loudandclear

Mark 12:1-27
(notes by Niko Gruber)

 1 Then Jesus began teaching them with stories: “A man planted a vineyard. He built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country. 2 At the time of the grape harvest, he sent one of his servants to collect his share of the crop. 3 But the farmers grabbed the servant, beat him up, and sent him back empty-handed. 4 The owner then sent another servant, but they insulted him and beat him over the head. 5 The next servant he sent was killed. Others he sent were either beaten or killed, 6 until there was only one left—his son whom he loved dearly. The owner finally sent him, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’
 7 “But the tenant farmers said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ 8 So they grabbed him and murdered him and threw his body out of the vineyard.

 9 “What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do?” Jesus asked. “I’ll tell you—he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others. 10 Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures?

   ‘The stone that the builders rejected
      has now become the cornerstone.
   11 This is the Lord’s doing,
      and it is wonderful to see.’”

 12 The religious leaders wanted to arrest Jesus because they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.

Taxes for Caesar

 13 Later the leaders sent some Pharisees and supporters of Herod to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested. 14 “Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. You teach the way of God truthfully. Now tell us—is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay them, or shouldn’t we?”
   Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and said, “Why are you trying to trap me? Show me a Roman coin, and I’ll tell you.” 16 When they handed it to him, he asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?”

   “Caesar’s,” they replied.

 17 “Well, then,” Jesus said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”

   His reply completely amazed them.

Discussion about Resurrection

 18 Then Jesus was approached by some Sadducees—religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. They posed this question: 19 “Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man dies, leaving a wife without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name. 20 Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children. 21 So the second brother married the widow, but he also died without children. Then the third brother married her. 22 This continued with all seven of them, and still there were no children. Last of all, the woman also died. 23 So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her.”
 24 Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God. 25 For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven.

 26 “But now, as to whether the dead will be raised—haven’t you ever read about this in the writings of Moses, in the story of the burning bush? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said to Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ 27 So he is the God of the living, not the dead. You have made a serious error.”

(((Jesus begins chapter 12 with a parable that confronts the Pharisees.  This parable makes more sense if we replace the characters for who they represent.  The man who owns the vineyard is God, His son is Jesus, and the people taking care of his land are the Pharisees.  God has given them so much, but whenever it comes time for them to give back to God, they sin against God.  They are more worried about their own gain, rather than giving to God what is God’s.  Even though God gave them everything in the first place.  They should be willing to give it all to them.  God even sends His own Son thinking that they would give Him more respect than others who have come before Him (prophets), but they still reject and even kill Him.  God doesn’t let all of this sin go unpunished because He is a God of justice.  His wrath is poured out upon those who have been given so much, but continually reject Him despite all He has blessed them with.)))

(((Once again people are asking Jesus a question that could get Him into trouble.  Instead of going with one side or the other, Jesus chooses a third middle ground.  Jesus isn’t going against the government here.  He knows that the ultimate goal of the government is to help the people, but at the same time He does say that what belongs to God should be given to Him.  Because all things are God’s we should use all of our resources and possessions to honor Him, this is a way that we can give to God what is His.  This can be selling, donating, or even using these things to bless others.)))

(((The Sadducees were a sect of the Jews that didn’t believe that there would be a resurrection of people at the end times.  So they ask Jesus this hypothetical question to try to confuse Him and prove that there couldn’t be a resurrection.  Jesus tells them that they have made two mistakes.  First is that they don’t know the Scriptures and second is they don’t know the true power of God.  So they really didn’t know God and because of that they didn’t understand how powerful He really was.  Jesus even states afterwards that there won’t be marriage in the resurrection, so they were asking the wrong question.  Then instead of stopping there he speaks to the fact that they don’t believe in the resurrection and says that God is a God of the living not of the dead.)))