When the crowds heard Jesus teaching they were astonished (Matt 22:33).
This may have been a point of great contention in Jewish circles as may have been the question about paying taxes.
Jesus in a few sentences clarifies the Law.
It probably made the people rethink what it meant to be an “expert” in the Law.
Mark 12:28-34
Mar 12:28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
Mar 12:29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Mar 12:30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
Mar 12:31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Mar 12:32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him.
Mar 12:33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
Mar 12:34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.
After the Pharisees hear of the embarrassment of the Sadducees, they decide its their turn to try again. They send a scribe (lawyer, Matt 22:35) to Jesus to ask another “question.”
“Which commandment is the most important of all?”
It’s a bit harder to distinguish the angle the Pharisees were taking with this question.
Perhaps their oral traditions ranked the commands least to the greatest.
Or it may have been they asked Jesus an open ended question just to see what He would say and if they could find fault with it.
They may have thought they would have a better chance of tripping Him up if their question was broader rather than their specific.
But Jesus’ answer is comprehensive and flawless.
The greatest command in the Old Law is to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind.
Why is this the greatest command?
We will not fail to honor God as we should if our hearts are in love with Him.
If we love God, keeping His commandments will come naturally.
If our heart is in the right place, our lives will fall in line after it.
God’s commands are not burdensome for those who know He seeks our best.
“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1John 5:3).
You may be familiar with what the Holy Spirit says about the value of things done without love.
1Co 13:1-3 - If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Of what value are our religious devotions without love for God?
At the very hour Jesus spoke these words, Jerusalem was filled with people who practiced religious ritual but without love for God or His Son.
See Deut 6:5 for the OT quotation.
The second greatest command is to love your neighbor as yourself.
Loving God is key to a proper relationship with God.
Loving man is a key to a proper relationship with our fellow man.
How can this be accomplished? How can we learn to love other human beings properly?
I think the answer is contained in the first command!
Only after learning to love God can we learn to love our fellow man properly.
By observing God’s love for us we can understand love.
God’s love reflected off us can then be shown to our neighbors.
“We love because He first loved us” – (1John 4:19).
If our hearts are filled with genuine love for others, even our enemies, we will not have any problem applying the rest of God’s commands in regards to how to treat those around us.
One thing Mark’s gospel reveals that Matthew doesn’t include is the lawyer’s response to Jesus answer.
He responds as an honest listener, not as the other hypocritical scribes.
His response and heart prompt Jesus to say, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34).
APPLICATION:
There are honest hearts in every group.
Even in the most hostile groups, there may be someone open to truth.
APPLICATION:
Sometimes effective teaching doesn’t have instantaneous results.
Jesus doesn’t take this scribe over to the pool of Siloam and baptize him immediately after this conversation.
Jesus planted an effective seed in the man’s heart.
The seed needed time to grow.
Did the lack of instantaneous conversion mean Jesus wasn’t a powerful enough teacher?
Of course not!
To often we judge a teacher/preacher/pastor/missionary’s effectiveness on how many people get baptized and join his church.
This example should be one of many examples that causes us to rethink that metric.
Following this answer, no one was brave enough to ask Jesus any more malicious questions.
Mark 12:35-37
Mar 12:35 And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?
Mar 12:36 David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.”’
Mar 12:37 David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?” And the great throng heard him gladly.
Mark records Jesus’ teaching here but doesn’t explain that this was taught through a challenge (in the form of a question) to the Pharisees (see Matt 22:41-46).
Rather than the Pharisees or Sadducees asking the questions, Jesus has a question of His own for them.
He intended to make clear to the people that their rulers were not the experts they claimed to be.
He asked them what they thought about the coming Messiah. “Whose son is he? (Matt 22:41).
They responded, “The son of David.”
Jesus then asked them to offer their interpretation of an Old Testament passage based on what they had just told Him.
In Psalm 110:1, David refers to the Christ as “Lord.”
This term would have been used to refer to a superior.
But how could a father be inferior to one of his descendants?
If the Christ was nothing more than a physical descendant of David, like other men who were David’s great, great, great, great,… grandchildren, David would not have referred to Him as a superior (In a patriarchal system, the father is greater in honor than his son).
There must have been something more to the Messiah than just being a physical son of David.
In Psalm 110:1, David talks about the exaltation of the Messiah at the throne of God and how all things will be subjected to Him.
Jesus asks them to explain David’s comments.
They have no idea how to respond!
“And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask Him any more questions” (Matt 22:46)
This text suggest the Pharisees believed the Messiah would be a descendant of David but they did not take texts like Isaiah 7:14 literally.
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14)
Immanuel means “God with us.”
If they had believed Messiah would be divine, they wouldn’t have had any problem answering this question.
But they could provide no answer.
In stumping the Pharisees Jesus is doing a few things:
(1) He is opening the minds of the people to the true nature of the Messiah.
(2) He is humbling the Pharisees by stumping them with their own scriptures.
The Jewish elite had been whipped and had finally learned their lesson.
They weren’t smarter or more clever, or wiser, or better students of the Law than a 30 year old from Galilee.
They stood no chance against Him on a battlefield governed by reason and civility.
They would not return to question Him anymore.
They would resort to uncivilized violence to keep their hemorrhaging pride alive.
Mark 12:38-40
Mar 12:38 And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces
Mar 12:39 and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts,
Mar 12:40 who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
Imagine the scene…
Jesus just humiliated the hypocritical Jewish elite in front of their own people.
He then begins preaching against them openly in the middle of Jerusalem.
The closest thing you could compare might be a person walking into a church building on Sunday morning, shaming the preacher for his misuse and uneducated presentation of the scriptures, and then stealing his pulpit to preach to the congregation about his hypocrisy.
Imagine how angry and embarrassed the preacher would be!
That picture should give you some idea of why the Jewish religious leaders were angry enough to want Jesus dead.
The scribes liked to walk around in “long robes.”
What is wrong with wearing a long robe? Since when was that a sin?
What does this mean?
Their long robes may have been a sign of their lazy hypocrisy.
They encouraged others to keep the commands of God, but they didn’t bother doing them themselves.
Mat 23:4 – They tie up heavy burdens hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their fingers.
You don’t want to wear long flowing clothing when you are going out to work.
The fact that they did may indicate they never went out and got their hands dirty.
Their long robes may have indicated their status and position.
The scribes may have had specific robes that indicated their position in the community.
Or they may have worn long robes to show off their wealth.
I think the main point is their clothing was a way to draw attention to themselves, even though they claimed to be men of God.
Jesus also said they “like greetings in the marketplace.”
This is probably more than enjoying someone saying “hi” to you.
These greetings must have in some way indicated their “importance.”
An example of this might be a man/woman with a Ph.D. who wants people to call them “Dr. _____.”
They insist on being called “doctor” because they want others to recognize their education and accomplishment.
Or a preacher who insists on being called “Reverend ______.”
The scribes loved to have seats of honor at feasts and in the synagogues.
Again, a need for recognition.
Their egos were their interest.
They devoured “widow’s houses.”
This was a serious accusation under the Law of Moses.
The Psalms talk about God as the protector of widows but these Jews had been using God’s name to abuse the weak.
Psa 68:5 Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.
Deu 27:19 “‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
They looked holy to those around them.
They for a “pretense make long prayers.”
Synonyms for “pretense” include: trick, con, sham, hoax, and fabrication.
Their prayers were fake, intended to communicate more to men than to God.
“They will receive the greater condemnation.”
There are sinners who are selfish, prideful, extortioners, blasphemous, liars, thieves, etc…
But then there are sinners who are selfish, prideful, extortioners, blasphemous, liars, and thieves, and use God’s name as a way to mask their actions.
“They will receive the greater condemnation.”
Mark 12:41-44
Mar 12:41 And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums.
Mar 12:42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny.
Mar 12:43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box.
Mar 12:44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
Jesus sat down with His disciples across from the treasury.
The treasury was probably the area of the Temple were people could give their Temple tax and any free-will offerings.
The money would have been used for the administration of the Temple.
But was probably also used to line the pockets of the High priests and Sadducees.
First, Jesus observed many rich people casting in large sums of money.
Second, He observed a poor window casting in “two small copper coins.”
The coins were the last of her money.
The amount was so small many would consider it insignificant.
Imagine throwing two pennies into the church collection basket.
*check out the Coins of the Bible PowerPoint at the end of these notes for more info*
But even though the monetary value of the money was next-to-nothing, Jesus tells His disciples she gave more than all of the rich people.
Again, Jesus is focused on the heart of the person instead of the visible externals.
The entire scene of this text seems to stand in contrast with the Law of Moses.
There are several texts in the Old Testament (see Deuteronomy 24 and 26) that remind the people to remember the fatherless and the widows when gathering tithes and keeping feasts.
Here we see a scene where people were gathering tithes and keeping feasts and a widow is walking amongst them ignored.
But Jesus chooses not to focus on the error of the rich but on the obedience of the poor.
APPLICATION:
If you want to focus on all the negative things you see in the Church, all the people not doing their jobs, all the people abusing their positions, you can!
But you can also find people who are doing their best to serve and trust God in big and small ways.
Jesus balances both in this chapter by shifting His attention from the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and scribes to the obedience of this woman.
Jesus easily could have spend a whole other chapter ripping on the rich for not listing to Him after He told them God would prefer mercy instead of sacrifice.
He could have railed against the filthy rich Sadducees who were probably going to misuse this woman’s last two mites given in good faith.
He could have expressed His disgust at the rich people who didn’t care about the poor.
But He didn’t!
He pulled a single act of obedience out of a sin saturated environment and held it up for His disciples to observe.
God help us to be able to do the same!
APPLICATION:
Why does God ask us to financially give us the example of collecting money to care for physical needs and spiritual needs?
God doesn’t need money.
He can accomplish just as much with $0 dollars in the collection basket as He can with $1,000 dollars.
God feeds the sparrows without handing them cash to use at the grocery store.
He elaborately decorates the flowers without swiping a credit card.
So what is the point?
Over and over again in the Bible we see God’s desire to work alongside men.
Things that God could accomplish on His own, He accomplishes in partnership with humans.
He gives us an opportunity to be part of His work.
I don’t think I know all the reasons God chose to design His world in such a way.
But I do think we should recognize the incredible privilege.
God has given us the high honor of being able to participate in the accomplishing of His desire.
Not because He has to but because He wants to.
It should be a privilege, not a burden, to turn ourselves over to God to allow Him to work through us.
