mark 12:13-12:40

13. Then they *sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him in order to trap Him in a statement.
14. They *came and *said to Him, "Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?
15. "Shall we pay or shall we not pay?"

first, some flattery

flattery... especially on his "trutfulness". you speak truth, even when people don't like it... (that's a hint on the trap, btw)
and 'plausable deniability' if anything goes wrong.

then the trap.

the trap: if you say to pay the roman tax, the people will hate you (nobody likes an occupier).
if you say not to pay the romans, you're in trouble with them.

this is a bit like politics today. you try to get someone to say something, then make a really big deal about it when they do.

jesus' response

15. But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, "Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at."
16. They brought one. And He *said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" And they said to Him, "Caesar's."
17. And Jesus said to them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they were amazed at Him.

basically, jesus' says to pay the romans...bit with so much politic that you can't argue with him.

there's some quote about politics being the ability to say nasty to things to people, and to have them like it.
jesus completely wins that here.

for the record, jesus does say that you should pay taxes.

the bible argues strongly that government is put in place by god, that we should pray for our leaders, and that we should obey and pay.

a bit of a pro-pharisee note:

jesus' theology is most similar to the scribes/pharisees.
you'll see as you move to the next group that the problem isn't political, it's theological.

12:18-27 - ROUND TWO: jesus vs the sadducees

the sadducees try to prove that there is no life after death

the sadducees

18. Some Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) *came to Jesus, and began questioning Him, saying,

as the text says, they don't believe in life after death. no heaven, no hell.
they were in charge of the temple.
that's all you really need to know about them to understand.

also...that's a big clue that mark probably wasn't written to a jewish audience.

their 'proof' that there is no life after death:

19. "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that IF A MAN'S BROTHER DIES and leaves behind a wife AND LEAVES NO CHILD, HIS BROTHER SHOULD MARRY THE WIFE AND RAISE UP CHILDREN TO HIS BROTHER.
20. "There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife, and died leaving no children.
21. "The second one married her, and died leaving behind no children; and the third likewise;
22. and so all seven left no children. Last of all the woman died also.
23. "In the resurrection, when they rise again, which one's wife will she be? For all seven had married her."

marry his brother?

the mosaic law (exodus - deut) establishes that after a man dies, his brother will marry the woman.
marriage and sex were much more pragmatic for them then they are for us (you are free to think about whether or not we should be more pragmatic ourselves on your own time).
anyway, partially for reasons of keeping property within the family, and partially to make sure that widows were provided for, there was a system to make sure they had husbands. that's the point here.

the puzzle...she can't have 7 husbands right? so this must not be true.

OOOOOOOHHHHHH. BURNNN.

jesus' response...in two parts

first bit, v24,25.

24. Jesus said to them, "Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God?
25. "For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

your argument is invalid. marriage doesn't exist in heaven.

second, pressing the argument further...v26,27

26. "But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, `I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, and the God of Jacob'?
27. "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken."

jesus argues that god assumes the idea of life after death for humans in his identification for moses.
this is a bit confusing though. what does he mean?

- verb tense. "I am the god of abraham" instead of "I was the god of abraham" (i was the friend of abraham lincoln)
- perhaps referencing the everlasting covenant (without end to them, not just their descendents)

note that jesus argues based on an underlying theme of the old testament

he could have argued from a few passages that are more direct (samuel speaks to saul after he is dead)...
but doing it this way shows it as more of a constant idea.

12:28-34 - ROUND THREE: a scribe asks an earnest question

no, really this time. what do you think?

will you sign my torah scroll?

28. One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, "What commandment is the foremost of all?"

setting:
so, jesus has been owning all comers here.
an earnest scribe has been watching jesus slamming all over, and pipes up with an serious question.
"what is the most important commandment?"

what is most important? simple: love god first. love others second

29. Jesus answered, "The foremost is, `HEAR, O ISRAEL ! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD;
30. 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.'
31. "The second is this, `YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

jesus starts his answer by quoting deut 6. let's read it in context (deut 6:1-9)

1. "Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the LORD your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it,
2. so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.
3. "O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
4. "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!
5. "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
6. "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.
7. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
8. "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.
9. "You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

then he quotes lev 19:18, for part 2.
it's in a section about treating others fairly; this is the summary, essentially, of the social laws.

14. `You shall not curse a deaf man, nor place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall revere your God; I am the LORD.
15. `You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly.
16. `You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor; I am the LORD.
17. `You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him.
18. `You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.

jesus summarizes everything this way - from this flow all the other ideas.

the scribe enthusiastically agrees. and adds some more verses that agree.

32. The scribe said to Him, "Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM;
33. AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE'S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
34. When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions.

i like to picture the scribe here excited about these ideas, and talking because he agrees; the way jesus answers him makes it seem that way to me.

the scribe quotes deut 4:35, showing the uniqueness of god. (going 32-35 here)

32. "Indeed, ask now concerning the former days which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and inquire from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it?
33. "Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived?
34. "Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35. "To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD, He is God; there is no other besides Him.

then he requotes deut 6, as christ did, and adds a bit out of 1 sam 15:22, where samuel rebukes saul for disobedience

22. Samuel said, "Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
As in obeying the voice of the LORD ?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.

note that the scribe associates obedience with love, as the sacrifice god wants from us.

v34... jesus then compliments the scribe. the religious jerks (i mean leaders) give up on beating him in a debate.

34. When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions.

thoughts

1. jesus and the scribe were able to have a discussion because they knew the bible

they had memorized parts even.
notice in deut 6-9? "these words...shall be on your heart. you shall teach them diligently when you sit...walk...lie down...rise up."

if you aren't seriously working to know the bible yourself, get on it.
parents, if you aren't doing this with your kids, get on it.

2. loving god is the single most important in life. what is love?

(jon brought this up in conversation this week, as he thought he was going to be teaching about it).
we talked about it a bit, and feel that the best way to sum up the idea is with the word 'desire'.

- love/desire *for god*

this is a church. i believe there is a god, and almost certainly you do too.
that said, it should be pretty stupid obvious that the most important love is the love of god.
the only value that life has comes from the fact that god offers value to it.
if he made everything, and will destroy everything, then the only things that last or matter are based on him.

hopefully you're following along on that one... god is the only thing that ultimately has any value.

- a positive look at desire

if you look at it fron the sense of adding it to life...
if you want god more than anything else, then everything else about god falls into place

*if we know that god wants us to act and feel in the ways he says we should,
and *if we desire god above all else,
== then we want to act and feel as he says we should = it's a channel to show our desire.

lets say you just started dating the best, sweetest person on earth.
you are going to out of your way to do things to show how infatuated you are.

if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life.

likewise, when we align our desires with gods, everything falls into place.
all the talk in the bible about joy starts to make a bit more sense...

- on the other hand...a negative look.

if you strip away this desire for god, and opt to love anything else...
then serving god will be in conflict with that.
it will be work.
ultimately, it will cause suffering.

e.g. if you love money more than god, then when god's rules impact your money, you are going to obey with pain, or ignore god and end up his enemy.
if you love nothing...if you just don't love god actively, completely, etc....then you are not going to pursue him. your life will be void of the joy that comes from living in his universe.

as they say, this can only end in tears.

3. loving our neighbor is related...because it is a (the primary) way god wants us to demonstrate our love.

like this see:

1. we are to desire god above all else.
2. god loves and values people, specifically his people.
3. god wants us to share this love, and asks us to demonstrate our love for him by loving others.

in other words, we show our desire for god by taking on his desires for others.

grab bag of thoughts here:

- this is based on the fact that god loves them and wants us to do so, not based on their worthiness
- christ speaks of the church as his body. he tells saul, who is attacking christians, that he is attacking himself. this is for real stuff here.
- that means that we should have some *active desire* for the good of others. if we love god that is...

what are you about?

- do you desire god, his presence and pleasure, above all else?

welll...probably not perfectly so. but think on it a bit, yes?

spend a bit of time this week considering your desires. conform your desires to this. ask god to help you.

12:35-40 - VICTORY SPEECH: jesus rubs it in

jesus attacks the religius leaders beliefs about the messiah, then makes it personal.

v35-37 jesus attacks the religious leaders beliefs, showing that the OT asserts a divine messiah (quoting psalm 110)

35. And Jesus began to say, as He taught in the temple, "How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?
36. "David himself said in the Holy Spirit, `THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD,
"SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,
UNTIL I PUT YOUR ENEMIES BENEATH YOUR FEET."'
37. "David himself calls Him `Lord'; so in what sense is He his son?" And the large crowd enjoyed listening to Him.

psalm 110...quite a bombshell when you go and read it.

first - it's a messianic psalm.

one of a series of psalms that talk about the messiah.
messiah is a fancy word for the 'annointed one'. biblically, that means that you are set apart by god for a special job.

psalms are a bit more than just songs...especially the ones by david.

both jews and christians understand that davids songs are often prophetic.
his last song speaks of his awareness of this, in 2 sam 23 (v2):

the spirit of the lord spoke by me,
and his word was on my tongue.

second - it starts with david speaking of his lord, about the messiah.

but the messiah is supposed to be the son of david?
and he's supposed to rule for eternity?

jesus is connecting the dots for them a bit here.

v38-40 jesus condemns the religious leaders motives

38. In His teaching He was saying: "Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like respectful greetings in the market places,
39. and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets,
40. who devour widows' houses, and for appearance's sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation."

finally...jesus ends by condeming hypocrisy

non-christians are fond of hating on christians for hypocrisy.
aside from the fact that hypocrisy is a human universal, christians should hate on the sin of hypocrisy even more.

"these will receive greater condemnation"

two possible reasons...
1. leaders are judged more harshly in the church (that's good really...) james 3:1

Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.

2. hypocrisy is judged more strictly (maybe?)

intro: warriors for christ

(prayer)

12:13-17 - ROUND ONE: jesus vs the pharisees (herodians too)

the pharisees attempt to get either the crowd or the romans mad at jesus.