In our study of Mark chapter twelve, we get to sit in on a question and answer session between Jesus and the religious leaders. As the different groups of religious leaders came to question and even try to trap Him with His words, he gently shared the kingdom perspective of various topics.
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Yeshua began speaking to them in parables. "A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the wine press and built a tower; then he rented it to tenant-farmers and left.
In chapter 11, the religious leaders had come to Him questioning His authority concerning the operation of the temple. The religious leaders had not been able to safely answer His questions and be politically correct. Now, Jesus begins to use parables to tell them things concerning His kingdom. In Galilee at this time, there were large estates that were owned by rather wealthy men and were rented out to tenant farmers. Jesus begins to explain kingdom matters using this example of everyday life in the area.
When harvest-time came, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect his share of the crop from the vineyard. But they took him, beat him up and sent him away empty-handed. So he sent another servant; this one they punched in the head and insulted. He sent another one, and him they killed; and so with many others -- some they beat up, others they killed.
Throughout the Old Testament, God sent prophets to Israel and they were rejected and often killed. This is what Jesus is describing as He speaks of the owner sending servants to collect the rent for the vineyard. This man had built the vineyard just like God created the world. This established his right to collect the rent which is a picture of our worship of God. Instead of keeping their part of the rental agreement, the tenants (which represent us) decided that they could get away with keeping everything for themselves. This is a picture of the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the garden. The owner (a picture of God) kept sending servants (prophets) to get them to keep their part of the deal and to restore the tenant/owner relationship. Each time, they rejected the servants and went so far as to kill some of them. This is a picture of what happened throughout the history in the land of Israel.
He had still one person left, a son whom he loved; in the end, he sent him to them, saying, `My son they will respect.' But the tenants said to each other, `This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!' So they seized him, killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.
Jesus continues to speak to the religious leaders and told the story of how the owner of the vineyard sent his son to collect what was due. Instead of respecting the owner's authority, as exercised by his son, they killed the son and rejected the owner's rights. According to Jewish law, a piece of land that was not claimed by an heir was sorta up for grabs. They had concluded that the owner was dead and that, by killing the heir, they could claim ownership of the vineyard.
What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others! Haven't you read the passage in the Tanakh that says, `The very rock which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone! This has come from ADONAI, and in our eyes it is amazing'?"
Jesus concluded the parable by explaining that the landowner would execute judgment on those that rejected His authority. He quoted from Psalm 118 which would have drove the point home that this had to do with the religious leaders.
They set about to arrest him, for they recognized that he had told the parable with reference to themselves. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.
The religious leaders got the point and did not deny His authority but looked for a way to eliminate Him. They were afraid of the crowd of disciples who were with Him and so they left Him alone. So, why did the religious leaders not come to their senses and accept the authority of Jesus? Like the tenants in the parable, they thought that, if they eliminated Him, they could keep their religious authority. I have been told that this is still true today among many of the Jewish religious leaders. They know that Jesus is the Messiah but are unwilling to surrender their authority to Him.
Next they sent some P'rushim and some members of Herod's party to him in order to trap him with a sh'eilah.
The Herodians were Jews that sympathized with the Roman government. The Pharisees had not succeeded in their efforts to deny the authority of Jesus so they enlisted the help of the Roman government to eliminate Him.
They came and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you tell the truth and are not concerned with what people think about you, since you pay no attention to a person's status but really teach what God's way is. Does Torah say that taxes are to be paid to the Roman Emperor, or not?" But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, "Why are you trying to trap me?
They tried to trap Jesus again by setting Him up to oppose the authority of the Roman government. We notice that they tried to throw Him off with flattery as they talked of His unswerving teaching of the Word of God. At this time, there were other Jews who refused to pay the tax and would have been considered criminals. They were hoping that Jesus would speak of rebelling against the Romans so that they could have Him arrested. They wanted Him to die but they didn't want the blood on their hands.
Bring me a denarius so I can look at it." They brought one; and he asked them, "Whose name and picture are these?" "The Emperor's," they replied. Yeshua said, "Give the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor. And give to God what belongs to God!" And they were amazed at him.
Jesus amazed them as He avoided their trap. He let them know that He would not be a part of a political system and that He was focused on the things of God. This is also a reminder to us that, in the last days, the religious and political authorities will join hands against Christians as well. How should we react to all of the political and religious nonsense? The best thing to do is to stay focused on God and stay above the political and religious fighting. We are members of His kingdom and so are subject to Him.
Then some Tz'dukim came to him. They are the ones who say there is no such thing as resurrection, so they put to him a sh'eilah: "Rabbi, Moshe wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and have children to preserve the man's family line. There were seven brothers. The first one took a wife, and when he died, he left no children. Then the second one took her and died without leaving children, and the third likewise, and none of the seven left children. Last of all, the woman also died. In the Resurrection, whose wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife."
The Sadducees were the liberals of the day and believed that this life was all there was. They came trying to trap Jesus and cause a big controversy. It was really odd for them to come and ask about something that they did not even believe happened.
Yeshua said to them, "Isn't this the reason that you go astray? because you are ignorant both of the Tanakh and of the power of God?
Jesus used a nice way of telling the Sadducees that they did not know what they were talking about. He also pointed out that they did not even know the power of God because they did not believe that He could raise men from the dead.
For when people rise from the dead, neither men nor women marry -- they are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, haven't you read in the book of Moshe, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, `I am the God of Avraham, the God of Yitz'chak and the God of Ya`akov'? He is God not of the dead, but of the living! You are going far astray!"
Jesus answered their question by explaining that, in heaven, there are no more people being born. Our physical bodies are no more and we have a new and improved physical body. He also went on to explain that, when God spoke to Moses, He confirmed the fact that there will be a resurrection. This is a fundamental principle of the gospel as the resurrection of Jesus is the basis for our resurrection to eternal life.
One of the Torah-teachers came up and heard them engaged in this discussion. Seeing that Yeshua answered them well, he asked him, "Which is the most important mitzvah of them all?"
They were in the temple courtyard and a teacher of the law heard the debate between Jesus and the Sadducees about the resurrection. Based on that, this teacher of the law decided to ask Jesus about the commandments.
Yeshua answered, "The most important is, `Sh'ma Yisra'el, ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI echad [Hear, O Isra'el, the LORD our God, the LORD is one], and you are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your understanding and with all your strength.' The second is this: `You are to love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other mitzvah greater than these."
The understanding of Jesus' answer is vital to our walk with Him. The Hebrew word that is used and is translated as "love" is hesed. It is tough to put the meaning in English but it basically means a "loyal love". This is more of an action word than a feeling and it is not based on our surroundings or events going on in our lives. In the first case, we are called to worship God no matter how we feel or what is going on in our lives not just when things are going great. In the second case, we are to actively serve those around us even if they treat us badly. It is all based on the fact that God does not abandon us when we mess up or fall short of what we can be. Instead, He demonstrates a loyal love that is firm no matter how badly we act towards Him.
The Torah-teacher said to him, "Well said, Rabbi; you speak the truth when you say that he is one, and that there is no other besides him; and that loving him with all one's heart, understanding and strength, and loving one's neighbor as oneself, mean more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices." When Yeshua saw that he responded sensibly, he said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." And after that, no one dared put to him another sh'eilah.
This teacher accepted and agreed with the words of Jesus. This prompted Jesus to say that he was close to understanding and entering the kingdom of heaven. Hesed is one of the greatest things about God that we can share with people that have not accepted Jesus Christ. When they understand that He will show the loyal love to them, it can really help them. Many come to faith with a fear that they are going to stumble and say or do something that causes God to reject them. The understanding of God's hesed can wipe those fears away.
As Yeshua was teaching in the Temple, he asked, "How is it that the Torah teachers say the Messiah is the Son of David? David himself, inspired by the Ruach HaKodesh, said, `ADONAI said to my Lord, "Sit here at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet."' David himself calls him `Lord'; so how is he his son?" The great crowd listened eagerly to him.
All of the questions of the religious leaders were meant to be a trap for Jesus. He did not fall for them but, instead, confronts them with the issue of the identity of the Messiah. The leaders taught that the Messiah would be a son of King David. Jesus quoted David's own words from Psalm 110 where David was relating the fact that the Messiah would be greater than himself. In the divine order of the family, the father was superior to the son so it would not have made sense for David to call his son "Lord". We have this concept turned upside down in our world today thanks to the theory of evolution. We think that, as people, the next generation is superior to the last because of this theory that life is always improving itself. The crowd liked what Jesus said but this brought Him into direct conflict with the religious leaders.
As he taught them, he said, "Watch out for the kind of Torah-teachers who like to walk around in robes and be greeted deferentially in the marketplaces, who like to have the best seats in the synagogues and take the places of honor at banquets, who like to swallow up widows' houses while making a show of davvening at great length. Their punishment will be all the worse!"
Jesus warns that the religious leaders would be punished for their false piety and their false teaching. Jesus demonstrates that he knows what is in their hearts and that their motives are not good. The same type of thing continues today as many so-called religious leaders will make a big show of being holy but in reality are doing the opposite when nobody is looking. We must remember that God knows our hearts and motives as well.
Then Yeshua sat down opposite the Temple treasury and watched the crowd as they put money into the offering-boxes. Many rich people put in large sums, but a poor widow came and put in two small coins.
The temple treasury was located in the court of the women where both men and women were allowed to enter. They would place their monetary offerings in one of the thirteen trumpet-shaped containers. Jesus sat down and watched the worshipers present their offerings. There were some that gave a lot of money but He noticed a poor woman who gave just a little. We are reminded that God sees our actions and He also knows what is in our hearts. Some gave out of obligation while others gave out of love.
He called his talmidim to him and said to them, "Yes! I tell you, this poor widow has put more in the offering-box than all the others making donations. For all of them, out of their wealth, have contributed money they can easily spare; but she, out of her poverty, has given everything she had to live on."
Jesus explained to His disciples that the poor woman gave more than all the others but what did He mean? She gave in faith because, after her gift, she did not have any way to provide for herself and she was trusting in God. The others had gave a portion of what they had and probably had calculated what they could afford to give.
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