MARK 12
JESUS CONTINUES TO TEACH + REBUKE RELIGIOUS LEADERS
Jesus continues teaching and shares a parable set in a vineyard. In this parable, the men tending to the vineyard kill many of the vineyard owner’s servants. Confident they will not kill his son, the owner sends him to the people tending the vineyard. These violent men want the son’s inheritance and end up killing him as they had the others.
Jesus uses this story to show how He will become the rejected cornerstone of the faith, quoting Psalm 118. In this story, Jesus is the son who is killed to provide an inheritance. After Jesus says this, the Pharisees want to arrest Him but are afraid of how the crowds will respond.
Jesus is approached by a group of religious leaders who want to trap Him with a difficult question. They ask Him if it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, the leader of the Roman empire that is oppressing the Jewish people. Jesus asks to see a coin and asks them whose name is inscribed on the coin. They respond that Caesar is the one who is named on the coin. He teaches them to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God the things that are God’s. Jesus teaches that submission to laws does not endorse the morality of the nation’s leadership.
The Sadducees, some of the religious leaders of the time, ask Jesus about a law related to marriage and life after death. If someone is married more than once, they want to know which of the spouses they would remain married to in the afterlife. Jesus corrects them, telling them they do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God. When people enter eternity, they are not married, but are like angels in heaven. Questioning their knowledge of Scripture, Jesus tells them that God is the God of the living, not the God of the dead, pointing to the eternal nature of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that God expressed to Moses (Exodus 3:6).
Jesus shares the most important commandment: loving the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. He explains that the second most important command is loving your neighbor as yourself. Referencing Psalm 110:1, Jesus clears up the confusion regarding His relation to David. Jesus is a direct descendant of David, who David himself called Lord.
Jesus warns against the pompous religiosity of the scribes. More than they desire to share truth, they desire appearing important and prestigious. The religious may look righteous, but it is what happens behind closed doors that matters to God.
Jesus watches as people give to the temple collection box. Rich people put in large amounts of money, but a poor widow is only able to contribute two small coins, worth about a penny. He tells His disciples that her gift is the greatest, because she continues to give in poverty and her donation requires a greater sacrifice.
