July 17, 2023
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Mark? Here’s today’s reading:
Mark 12 (NIV)
The Parable of the Tenants
1 Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.…..Continue Reading
Good reminder to love God with everything I’ve got..
Mark 12- Jesus exudes wisdom.
I always enjoy reading Jesus’ interactions between the Pharisees and Sadducees. In their best attempts to trip Him up, He calmly and simply puts them in their place. He never gets frustrated or flustered but simply answers their questions and calls them out on their own behavior. The entire vineyard parable was toward them just rejecting messenger after messenger and eventually rejecting the son but it will not and does not get them the result they want it only brings them death.
Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor like yourself. These commandments are life changing and could be world changing if we could all truly follow them. We can be so selfish and if we actually kept the mind of Christ and treated others as ourselves putting others first what a different world we would live in!
Mark 12
Mark 12 I love how Jesus uses his parables to try to teach and get his message across, they weren’t happy cause they knew it was about them, Jesus is exposing the religious leaders and their plot against him.
Jesus talks about the greatest commandment to love our Lord with all our heart and with all our soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength and he says the second is to “love your neighbor as yourself “ I think the second one is the hardest today because of what is happening around us and seeing how people have turned their backs on God but we are to see them through his eyes. We have to remember the kingdom of God and what he has done for us,’and what our future holds.
When will they give up. This parable ends up with the religious leaders being punished for killing the son of God. How could they hear these words and not throw in the towel. But they continue with paying taxes and then the question of marriage in heaven. They thought for sure they would trap him as the Sadducee’s only believed in the writings of Moses and they find no basis for heaven in his writings. Jesus proves them wrong once again as he quotes exodus 3:6 stating that God is the God of Abraham issac and Jacob. God of the living not the dead. Blew their doctrine up!! Love the 2 most important commandments. The basis for a blessed life. Vs 38. Followers of Jesus are not showy people to do things to be seen or honored how I live for Christ when I’m alone is as important than in public. The widows offering proves that it’s not the amount we give but given from a spirit of generosity
Mark 12
The parable of the tenants is certainly a condemning commentary of the Jewish leaders. What a creative way to depict their deplorable actions towards those sent by God. And even more important Jesus identifying Himself as His Son and their rejection of Him. You wonder if they thought, “how does He know we plan on killing him?” But Jesus knows they will and they know that he has shared this story for them. And so they come and challenge Him on a couple of points. For the paying taxes question they must have figured that they had put Jesus between a rock and a hard place. To say no might get Him in trouble with Rome and the Herodians present. To say yes would get the Jews upset. And yet, Jesus handles it beautifully as He does the next question as well. He supports the Sadducees by saying there is no marriage in the resurrection but then challenges them in their wrong doctrine by alluding to the fact that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were all resurrected.
And how challenged we are even in our day at the heart of God asking us to come to Him because we love Him not because we have to. And the love that is consistent with such a God is one that is complete, with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength, in other words every facet of our being. I also wonder if that is the kind of love that we require for obedience as well. The minute we give a portion of ourselves to something else, that thing often controls and dictates and crowds God out. I would also say that totality of love is also the thing that transforms us into the best version of ourselves. So although it is demanding, it is the best, the truest, the most freeing and the most effective. And as we get to know God, it is the only kind of love that makes sense.
The chapter closes with Jesus giving a great justification why even as the son of David, He is also the Son of God….ie equal with God. He also blasts the Pharisees for their pride and seeking recognition..may we never act the same. And also a teaching on giving that the teachers of the law would disagree with. They were all about the amount of giving. Jesus points here to the heart of the giver and the greater gift comes with the greatest sacrifice..even if the gift is small, the question is, is the sacrifice great.? That is what I like about the tithe, everyone giving 10% and feeling the pinch the same….
In this parable God is the man who plants a vineyard and builds a tower and lends it out to the husbandmen to take care of it. God sends His prophets and some are treated badly and others are killed. None of these sent ones are honored or respected, so God sends His only Son that maybe they would listen to Him. Instead they kill the Son which is Jesus. The husbandmen are the Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees, and all the other teachers that led Israel astray. Jesus is telling them that He knows they will kill Him. Of course they will face God`s wrath and judgement. Then Jesus quotes scripture. [The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner.] Psalm 118;22,23 [ vs 23 [ This is the Lord`s doing ; it is marvellous in our eyes.] The All Knowing God was not surprised that they killed Jesus. For it worked toward His plan to save fallen sinners. No matter how these leaders tried to trap Jesus ,He was always far ahead of them in His wisdom, etc. And always had the perfect answer. After He answers the Pharisees, Herodians, scribes, and Sadducees a scribe who just came asked Jesus with a sincere question. [ Which is the first commandment of all/] Jesus gives the answer that covers the whole law. [ To love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.] Jesus tells the scribe that he is not far from the kingdom of God. This scribe had his heart right when asking the question. After Jesus addresses the scripture that David calls Him Lord; Jesus warns about the scribes which go about in long robes and make salutations in the market places, sit in the chief seats in the synagogues, and with pretense make long prayers, and which devour widows houses. He says these shall receive greater damnation. They were fake and doesn`t like their dishonesty especially these teachers of the law. Then Jesus is observing the people giving into the treasury. The rich , the poor, and perhaps others. But He brings attention to the poor widow to His disciples as a teaching moment. That she gave everything she had and the rich gave out of their abundance. Hers was the sacrifice with the right heart. It is probable that the rich were showing how much they gave. Jesus doesn`t want us to show how much we give. But He does want us to tithe. It should be between the Lord and oneself. I`m glad that our church doesn`t pass the plate for that. That we can give in the box that we have for that or give by check or transfer from the account on a weekly basis. God loves a cheerful giver. The true story of George Muller which was mentioned by our sister is amazing story how God works with someone who is totally trusting God for his needs, his wife and family, and the children`s orphanages in England. May we come to that point in our own lives where we look to Him in faith. May God bless us.
The question about marriage after the resurrection is very telling about what life will be like in Heaven.
“Jesus answered and said to them, “Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor 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. 26 But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken.”
When we die:
We will not marry or be given in marriage, I believe our relational needs will be fulfilled by the Lord, and we will not have the same physical desires/needs that we now have for other humans.
We will be like angels in heaven, by which I gather that we will have a Spiritual body.
The dead will rise, and therefore will be alive.
I also thought it was interesting where the scribe praises Jesus for His answer about the greatest commandment and Jesus replies:
34 Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
Rarely do the scribes, chief priests, pharisees or saduccees receive praise from Jesus, so this man must have been genuine.