-What does it mean that Jesus is Lord? If, as we saw last week, He has complete authority, what does that look like in our world today? If we’re His followers, how do we live that out?
READ/PRAY (pg. 495)
- 3 Questions (13-34)
-Increasing opposition to Jesus. He’s seen as a threat, a liability, competition to the power, prestige, and social standing of the day (as will be pointed out again as we walk through this)
-What are the issues that we’re not supposed to talk about at the dinner table? Politics, religion, money. Guess what is dealt with in today’s passage!
-Jesus didn’t come to offer an easy life, or a simple path to prosperity, He came to usher in literally a new kingdom that isn’t of this world. It affects this world, it subverts the expectations of the world, but the world cannot contain or comprehend this new kingdom that Jesus brings.
- Taxes (13-17)
-The first issue that is brought to the forefront is politics. (yay) There’s no debate about how we engage politics today, is there?
-The first thing Mark tells us is who is in opposition to Jesus here: Pharisees and Herodians. Pharisees have shown up before: conservative, small government people. Herodians were named after Herod, the Roman ruler of the province. They were liberal, big government people. You can literally replace those 2 terms with Republican and Democrat! What should stand out to you about this is that both parties are united under a common threat: Jesus.
-Before we’ve even gotten through the first verse, we can already see that Jesus transcends (is above) any political ideology. Both of them view Him as a threat, yet both sides (even today) will still use Jesus’ words as proof texts for their position. A podcast I really appreciated on politics today said it this way: “Jesus is political, but He is not partisan. The kingdom of God has political implications, but it is not a political kingdom.” Cunningham
-Back to the text: they begin by flattery, but they’re really lying. Look back at the end of vs. 13. They’re trying to trap Jesus, to give him a problem that is unsolvable. And in worldly terms, it is.
-Look at what they say: true, do not care, not swayed by appearances (read that as power), teach the way of God. The irony is all those descriptions are true! Jesus is the manifestation of truth, He is the only way to God, but they don’t see that, they see Him as a threat.
-The issue they bring up was the predominant political debate of the day: should Jews pay a “head” tax (the privilege of living as a citizen of Rome). Jews were HEAVILY taxed. Paid to the temple and to Rome. This head tax was significant not because of the sum (a quarter) but because it was a reminder of their oppression. Denarius had a picture of Caesar on it, and an inscription saying “Caesar, the son of god, the great high priest.” Zealots (one of Jesus’ disciples) led a revolt centered on this godless tax. They’re asking Jesus: whose side are you on? Are you a Democrat or a Republican? If he said no, don’t pay the tax he’d be liable for insurrection, if he said yes pay the tax he’d see a mass rising against him from the people. In their minds, an impossible political situation!
-The irony continues as Jesus asks for a denarius. He didn’t need to ask for one, but they demonstrate their heart issue by giving in to the worldly systems because they’re the ones that have the coin, not Jesus! They’re demonstrating their beliefs before Jesus even gets to the real issue.
-After they find the coin, Jesus asks them whose image (better translation than “likeness”) is on the coin. Obviously, Caesar. This is a profound statement! Jesus is legitimatizing the role of government in our lives. The government has a sphere of authority! By saying this, Jesus is running contrary to the Zealots who wanted to overthrow the Romans, but He’s also running contrary to the worldly expectations of the Messiah, which were limited to purely political control. But Jesus doesn’t play by worldly games, and He doesn’t stop by saying “give Caesar his coin,” let’s finish the statement:
-What belongs to God? EVERYTHING! What’s left out? NOTHING!
-podcast: “Give Caesar his little coin, give Rome to God.” As great as the Roman Empire was, with effects even down to us today (how often do you guys think about the Roman Empire?), it’s nothing to God. Jesus isn’t threatened by Rome, He doesn’t play by Rome’s rules, nor does Rome have any eternal significance (apart from serving as the time for God’s Son to come to Earth!)
-This gives us a whole new vision and purpose for politics for those of us who claim the name of Jesus. Just as that little coin has an image of a so-called god on it, who bears the image of the one true God? You and me. What that means is we need to give ourselves wholly and completely to God. We can’t treat politics as non-thing, we can’t be indifferent. We instead need to bring God’s image to bear in every culture we find ourselves in. Partisan politics will not usher in God’s kingdom, God’s kingdom advances by people who aren’t bound by any partisan ideal. Our kingdom can’t be contained by a donkey or an elephant, our kingdom advances through love, through demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit, through living out the Beatitudes.
-We saw this in Psalm 2: the nations rage, the kings of earth set themselves against God, and what does God do? He laughs! These silly little political games don’t matter to Him, because He is the Lord! Yes, politics matter! Yes, engage in the political sphere (I want more of Jesus in the south metro!), but don’t look to politics to do what only Jesus can and save you. Lots more could be said, but we’ve got a theological debate to look at!
- Resurrection (18-27)
-After the Pharisees and Herodians are left marveling, the Sadducees decide to get into a theological debate with Jesus. Notice how Mark describes them: they don’t believe in the resurrection.
-Pharisees and Sadducees are the 2 competing religious groups of the day. The Sad. only believed that the first 5 books of the Bible were the Bible. Prophets weren’t authoritative, but they viewed themselves as the people of the book!
-They pose a question that, once again, seemed to have no answer! Most likely a debate they had been having. Levirate law commanded that if a man dies, his husband is to take her as his wife and produce a child with her so that the genealogy will continue. But in this case, it happens to all 7 of the men in the family! The question is who will the woman be married to in the resurrection? Their question is meant to points out the absurdity of believing in a resurrection. It’s nonsensical! To them. But not to Jesus.
-The issue is they don’t know how to understand the Bible, nor do they know what the God of the Bible is like. This is the biggest diss Jesus could have given to them! For claiming to know the Bible, Jesus is saying they don’t actually know it, nor do they know the God the Bible points to!
-What they fail to see is the logic of God, and the reality that life after the resurrection isn’t just a glorified version of the life we live today. Marriage is something for this side of eternity, not that side. Marriage is only meant to serve as a picture of what we’ll experience when we’re finally united to Christ.
-Then he goes straight to their primary theological issue: the resurrection of the dead, and demonstrates how we need both Scripture AND the power of God.
“Notice that Jesus does not hang the hope of life after death (like the Greeks did) on the idea of an immortal part of us. Rather, He rests in the commitment of God to us (“I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”). This is a very powerful argument for life after death. We have a God who cannot, at our death, scrap that which is precious to Him!” (Keller, “Mark,” 161) Danny Akin, CCE
-Since God is the God of the living, that’s our hope for life after death: God always keeps his promises to us, even after death! (if you have questions, ask anyone that is in my class!)
-It’s also important to note where Jesus quotes from. Sadducees only viewed the first 5 books as authoritative, so He goes straight to Exodus to point out what they should have understood.
-We all have a tendency to elevate or fixate on specific verses at the expense of others. We need to understand the whole Bible together, not just pick and choose the passages we like. We need both the Scripture and the power of God!
- Greatest Commandment (28-34)
-The third issue is something we’ve looked at before, so we’ll go through this section quickly, because we’ve got 3 other sections to look at! Scribe comes up to ask a question about the most important commandment, Jesus replies with the most well known verse of the time (shema), and adds to it the command to also love neighbors. These 2 commands can’t be separated!
-One thing that came out from my study this week, the Greek word translated “with” is better translated as “from”. Love God FROM our heart, not just with. This requires a completely transplant! It requires a complete change of being, which is only possible through the Spirit within us.
-The scribe found a companion in Jesus – he agrees with the assessment Jesus has offered. So Jesus commends Him: how can he be “not far” from God’s kingdom? If he got the answer right, isn’t that a demonstration that he’s in?
-The only way we can love God from our heart is to put our faith in Jesus. This scribe is so close, yet so far! He hasn’t taken that 1 life transforming step that he needs to take to be in the kingdom of God.
-Mark leaves us hanging – did this guy take that step or not? I think it was intentional to motivate us as the readers to decide if we’re going to take that step! What’s stopping you from putting your faith in Jesus? Both believer and unbeliever need the Bible and the power of God to transform us, the make us new, to make us more like Jesus. What’s stopping any of us from taking that next step? That’s what Jesus invites all of us to do!
- Jesus’ Teaching (35-44)
-After all this interrogation, Jesus goes on the offensive.
-One of the characteristics of debating in the first century was the winner was determined by whomever was silenced. So Jesus has been batting 1.000 in his debates!
- Question (35-37)
-Jesus asks a common question regarding the coming Messiah (remember, Christ is just another term for Messiah, not Jesus’ last name)
-This connects back to the political question at the beginning of this chapter. Scribes (experts in the Word) argued that the Messiah would sit on the throne as a royal heir of David. And while that’s true, it also misses the bigger picture (just as the Sadducees did before).
-Jesus quotes from the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament: Psalm 110, which by this time was viewed as a Messianic Psalm. Many people believe David wrote it when His Son, Solomon was being crowned king, but it also has Messianic undertones that gave future readers glimpses of what the future Messiah would look like.
-Notice that Jesus talks about the inspiration of Scripture here. How was the Bible given to us? Through the Holy Spirit!
-How can David refer to his son as the Lord? Because He’s great David’s even greater Son! In the lineage of David, yes, but so much more than just that lineage. God has an even bigger plan than what a human genealogical line can contain. Once again, those who have been tasked with reading and understanding God’s plan don’t have a solution to the question. But the crowd listening loves it!
-We all love a David & Goliath story! Even our post Christian culture knows what we’re talking about! When the little guy beats the big guy (every sports movie ever). The crowd loves Jesus winning in a battle of the wits with the “experts.” It’s a reminder that worldly wisdom has limits (just as worldly politics have their limits)
- Appearances (38-40)
-Not only does Jesus ask them questions they can’t answer, He also will call publicly condemn them for their hypocrisy. Look at the description Jesus gives:
-Long robes: dressing for public recognition. “greetings” similarly, they want everyone to know who they are so they can be known as important.
-“Best seats and places of honor.” They’re served everywhere they go. Everyone defers to them and they are given certain social status everywhere they go.
-“Devour and pretense” they give no regard to the poor or marginalized. Instead of loving and caring for their neighbor (remember, we saw that a few verses ago) they prey on those who have the greatest need, and then pray the longest prayers as if the length of the prayer makes them superior. Nothing in this list is coming from a heart that loves God supremely and others sacrificially. Instead, all they’re doing is demonstrating the condemnation that is coming.
-Watch out for religiosity. Not from the heart of God, not from a heart of someone who has been transformed by God! Instead, it’s a demonstration of someone who’s trying to achieve what only Christ can: a way of approaching God.
- The Heart (41-44)
-Jesus then gives us a picture of what God is looking for instead of what the scribes are offering.
-Still in the temple, watching the pomp and circumstance brought by the wealthy, who are demonstrating their wealthy by the abundance given to the temple. In contrast to all these wealthy people, in comes a poor widow (almost goes without saying. Like calling someone a “poor homeless person”)
-This becomes a teaching opportunity – this woman gave out of her poverty, and that’s what God cares about, not the sum given, the heart of the person who gives.
-God doesn’t care about the external obedience, He cares about the heart. This goes back to the great commandment, and the question Jesus had about taxes.
-Remember what we saw before: what is God’s? Everything! Even our money is a gift from God that we’ve been given to steward. The question for us is what kind of stewards are we? How are we using our money? The idea of tithing wasn’t anywhere near what the church practiced in the 1st Cent. What we see throughout the NT is regular, cheerful, and sacrificial. The tithe (10%) is a good starting point, but a bad ending point.
-Regular: 1 Cor. 16:2
-Cheerful: 2. Cor. 9:7
-Sacrificially: 2 Cor. 9:6, 8:3
-Politics, death, theology, and money. God cares about all of them, and so should we!
Pastor Mike's Musings 