Year 8, Day 159: Mark 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here

What can we learn from the witness of Jesus today?  The lesson is simple.  Jesus does not shy away from the truth.  When given the opportunity, Jesus gives the truth and lets the chips fall where they may.

In this chapter Jesus takes on most of those who oppress Him.  To set it all up, Jesus gives a parable about the tenants in the vineyard.  The tenants despise the son because being a tenant is not enough.  The tenants want to own the vineyard, not just benefit from its presence.  Because they aspire to more than their position, they reject the true owner and heir of the vineyard.  They kill the heir.  This is the danger of ambition.  Ambition is good, but when we consider ambition more than we consider God’s ways, we depart from God’s ways and end up walking away from the truth and abandoning God.  This is Jesus’ critic of the religious leaders.  They aren’t content being God’s stewards; they want possession and ultimate say over God’s creation.

In this context, the Pharisees and the Herodians come to trap Jesus.  Jesus pursues the truth: give what belongs to a person to that person.  Jesus isn’t willing to get caught up in a debate about one side versus the other.  Jesus simply says, “Do what is right in the eyes of the owner and nobody will have any issue.”  This is still true.  So long as we pay our taxes and refrain from breaking any laws of the land, the government will not have an issue with us.  God won’t have an issue with us doing our duty, either.

Next come the Pharisees.  They try to trap Jesus in a teaching about the resurrection.  Again, Jesus sidesteps the trap with the truth.  There is a resurrection, but our puny human brains cannot fully contemplate that existence.  In heaven, we will be in relationship with God.  We are to be His bride.  Our own marriages and family will pale in comparison to our relationship with our Creator.

Having defeated all of the challenges, Jesus then reminds us about what faith is all about.  We are to be in relationship with God first.  We are to then look to our neighbors and care for them.  Love God; love our neighbors.  The challenge here is that Jesus doesn’t mention the self.  Certainly, Jesus doesn’t want us to hate who we are.  Yet, it is clear that in the greater scheme of things we are to put ourselves behind God and behind the people around us.  When Jesus teaches truth, the challenge naturally comes.

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