Mark 12: Experts on the Expert

11 February 2015: Vineyard Murder

Opening prayer: Thank You God. Thank You. We worship You, adore You, magnify You. Be lifted high in our lives. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scripture: Mark 12:1–12

Analysis: In the previous chapter, we saw how the chief priests and the scribes and the elders posed Jesus a trick question, to which Jesus skilfully evaded with the wisdom that God had given Him. Here, we see Jesus publicly speaking of why they tried to trick Him.

Jesus likened Israel to tenants who would take care of the vineyard while the master was doing business elsewhere. Graphic it may be, each servant that came to collect fruit on behalf of the master went away beaten, some of which didn’t even go away—they died there and then. Some managed to flee, while others perished (Mark 12:5). These allegorically represented the prophets that God sent to Israel, to tell Israel to repent and wholeheartedly love God and serve God, but time and again Israel dishonoured the ones whom God sent, some prophets able to escape death while others fell prey to the wicked deeds of the people of Israel.

1,500 years have passed and the master had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ (Mark 12:6) We see here that God sent not just a son but His beloved Son. God sees Jesus as the beloved! And He accepts us in the Beloved. Perhaps His people will turn on the basis of God’s beloved son. Unfortunately for the master, the tenants slaughtered the son to steal His inheritance from the master. Imagine the fury, hurt and all sorts of emotions swirling in the master’s mind, and imagine the horrible sight of the slaughter of the tenants when the master exercises his rightful revenge. That is the Judgement Day.

And yet, this is exactly how Jesus’ death would resemble; the people of Israel stealing what is rightfully His. And God could have judged them all on that day with 12 legions of angels, but in His mercy decided to take the Son that they despised, mocked, shamed, ridiculed, and turn it into their way to everlasting life, their way to salvation.

Jesus closed the passage with a scripture reference from time past: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes’?” (Psalm 118:22–23). It wasn’t our cruelty that pinned Jesus to the cross; it was our sins and our sin nature. All of us have a sin nature and delights in the death of another. If we were the Pharisees, who were corrected time and again by Jesus and felt condemned by doing so, we would all the more rejoice that the one who continually embarrassed us was finally dead. And yet, God gives us amazing grace, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8), and became sin with our sin that we may become righteous with His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Notice that Jesus spoke of a vineyard, a place where grapes were cultivated to process into wine? The grapes had to be crushed and trampled upon, completely squeezed of its juice that, when fermented, produces wine. It speaks of the winepress that Jesus would have to endure for humanity, the struggle in Gethsemane, the torture en route to the Cross and final separation from God at the Cross, to shed His perfect divine blood that could bring about forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22). Jesus loves you!

Today, the Pharisees stand condemned. But rightfully speaking, so should we. Wait they a little longer to see their salvation fulfilled in the prophecy, and by placing their faith in Him alone will they be justified freely apart from their merit but by His merit. And so should we, even though our sins put Him to the cross, turn to Him and Him alone, receiving His forgiveness and resting in His love and following Him.

Closing prayer: Dear God, thank You for showing us undeserved mercy, to spare us even though we did not spare Your Son. Bring the world to repentance through us, and even if we were to be beaten into pulp, we don’t fear, for You are with us. Lord, we want to take Your amazing grace and explode it everywhere we go. Thank You Lord for Your favour. We are greatly blessed, highly favoured and deeply loved in the Beloved! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

11 February 2015: To Whom It Is Given

Opening prayer: Thank You God for another time of enjoying Your Word, that we may encounter You as You reveal more of Jesus to us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scripture: Mark 12:13–17

Context: The next three sections of Mark 12 will show us three challenges to Jesus in Jerusalem, the first posed by the Pharisees and the Herodians, the second the Sadducees and the third one of the scribes. The Pharisees and the Herodians on normal circumstances were enemies of each other, because they had opposing political interests: the Pharisees for Israel and the Herodians for Herod which was ultimately for Rome, but Herod wanted Jesus dead, and the Pharisees themselves wanted to kill Jesus, so this time around they joined forces to oppose Jesus [A1].

Analysis: The Pharisees came up with a trick question trap similar to last time in Mark 11, but more devious. They begin with a preamble: Jesus, you care only for what is right and not about what those around you think. Then they pose the controversy: is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?

Here in lies the controversy: by just nature of things, taxes are due to whom is due, that is to Caesar, and not paying Caesar is not being lawful. That said, paying taxes to Caesar would require paying taxes to tax collectors, who would actually keep a portion of the tax collected for themselves. For example, the tax is $100. However, the tax collector might collect $300 from the civilian and keep the balance $200 for himself. Furthermore, taxes to Caesar signified obligation and loyalty to Rome that implied betrayal to the nation of Israel. So Jesus is to admit to what is right but betray His nation, considering the options at hand. At least that would be what I would have done.

But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius (coin) and let me look at it.” And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar's.” Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” And they marvelled at him. [Mark 12:15–17]

Jesus did not just stop at Caesar. If He did, He probably would get stoned there and there. By adding the portion of God, Jesus reminded them all that they have stolen from God. They have not given to God their all. Even worship is not pure worship and is defiled. So even if they wanted to stone Him, they had no grounds to do so. Perhaps they remembered what Jesus said in John 8: only He who is without sin, cast the first stone (John 8:7). So Jesus evaded them once again.

Of course we see Jesus’ wisdom here, as with Mark 11, but each account is written with a specific message in mind. The last time affirms Jesus’ authority to preach and teach, that His authority is God-given and not man-given. Here, the truth is that everything ultimately belongs to God. All glory praise and excellence. And even taxes to Caesar ultimately belonged to God, since God is the One who established authority (Romans 13:4).

There is a greater contention at stake: rendering to God the glory that belongs to God or not, that is, to claim the glory for ourselves. And the honest truth is this: if we are to take the glory, then we must be able to take the challenge. And there will always exist a challenge out there which we cannot handle. However, when God takes the glory, He takes the challenge, and no challenge is ever too great for Him.

So render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God. Return Him the glory that is rightfully His.

Closing prayer: Lord, You are deserving of all praise and all glory. We worship You. If we have stolen from You ask that You forgive us. We return You what is rightfully Yours. And thank You Lord for being so much greater than us, to tackle our challenge on behalf of us and empowering us through it, You getting ALL the glory all the time. In Jesus’ name we confess Your greatness, Amen.

Acknowledgement: Who were the Herodians? (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2015, from http://www.gotquestions.org/Herodians.html

12 February 2015: The God of the Living

Opening prayer: Thank You Lord for giving us time to indulge in Your Word and to soak in Your presence as we enjoy and fest on the good treats that You have in store for us. We rest in You and satisfy our hunger in You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scripture: Mark 12:18–27

Context: In the previous passage, Jesus avoided the trick question of taxes by completing the question, that is, to render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God, and could marvel His accusers, the Pharisees and the Herodians. The Sadduccees are the more legal arm of the Pharisees. They disagree with regard to matters outside of the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy), such as the resurrection, which was a big characteristic of the end time, in which the Pharisees believed but the Sadduccees vehemently do not. The resurrection made no sense to them. In the ancient Jewish marriage, the woman belonged to the man (yes, the context in time past was one of misogyny), and the children to him are signs of honour. The more children they have, the more honourable the man and the woman as a collective whole.

Analysis: The question is a bit more complicated than the previous. Suppose a man marries a woman. He died, and according to the Law of Moses, which the Sadduccees also abide by, the woman is “passed on” to the man’s brother, who would carry on his family line for him. However, the brother also died, and the woman is passed on to the next brother. This repeats for seven times, then the woman also died, before which she had not produced a single child. It would have been dishonourable for her. With the verbose pre-amble out of the way, the Sadduccees ask: whose wife would the woman be on the day they were all resurrected.

The Sadduccees were challenging the notion of the resurrection that it is legitimate. Jesus, however, proclaimed the resurrection. In fact, every time He told His disciples about His impending death, He will add on to mention of His rising again. As such, this question assumes that the legal issue with regard to marriage, that is, the identity of the woman, would carry on into the resurrection, and thus have a problem. If, assuming that in this scenario, she belonged to all 7 men, then we see adultery after resurrection, and everyone knows its an abomination to engage in sexual immorality before death, much more after it.

This passage shows Jesus reasoning more than He did before. Before, He would completely avoid the question, as direct answers to the question would get Him killed there and then. However, Jesus uncovers the underlying assumption in this question: that the power of God was confined to life on earth. The power of God transcends cll creation much more than we can imagine or think. Also, marriage was non-existent in heave, so there are no husbands and wives, but they are all brothers and sisters. The only Husband would be Jesus and the only wife would be the Church.

When analysing this passage, always bear in mind that contextually, the Sadduccees disbelieved in the resurrection, and as such Jesus addressed that there is indeed life after death. According to the Torah, which they all believed in, when Moses met God in the burning bush, God declares Himself as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. By the time Moses was born, all of the three patriarchs were long dead 400 years ago, and yet God still declares them in His name. The covenant that He made with them has allowed for their name to be involved with God’s, and this declaration other names pointed to God being the God of the living. There is life after death.

So this time around, the reaction was much less sarcastic and a lot more explanatory than before. This time, Jesus explained in detail the fallacy of their beliefs and have given a less humiliating correction than the traps before Him. Of course, the Sadduccees walked away flabbergasted too, since they too were stumped by Jesus. They thought that after the Pharisees were stumped, they could come in and show their ability in trapping Jesus. Not so.

And Jesus will rise again. His God is not the God of the dead but He is the God of the living too. When His disciples were hearing Him speak, they had His death and resurrection in mind. What if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead? What if He was lying? I’m not surprised that these questions would run through their minds, but I’m not surprised either that Jesus would in due time answer these questions, bringing long-lasting hope that fuelled the birth and sustenance of the early Church.

Our God is the God of the living. We don’t have to fear death; it is but a transient stage for us from earthly bodies to heavenly bodies. However, there is fear for our pre-believing friends, that we have not reached out to them before they pass on. It would be tragic. Heaven is for real, but heaven wouldn’t be heaven without the presence of God, and apart from the presence of God is real hell. Yet, our God is the God of the living, and we can hope in the face of death for the glory that awaits.

Closing prayer: Lord, You are God. You are God of all creation and You are God of our lives. Hope in us for the glorious future that awaits. We eagerly and expectantly await our new life, when life truly begins, and intercede for our friends and family that they may come to believe You and accept You as Lord before our very eyes. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

12 February 2015: Adonai Eloheynu Adonai Echad

Opening prayer: Thank You Lord for giving us time to enjoy Your Word. In our daily lives, give us wisdom to find those pockets of time to spend with You, be it in music or in the Word. We rest in You and declare that You are Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scripture: Mark 12:28–34

Context: First, the Pharisees and the Herodians were trumped in their attempt to trap Jesus by discussing the controversy of taxes. Next, the Sadduccees were corrected of their misconception with regard to the resurrection or the lack of it. And finally, one more attempt by the scribes is made to possibly destroy Jesus’ reputation.

Analysis: We see attacks from different aspects of life: economic and perhaps political (the taxes controversy) as well as philosophical and perhaps religious (the resurrection controversy). Here we are about to look at the moral aspect. “Which commandment is the most important of all?” (Mark 12:28)

Before beginning His answer, Jesus declared: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. In Hebrew, ‘Shema Israel! Adonai Eloheynu Adonai Echad!”, the most sacred of the commandments. Jesus declared the monotheistic nature of God, that it is not many gods but One God. This the Jews all understood very well. “‘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.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29–31)

Technically, if we view the commandments separately, Jesus answered the wrong question. That is expected, since Jesus has the habit of dodging the question for the greater purpose of His calling. But if we view the two as actually a single commandment, we notice how they sum up all the commandments. By loving God, we will have no other Gods before Him, not use His name in vain, honour Him by consecrating a day of the week for rest (Sabbath) and honour our parents regardless of how annoying they can get. Loving our neighbour will compel us to not just refrain from murder, fornication, theft, false testimony and envy but embrace showing grace, honouring each other via abstinence from sexual relation before marriage and so on.

The Jews all knew about the first commandment, but nowhere in the Old Testament, or to the Jews, the Torah, mentioned loving thy neighbour. Jesus unveiled that love triumphs the law. The law is summed up in love. And yet, no man can love 100%. Only God can. And He did. At the cross, God’s love paid God’s justice the ransom for our sins. Jesus died on account of our sins that we may live on account of His righteousness.

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. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbour as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 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. [Mark 12:32–34]

The kingdom of God is the kingdom of GRACE, now represented by the Church of God, all whose members are called by grace, justified by grace, sanctified by grace, ruled by grace, used by grace, and saved by grace. It is the eternal kingdom of the God of all grace, which he has set up in the world for his own praise, and which will ultimately melt away into the kingdom of glory*.

Closing prayer: Thank You God for establishing us in grace. We receive Your love, Your love that we do not deserve but you freely gave to us because You love us. And we receive Your favour. We want to steward it well and pass it on. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Acknowledgement: Smith, J. (1859, January 1). Not Far from the Kingdom. Retrieved February 12, 2015, from http://gracegems.org/Smith/not_far_from_the_kingdom.htm

13 February 2015: Jesus’ Success At Religion’s Failure

Opening prayer: Good morning Lord! Today, bless us with Your favour, bless us with Your boldness to be a testimony of Your goodness and Your grace. Thank You Lord. We rest in You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scripture: Mark 12:35–40

Context: Three groups of people have challenged Jesus in many different aspects of life, like politics, religion and morality itself. In all cases, Jesus successfully rebutted them and foil their agenda to shame Him and to pull down His reputation. Now, Jesus puts forth a counter-argument to which no one there, the Pharisees, Herodians, Sadduccees, scribes and teachers of the law, could rebut successfully.

Analysis: While the Jews challenged Jesus on different aspects of life, Jesus challenged them on truth. They seek for the truth, and yet when in the face of truth do not believe that He is the Truth. So now Jesus challenges everyone: how can the Christ be the Son of David? As in, King David said: “The Lord (Yahweh) said to my Lord (Adonai), ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.’” The covenant-keeping God told David master’s to sit still. David called the Christ his master, so how is it logically possible for his master to be his son?

It challenged everyone’s thinking. In the Jewish context, the father is the head of the household and the son is of lower status, so for Jesus to speak this way was to challenge the family structure of the day. Logically, it made completely no sense. If my son were to be the head of the household…it would only be true if I had white hair and were enjoying my retirement, perhaps on a hammock by the shores of Mauritius. Of course, there was one huge assumption in such an analysis: the Son of David was just a man.

That was not what the Scriptures were saying. The Scriptures declared the Messiah to be the Sent One of God, higher than the prophets. John declared Jesus as the Word of God, who was with God, who was God (John 1:1). Jesus was indeed man, but that alone would negate this prophecy.

This quote was taken from Psalm 110:1, and Psalm 110 is considered by the Jews of the day as a Messianic Psalm, that is, that it prophesied of the Messiah. Unless Jesus was God, the prophecy would not be fulfilled.

In other words, Jesus was implicitly declaring His divinity in a contrapositive manner. Whether the crowd got it or not, one thing was for sure: He completely floored the Jews’ knowledge of the Scriptures. ‘And the great throng heard him gladly.’ (Mark 12:37) I would rather look at it as, they laughed. They found what Jesus said to be a lot more logical than the Jews’ propositions. Religion blinds us to the truth, Jesus opens our eyes to see the Truth.

To conclude His debate, He warned everyone to be careful of religious teaching. The religious leaders who, in the name of God, place laws on you, who use the laws to cheat the poor and helpless of what they have left, are the same guys who love honour from men more than honour from God. They will be worse off than even the non-believers who worship idols, as their idol is themselves. They are higher than God. No one will be better off that way. Religion cannot save, but Jesus can.

And in the next study we see how Jesus illustrates His conclusion.

13 February 2015: Corban’s Glory and Shame

Scripture: Mark 12:41–44

Analysis: To further illustrate the point, the poor widow who gave all that she had, Jesus honoured her among all those who gave absolutely larger sums. There are a number of principles that we can take away from this.

Firstly, it is not the absolute amount that we give, but of a heart of cheerful giving that matters to God. Mathematically, the woman, out of what she had, gave more than the other people. Considering that the other people perhaps gave $600 out of their $3,000 income. That would be 20% of their income. The woman gave 2 pennies out of her 2 pennies-income. That would be 100% of her income. As such, the heart of the giver is reflected by the proportion of his giving.

Secondly, the lowly is the most honoured. That is, even though the woman gave 2 mere copper coins, the value of those coins surpass the wads of cash that the more well-to-do Jews had. It was honour. Naturally, we would honour those who are more well-to-do, those who have an ability to bless others on top of the offering to the church, because they are of more pragmatic worth. But Jesus honoured the lacking. Jesus honoured her who lacked and trusted God for her supply and valued her for her. Once again, Jesus shows how God exalts the humble and humbles the exalted.

Thirdly, Jesus actually showed the huge extent of religious manipulation. The church never recommends that a person give all. In fact, Paul instructs us to give the first tenth and keep the rest, for if the firstfruits are holy, then the whole lump is holy too (Romans 11:16). However, the religious people of the day, and even many televangelists today, blackmail the poor of giving money to their ministry or their organisation lest they actually do not love God. They turn an act of faith into an act of work, that the more I give, the more God will accept me. And thus they impose Corban on the poor to extort them of their much needed cash.

Salvation and justification and God’s favour has nothing to do with our doing but all to do with His doing. He first loved us, then our love goes up in response to His first love. This response translates into giving, not that it was a law for justification to begin with.

This is contrapositive to religion. Religion tells us to earn our way to salvation, but Jesus tells us that salvation has beeb bought for once and for all at the cross, the only thing we have to do is to believe. Be it of great faith or of mustard seed faith, believe. Of course, we don’t want to stay at mustard seed faith but grow in our faith, but works don’t save us. Works are evidences of us who are saved, not the roots. of that salvation.

Religion cause people to devour widows’ houses and for a pretence make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation (Mark 12:40). Be very cautious of religion. Have simple faith. That is what will bring us into salvation, not by works but by grace through faith. This produce a cheerful giver and a faith-filled giver as a by-product. Religious manipulation destroys; only Jesus saves.

Closing prayer: Lord we need to back away from the religion of society, that is, to obey rules or to satisfy self alone, and turn to Jesus. We need You, Jesus. Without You we are nothing. Thank You for Your unmerited favour that allows us to enjoy this relationship with You. In You, we are greatly blessed, highly favoured and deeply loved. In Jesus’ name, we bless the day and Lord, we want to spend more time with You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.