This is a devotional with my thoughts added to verses from the Bible. I highly encourage you to dig into the word with your own thoughts. The Daily Devotion series is one way to do this. However, I know that sometimes we want to read other people’s ideas about Bible passages, so I am starting the Everyday series. I hope and pray that these posts will draw you nearer to Jesus.
DAY 1–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 12:1-12 The Vineyard
He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the wine press, built a tower, rented it out to a farmer, and went into another country. When it was time, he sent a servant to the farmer to get from the farmer his share of the fruit of the vineyard. They took him, beat him, and sent him away empty. Again, he sent another servant to them; and they threw stones at him, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. Again he sent another; and they killed him; and many others, beating some, and killing some. Therefore still having one, his beloved son, he sent him last to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those farmers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ They took him, killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the farmers, and will give the vineyard to others. Haven’t you even read this Scripture: ‘The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner. This was from the Lord, it is marvelous in our eyes’?” They tried to seize him, but they feared the multitude; for they perceived that he spoke the parable against them. They left him, and went away.
Jesus had just informed the delegation of high priests, scribes, and Pharisees that He would not respond to their question about the authority He had to cleanse the temple. However, in this parable He essentially answered the question as to where His authority came from, but by putting it into story form, He prevented the delegation from being able to act against Him just yet. Or maybe, another way to look at it is that Jesus had refused to submit to the authority of the Sanhedrin against Him, but He would freely answer those who listened with a humble heart. In the process of telling the parable, Jesus clearly revealed where His authority came from. He is the son of the vineyard owner. Thus, Jesus was claiming to be the Son of God.
This parable refers to a song in Isaiah 5:1-7 where God compared Israel to a vineyard that He had taken care of with every protection and advantage, but the vineyard had only produced wild grapes. In other words, the products were small with little juice or nutrition when they should have been large and juicy and flavorful. In Isaiah’s song, judgment is pronounced against the vineyard, but in Jesus’ parable, the caretakers are condemned. Thus, the difference between the song and the story is that Jesus was focusing on the leaders of Israel, not the people themselves. He was telling the leaders that they were refusing to give God His due. Jesus blamed the leaders for killing God’s messengers and for rejecting and killing the Son. The parable started out as history describing the actions of past Jewish leaders’ but soon turned into a prophecy describing what the present leaders would do in a few days. Then, Jesus revealed to the crowd what would happen in the future. He said that the King would punish the faithless renters, and the vineyard would be given to others. In other words, Israel would no longer be the caretaker of God’s vineyard.
The apostles were the new leaders who would take care of God’s vineyard. They performed their job well, but after they died, later leaders became corrupt and acted in the same manner as the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day. They were not only greedy for power, but they also imposed impossible duties on everyday Christians that they themselves would not follow. Jesus’ condemnation of the caretakers in the parable applies to later corrupt Christian leaders as much as to the scribes and Pharisees. Any time we guide God’s children and take care of His vineyard, we are answerable to Him for the care that we have given. It is a great responsibility that can only be accomplished if we maintain direct contact with the vineyard owner at all times. We must never be arbitrary or selfish in our interactions with others under our care. Instead, we must pray to Jesus for the love and power needed to take care of His beloved ones.
Jesus is the stone that the builders rejected which became a cornerstone of the temple of God. They rejected Him because He did not fit their ideas of what a proper Messiah would be just as they had rejected the stone because it did not fit their perceptions of what a cornerstone should be. However, Jesus was exactly the kind of Messiah the world needed and still needs. If He is our foundation, and we adjust all of our ideas to fit Him, we will not go wrong. Where we run into difficulties is when we base our ideas of God on worldly foundations, such as philosophy, culture, politics, and family. Only when we build upon Jesus as our cornerstone of life can we be sure that we have a sound understanding and belief system upon which to live.
The delegation knew that Jesus was speaking against them and would have loved to arrest Him right then, but they could not because the crowd was backing Him. In just a few days, early on Friday morning, they would have their revenge for this humiliation. Ananias and Caiaphas probably felt contempt and satisfaction as they ordered Jesus to be condemned and beaten during that Friday trial. They never realized that they were fulfilling Jesus’ words of prophecy spoken to them in parable just a few days previously. Jesus had tried to warn them about the path that they were following, but they would not listen and, in their need for revenge, did exactly what He had said that they would do. Thus, they sealed their doom.
DAY 2–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 12:13-17 Where is your loyalty?
They sent some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to him, that they might trap him with words. When they had come, they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and don’t defer to anyone; for you aren’t partial to anyone, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Shall we give, or shall we not give?” But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why do you test me? Bring me a denarius, that I may see it.” They brought it. He said to them, “Whose is this image and inscription?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Jesus answered them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” They marveled greatly at him.
Mark clearly identifies the men in this story as the Pharisees and the Herodians, but Luke calls these questioners spies and gives their motivation for asking about taxes. “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). The Pharisees and Herodians tried to hide their true purpose with flattery: Jesus is sincere not a hypocrite. Jesus does not play favorites. Jesus does not look on the outside but on the inside. And the culminating flattery: Jesus teaches God’s ways without deception. The irony is that their deceptive flattery was the actual truth about Jesus and an indictment of the Jewish rulers.
Jesus knew who they were and what their purpose was. He directly told them that He knew they were testing Him. Then He called for a denarius, which was the official coin used to pay taxes. The inscription on the coin would have referred to the “divine Caesar” or “Caesar the savior”. Jesus told them it was okay to return Caesar’s belongings to him. Since the coin was issued by Caesar and the people had no scruples about routinely using it for business, they should also have no problem paying taxes with this coin belonging to Caesar.
Jesus was once again attempting to demonstrate to the Jews that their nationalistic expectations were not aligned with God’s kingdom. Believers, both in the past and present day, need to understand what God requires of them and not mix their own personal ideas of patriotism with the requirements of God. It is true that humans must live and work in the present world while they prepare for the world to come. What is the balance between these two realities? First of all, Jesus made clear a principle that applies to both the questioners and later readers of the scriptures. He told us that obedience to God does not necessarily mean disobedience to human authorities. Second, He was telling people not to mix up politics and religion to form a bastardized version of loyalty to God. This problem has not changed much in the last 2,000 years. Still today, Christians have a problem confusing their political beliefs with their religious beliefs. They allow their politics to guide their faith rather than letting their religious beliefs guide their everyday lives and philosophy so that they understand the limitations of their politics.
The Pharisees constantly underestimated Jesus. Why? Because He was from Nazareth and spoke with a Galilean accent? Because He had not gone to the right school? Because He was not rich? Maybe, but 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).
The test question and Jesus’ answers can teach us many lessons. First, never believe that God can be boxed in. Just as Jesus easily outmaneuvered those who would trap Him, He can spring you from any trap that you have been maneuvered into. Always remember that God can change defeat into victory and give Him all your defeats. Never give up before giving your problems to God. He has a million ways out of any snare that Satan has sprung on you. Second, give God your loyalty above any earthly government or institution. We live in this world, and the scriptures advise us to obey our governmental authorities. However, there is a difference between obedience and embracing politics. Give the government your loyalty if it does not interfere with your loyalty to God but always remember that God’s commands hold higher priority than any manmade rule or law. Finally, do not trust the world’s ways. Ignore both the flattery and ridicule of society. Place all your faith in God’s nonsense and weakness. It is true wisdom and strength
DAY 3–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 12:18-27 Whose wife is she?
There came to him Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection. They asked him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote to us, ‘If a man’s brother dies, and leaves a wife behind him, and leaves no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up offspring for his brother.’ There were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and dying left no offspring. The second took her, and died, leaving no children behind him. The third likewise; and the seven took her and left no children. Last of all the woman also died. In the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be of them? For the seven had her as a wife.” Jesus answered them, “Isn’t this because you are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God? For when they will rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. But about the dead, that they are raised; haven’t you read in the book of Moses, about the Bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are therefore badly mistaken.”
Scripture tells us that the Jewish leaders had met together on several occasions to plot against Jesus. “So the high priests and the Pharisees assembled the Council and said, ‘What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.’ But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, told them, ‘You don’t know anything! You don’t realize that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.’ Now he did not say this on his own initiative. As high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but that he would also gather into one the children of God who were scattered abroad. So from that day on they resolved to put him to death” (John 11:47-53). This Tuesday in the temple seems to have been the culmination of this plotting. First, the high priests, scribes, and elders challenged Jesus’ authority to cleanse the temple. Then, the Pharisees and Herodians asked the tax question. Now, the Sadducees present the marriage in the resurrection dilemma. Basically, all the components of the Jewish leadership system have come together on this one day to each attack from a different angle–one from the religious authority viewpoint, one from the governmental authority side, and one from the kingdom of heaven perspective.
The Sadducees only believed in the first five books of the Bible (Moses’ writings). Thus, in order to prove the resurrection to them, Jesus used an example from Exodus. “the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flaming fire from the center of a bush. As Moses continued to watch, amazingly the bush kept on burning but was not consumed. Then Moses told himself, “I’ll go over and see this remarkable sight. Why isn’t the bush burning up?” When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from the center of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” He said, “Here I am.” “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Remove your sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God” (Exodus 3:2-6). Jesus did not argue about doctrine with people very much, but He did here with the Sadducees. He basically told them that not only were they wrong, but they did not even know the scriptures.
Jesus tailored His responses uniquely to each situation. With the Pharisees, Jesus had pointed out that they were misunderstanding scripture because they were looking at outer forms instead of looking at the loving spirit of the law and the prophets. He told them that they were wrong not because of the superficial words that they said but because they were not following the intent of those words. In other words, their doctrines were okay, but their application was antithetical to the kingdom of heaven. On the other hand, Jesus told the Sadducees that they were simply wrong. Jesus gave two reasons for their erroneous beliefs. They did not know the scriptures, and they did not know God’s power. The Sadducees might have claimed that they read the scriptures daily, but there is a difference between reading and knowing. The Sadducees are like a lot of cynical people who claim to understand the Bible in their pseudo-intellectual manner, yet their lack of faith and love demonstrate that their interpretations cannot be trusted. They sneer at those they view as less sophisticated believers while displaying their own true ignorance of God and His word. They believe that they can pick and choose the truth from among the inspired words of the Bible as if they are connoisseurs picking out the valuable treasures from among a bunch of fake gemstones. The other accusation that Jesus leveled against the Sadducees is even more serious. They did not believe in and had never experienced God’s power. Again, many so-called Christians today follow the Sadducee’s path. They read the scriptures without seeing the true meaning simply because they do not understand that God has miraculous power to act today both on a macro scale in the world and on a micro level in people’s lives.
One other lesson from this passage is that we are very real to God even when we are no longer living. God does not forget us even temporarily. Each of us is known to God in an intimate way down to our DNA. Thus, if God remembers a person that well after he/she is dead, how can we doubt that He knows us intimately right now while we are alive? Yet too often we lack faith in God’s care. Our perceptions and beliefs do not align with the reality that we are known and important to God and that He does not distractedly put us on the backburner until He wants something from us. He cares and does not forget us or place us on the low priority list. We need to remember that our perceptions are not the reality of who God is and how He thinks of us.