Talk 36 Mark 12:1-27 Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders
Welcome to Talk 36 in our series on Mark’s gospel. In our last two talks we were considering the meaning of Jesus cleansing the temple and of his cursing the fig tree in Chapter 11. I suggested that, rather than cleansing the temple, Jesus was by his actions declaring the beginning of the end of worship in the temple, because that was soon to be replaced by the living temple, the church. I also suggested that’s the cursing of the fig tree was, in a similar way, an enacted parable declaring God’s rejection of Israel as his people.
Today’s passage, Mark 12:1-17, continues Jesus’ confrontation with the Jewish religious leaders, firstly in the form of a parable, and then in the account of two specific encounters, (1) with the Pharisees and Herodians, and (2) with the Sadducees, all of whom were bitterly opposed to Jesus. First then, the parable of the tenants.
As I mentioned this briefly last time, and because its meaning is so obvious, I shall devote little time to it today, especially as it is dealing with much the same subject as we were dealing with in the last two talks. But let’s begin by reading it.
The Parable of the Tenants (vv.1-12)
He 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 went away on a journey. 2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed. 6 “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Haven’t you read this scripture: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; 11 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” 12 Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.
As I say, the meaning of this parable is extremely clear:
· The man who planted the vineyard, the owner, symbolises God
· The vineyard is Israel
· The tenants are the Jewish leaders – and they knew it (v12)
· The servants sent to them are the OT prophets and John the Baptist
· The son of the owner is Jesus
· The ‘others’ to whom the owner gives the vineyard are the Gentiles.
This last point is not made clear in the passage but is in harmony with Paul’s teaching in Romans 11 which we looked at last time. So the parable confirms the line we have been taking in our last two talks.
Jesus concludes with a quote from Psalm 118:22-23. He himself is the stone the builders rejected and has become the most important stone in the building of the new temple which was to be his church. The builders who rejected him were the Jewish leaders – see Acts 4:11 where Peter applies this same scripture directly to them (see also 1 Peter 2:4-8). No wonder the Jewish leaders were looking for a way to arrest Jesus. Which introduces us to the next section.
An Encounter with the Pharisees and Herodians – Paying Taxes to Caesar (vv13-17)
13 Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14 They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay or shouldn’t we?” But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16 They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. 17 Then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him.
We’re very familiar with the Pharisees constantly opposing Jesus. They were sometimes joined by the Herodians who were a political group. What they had in common was their fear that Jesus might cause political unrest and that the Romans would impose even more sanctions on their nation and so affect their position in society and frustrate their own personal ambitions.
So both groups wanted to get rid of Jesus and the question about paying taxes to Caesar, the Roman Emperor, was designed to trap him. If he said yes, it would turn the people against him because they hated their Roman oppressors. And if he said no, Jesus would be in trouble with the Romans who might very well accuse him of treason. Either way, they thought they had got him!
But Jesus always had an answer for them. He answers, as he so often did, by asking them a question. He asks for a coin and then asks them whose portrait is on it and whose inscription. They then reply, Caesar’s. So Jesus says, Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. In other words, The coin belongs to Caesar, then. So you’d better give it back to him! And don’t forget to give to God what belongs to God. Brilliant!
But how does this apply to us as Christians? Let’s look at what Paul has to say in Romans 13:
Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. 6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes…
This applies whether we like the government that has been elected or not. The exception to this is when the authorities want you to disobey God, who is of course a higher authority. As Peter and John said to the Jewish Sanhedrin who ordered them no longer to teach or preach in Jesus’ name:
Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard (Acts 4:19-20).
But now let’s turn to the next trap that was set for Jesus. This time it was by the Sadducees. Along with the Pharisees they formed the Jewish Sanhedrin (a council of national religious leaders). The Pharisees believed in life after death, spirits and angels (Acts 23:6-8). The Sadducees did not. So now let’s read Mark 12:18-27.
An Encounter with the Sadducees – Marriage after the Resurrection
18 Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 19 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. 20 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. 21 The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. 22 In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23 At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”
24 Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 26 Now about the dead rising – have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, ‘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 of the living. You are badly mistaken!”
From this passage I have selected three main areas from which we can learn:
1. Jesus’ opponents and our opponents
2. The basis of Christian certainty
3. Life after death.
1 Jesus’ opponents and our opponents
The first thing I’d like you to notice is that the questions Jesus’ opponents asked were not genuine. They didn’t believe in the resurrection (v18), but they ask him a question about it. There was no genuine desire to find out the truth. They just wanted to catch him out.
Jesus knew this, but he gave them an answer anyway. Sometimes we need to bear witness to the truth even when the questions people ask are not genuine.
Secondly, their questions were based on ignorance. The only authority they accepted was the Pentateuch and they couldn’t find resurrection in the Pentateuch, so they didn’t believe in it. But in v32 Jesus shows them it’s there in Exodus 3! The point Jesus is making is that at the time God revealed himself to Moses at the burning bush, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were all long since dead. But God doesn’t say to Moses, I WAS the God of Abraham etc. He says I AM. Because Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were still alive, even after they had died.
The Sadducees hadn’t read the Pentateuch carefully enough. Very often, the questions people ask us are based on ignorance too. When they criticise the Bible, it’s not a bad idea to ask them, Have you read it? It’s important that we should know our Bible well, and know how to interpret it correctly. And one important principle of interpretation is that it’s Jesus’ interpretation of the Old Testament that matters.
Thirdly, we see that religious leaders can be in error. Notice what Jesus says in verses 24 and 27:
24 … “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 27 …You are badly mistaken!”
Their error sprang from the fact that they did not know the Scriptures well enough and had no real experience of the power of God. Sadly, this is true of many religious leaders today. We must not be led astray by them.
Finally, the opponents of Christ usually differ among themselves. The Pharisees now had an answer to the Sadducees but were more interested in defeating Jesus than in learning the truth. And it’s much the same with many people today. Nevertheless, we still have a responsibility to tell them the truth. But that brings us to the basis of our certainty as Christians.
2 The basis of Christian certainty
The Sadducees were in error because they did not know the Scriptures or the power of God. It follows, therefore, that if we want to know the truth we must understand both the Scriptures and the power of God. Both are important. As a Pentecostal minister, I am both an evangelical and a charismatic. I believe in the authority of the Bible and I believe that God’s miracle-working power is still available to us today. Some Christians believe in one without the other. But to neglect either is to miss God’s best for our lives.
God is all-powerful. So don’t limit your faith to what you can see. It’s the Scriptures that tell us what to believe. We can believe in life after death, resurrection, because God is all-powerful. We can say like Paul when on trial before King Agrippa:
Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?
It’s a matter of simple logic. Our faith is not contrary to logic, but logic is not the main basis for our belief. We believe in resurrection because of what the Scriptures say. Look at how Peter quotes Psalm 16:8-11 in Acts 2:25ff. The resurrection was inevitable because of what God had said in the Old Testament. And in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Paul insists that Christ was raised from the dead according to the Scriptures.
In short, we believe in the power of God as revealed in the Scriptures. Like the noble Bereans in Acts 17:11, who examined the Scriptures every day to verify what they were hearing, we need to do the same. It is not enough to believe in the power of God. We must believe the Bible! Failure to do so will only lead to error. Supernatural manifestations must be tested to see if they are in line with Scripture. And the great certainty of our Christian faith is the evidence of the resurrection of Jesus as revealed in the Scriptures.
3 Life after death
So what does Jesus teach us in this passage about life after death? Four things:
i. He assures us that there is life after death (vv. 26-27).
He is not the God of the dead but of the living.
ii. We will be like the angels in heaven (v25)
This doesn’t mean that we will become angels when we get to Heaven. In Hebrews 12:22-24 angels are distinguished from the spirits of righteous people made perfect.
However, Jesus’ main purpose is to point out the fallacy in the Sadducees’ reasoning when they ask, Whose wife will she be? He is not saying that we will not recognise our loved ones when we get to Heaven. He is saying that relationships will be different.
iii. There is life after death now. We don’t have to wait until the resurrection.
Abraham is alive now (26). He lived some 2000 years before Jesus, but he was still alive when Jesus spoke about the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:22 ff. And, as we saw at the transfiguration, Moses and Elijah were still alive at the time of Jesus. When we die as Christians we go to be with Christ which is far better (Philippians 1:23). To be absent from our body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).
iv. Ultimately there is to be a resurrection
Jesus had already predicted his own death and resurrection on three different occasions. He got that right, so we can trust him about our resurrection! Look at what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.