Mark 12:13-17 Where is your loyalty?
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: March 24, 2018, Mark 12:13-17
Note 1: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Then they sent some Pharisees and some Herodians to him, intending to trap him in what he said. They came and told him, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere. You don’t favor any individual, because you pay no attention to external appearance. Rather, you teach the way of God truthfully. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them or should we not?” Seeing through their hypocrisy, Jesus replied to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” So they brought one. Then he asked them, “Whose face and name are on this?” They told him, “Caesar’s.” So Jesus told them, “Give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at him.
(Understanding the Text) Luke calls these questioners spies. “So they watched him closely and sent spies who pretended to be honest men in order to trap him in what he would say. They wanted to hand him over to the jurisdiction of the governor” (Luke 20:20). Somewhere, I read or heard that the reason the two groups were sent was because the Herodians supported King Herod and would witness against Jesus’ answer to the government if Jesus said to not pay taxes while the Pharisees would witness against Jesus to the Sanhedrin if He answered for paying taxes.
They try to hide their purpose with flattery. Jesus is sincere not a hypocrite. Jesus doesn’t play favorites. Jesus doesn’t look on the outside but on the inside. And the culminating flattery: Jesus teaches God’s ways without deception. This flattery is evidence for Luke’s interpretation that they were spies. Peter/Mark’s knowledge that they were a group of Herodians and Pharisees may have been hindsight, knowledge gained after the fact. The irony is that their flattery was true of Jesus and an indictment of the Jewish rulers.
(Understanding the Text / Application) Jesus knew who and what they were and what their purpose was. He directly tells them that He knows this is a test. Then, He calls for a denarius which was the coin used to pay taxes according to Michael Card’s commentary on Luke. Also, in that commentary, Card says that the inscription would have referred to the divine Caesar or Caesar the savior. Card points out that there is an alternative interpretation to the idea that Jesus is advocating government support where possible. He says “Behind Jesus’ veiled answer is the conviction that nothing belongs to an emperor who claims to be divine.” I don’t think that Card is correct. I think Jesus was simply saying not to mix patriotism/politics up with the kingdom of heaven. I agree with Card that Jesus’ primary message was to not give allegiance to a human government. Instead, I think Jesus was once again trying to show the Jews that their nationalistic expectations were not aligned with God’s kingdom. Believers need to understand what God requires of them and not mix their own personal patriotism up with the requirements of God. Humans live and work in one world while they prepare for the world to come. Jesus was telling us that obedience to God does not necessarily mean disobedience to human authorities. Even today, Christians have a problem with confusing their political beliefs with their religious beliefs. They allow their politics to guide their religious beliefs rather than letting their religious beliefs guide their lives and philosophy so that they understand the limitations of their politics.
(Revelation of God) The Pharisees constantly underestimated Jesus. Why? Maybe because He was from Nazareth and spoke with a Galilean accent. Maybe because He had not gone to the right school. Maybe because He was not rich. But I think mostly because they could not define Him. They could not pigeonhole Him into a category where they could predict Him. He never reacted as they expected and that made them insecure. Every time they thought they had a handle on who He was, His reactions scrambled up all their expectations. Even at the cross, Jesus changed humiliation and defeat into triumph. “For the message about the cross is nonsense to those who are being destroyed, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the intelligence of the intelligent I will reject.” Where is the wise person? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? God has turned the wisdom of the world into nonsense, hasn’t he? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased to save those who believe through the nonsense of our preaching. Jews ask for signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach the Messiah crucified. He is a stumbling block to Jews and nonsense to gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, the Messiah is God’s power and God’s wisdom. For God’s nonsense is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength” (1Corinthians 1:18-25).
(Prayer) Teach me to always remember that You change defeat to victory and to give You all of my defeats. Help me to always give You my loyalty above any government or institution. I want to reveal You to others so that they can see Your true beauty and not think of You as some limited stereotype that does not reflect who You really are.