Introduction

Some people like to say that this is a parable about ‘The wicked tenants’ but by the time we have finished, you’ll see that it’s more like the parable of ‘The rejected Son’. We all know what the Pharisees and Sadducees were like, they hated Jesus, and they were always plotting for a way to get rid of Him. And there were many reasons for this but one of the main reasons they wanted Jesus out of the way was because they couldn’t or wouldn’t accept who Jesus was. They were always questioning His authority, Mark 1:21-22 / Mark 11:27-33.

They wouldn’t answer Him because they feared the people. And it’s with this final rejection of the source of the Lord’s authority that Jesus goes on to tell them the parable. This parable tells us a lot about our God, mankind and Jesus Himself. First, let’s look at what it says about our God. This parable tells us four things about our God.

The Parable Of The Wicked Tenants

‘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.’ Mark 12:1

1. Our God is a gracious God.

The Jewish leaders forgot to look back into their history and recognise just exactly who they were and where they came from. In Ezekiel 16 we find a very graphic picture of what the nation of Israel was like when God took them under His care, Ezekiel 16:4-7. And then God goes on to describe how they grew up into something beautiful and how they were like a queen.

But what a pathetic and helpless and hopeless picture this is. These religious leaders had forgotten just who they were and where they came from. They were God’s people and God owned them. It was God who made them into the nation that they were. It was God who cared for them when they were lying by the side of the road hopeless.

And when Jesus says that a man planted a vineyard, Mark 12:1 / Luke 20:9 / Matthew 21:33, He’s telling us that man was God, it was God who planted the vineyard. And notice that the vineyard was given everything it needed to do its work. It was given a wall around it to mark out its boundaries, to keep out robbers and to defend it from wild boars, Mark 12:1 / Matthew 21:33.

There was also a winepress in the vineyard where people would trample all over the grapes with their feet, Mark 12:1 / Matthew 21:33. And underneath the winepress, there was a wine vat and that’s where all the juice from the grapes would flow. And they were given a tower, Mark 12:1 / Matthew 21:33, and it’s in this tower that the wine would be stored, and the people would also live there too. And it’s from there, that they could look out for robbers at harvest time, that’s why it’s called a watchtower, Isaiah 5:2. The vineyard owner gave the vineyard everything it needed to make their work easy and profitable.

And notice that God didn’t just give them a task to do, He also gave them the means by which to do those tasks, 1 Peter 4:10. When Jesus is talking about those who were given talents, He said one had five talents another had two talents and yet another had one talent. But Jesus clearly tells us in Matthew 25, that all were given a talent. But He says, we have a talent, and we need to use and develop that talent the best we can because if we don’t, He will give it to someone else who will use it, Matthew 25:28.

2. God trusts us enough to do the work at hand.

The owner of the vineyard went away on a journey, Luke 20:9. God trusted the tenants to run the vineyard by themselves while He was away. The responsibility of sharing the good news about Jesus Christ with people is in our hands, Matthew 28:19-20. God trusts us enough to do that and He trusts us enough to give us freedom of choice about how we do that and how we live our lives.

God has entrusted us to look after His work here on earth but unlike those tenants, we don’t have any rights. We don’t have any right to abuse the Word of God. We don’t have any right to compromise the Word of God. We don’t have any right to abuse any of the gifts He has given us. But God trusts us enough to allow us to make mistakes and do so much for ourselves.

‘At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.’ Mark 12:2-5

3. Our God is patient.

Notice how the master sent servant after servant, Mark 12:2-5 / Luke 20:10-12 / Matthew 21:34-37. We know that Jeremiah was a prophet of God who was beaten up time and time again by the so-called leaders of God’s people, Jeremiah 37:15. Uriah is another prophet that was killed by the so-called leaders, Jeremiah 26:23. Zechariah was another prophet who was killed by the so-called leaders, 2 Chronicles 24:21.

Hebrews 11:37, tells us that many of God’s servants ‘Were stoned; they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted, and mistreated.’ These servants of God were God’s holy prophets who were treated like this. And even after the first one was abused and ill-treated, God still didn’t get angry with them and come after them with vengeance. Oh no! He gave those tenants chance after chance, to respond to His appeals.

And He does the same with people today. He doesn’t cast us away after we sin as Christians. He gives us chance after chance to live holy lives and gives those who aren’t Christians time to become Christians, 2 Peter 3:9.

‘He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.’ Mark 12:6-8

Notice that Jesus doesn’t call Himself a servant here, Mark 12:6-8 / Luke 20:13-15 / Matthew 21:37-38. He deliberately removes Himself from the succession of prophets. He says they were servants, but He is the Son. And so, because Jesus was always being questioned about His authority, He tells them right to their face, that He is the Messiah.

They knew that He was the heir, they knew they were going to kill Him, Mark 12:7-8 / Luke 20:14-15 / Matthew 21:38-39. He says they were servants, but He is the Son, Matthew 28:18 / John 13:3 / John 17:2 / Hebrews 1:2.

“What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” Mark 12:9

4. God will serve justice.

These tenants pushed their luck, they pushed God’s patience, 2 Peter 3:10. And like this parable tells us, the world can push its luck with its disobedience and rebellion but there’s a time coming when justice will be done. People will either be born again or wish they hadn’t been born at all, Hebrews 9:27.

And unlike the world believes, our God has the right to judge the world. Our God is a patient God and He as the owner of our souls has the right to expect us to work in the field with the gifts He has given us. He has given us everything we need for life and godliness, 2 Peter 1:3.

It’s because of their lack of faithfulness to God, that Jesus asks these leaders the question, Mark 12:9 / Luke 20:15 / Matthew 21:40. These tenants pushed their luck, they pushed God’s patience. And like this parable tells us, the world can push its luck with its disobedience and rebellion but there’s a time coming when justice will be done, 2 Peter 3:10 / Hebrews 9:27.

Our God is a patient God and He as the owner of our souls have the right to expect us to work in the field with the gifts He has given us. He has given us everything we need for life and godliness, 2 Peter 1:3.

This parable also tells us two things about mankind.

1. Mankind thinks it can get away with sin.

Sometimes in the world’s judicial system people fall through the cracks and get away with their crimes, but God’s justice system doesn’t have any cracks. Remember God’s people hadn’t heard a word from God for four-hundred years, they hadn’t heard a word from any prophet until John the baptiser came along. Out of sight, out of mind, is the phrase they might have used.

They must have thought that God was too far away to do anything about the situation. Luke tells us in his account in Luke 20:9, that He was away for a ‘long time’. And so, because of that silence, they may have thought that God was dead and out of the picture. Oh, but how wrong they were and how wrong people are today who think that there’s no God or He’s a dead God.

People today think they can get away with their sinful behaviour, but our God is very much alive, Acts 14:15 / Revelation 1:18. We don’t come together every week to remember a dead God, our God is alive and well today and when He returns the whole world is going to know about it.

2. We can lose our privileges.

This parable has the story of what was still to come. The Jews had all the privileges of being God’s chosen people. They also had many responsibilities, which went along with those privileges. But these people enjoyed all the blessings from God. He looked after them, He provided their everyday needs, He provided wisdom and guidance, food and shelter. He took care of all their needs as we looked at earlier.

And as soon as Jesus mentioned a vineyard, the Jews would know exactly what it meant. They would cast their minds back to Isaiah 5, where Isaiah is talking about the vineyard. The problem is this parable doesn’t mean much to us today but to a Jew Isaiah 5:1-7, was a very important part of Israel’s history, which they couldn’t ignore or forget.

Have you ever sat and listened to a sermon and thought to yourself, is that preacher speaking about me? Is God speaking to me through that preacher? Sometimes we think maybe He’s not speaking about us, but there are times when it’s so much in our face, that we know that God is speaking to us.

The religious leaders knew exactly what Jesus was going on about. These tenants or Jewish leaders knew Jesus was speaking about them but as usual, they failed to listen and do their job. In Matthew 23, we find Jesus talking about the so-called spiritual leaders of the Jewish nation and he says in Matthew 23:16, ‘Woe to you, blind guides!’ He calls them ‘Blind fools!’ in Matthew 23:17.

In Matthew 23:19, He calls them ‘Blind men!’ In Matthew 23:23, He says, ‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!’ And on and on He goes. But the point is that the Jewish leaders were supposed to produce the fruit, Mark 12:2 / Luke 20:10 / Matthew 21:34, and they were supposed to protect the rest of the vineyard. They were supposed to watch out for robbers, but they didn’t because they didn’t do their job properly.

And it’s because of their lack of faithfulness to God, that Jesus asks these leaders ‘what then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others,’ Mark 12:9 / Luke 20:15 / Matthew 21:40 / Matthew 21:43.

In other words, all the privileges, all the responsibilities of being a child of God were going to be taken away from the Jews and given to a people who will be grateful for everything He has done and will do for them, Mark 12:9 / Luke 20:16 / Matthew 21:41.

The Jewish nation will be done away with, and another nation will be raised. A nation of people who will obey His words and take their responsibilities seriously, a nation of Christians. And that would have hurt, ‘the Gentiles being a part of the kingdom of God. Never!’ A Jew would say. All the privileges the Jews had with God were now going to be available to all who would be obedient to the Gospel of Christ, Ephesians 3:4-6.

‘Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes’?’ Mark 12:10-11

Those listening to Jesus are clearly shocked by His words and say, ‘God forbid!’ Luke 20:16. And so, it’s then that Jesus quotes Psalm 118:22-23 / Mark 12:10-11 / Luke 20:17 / Matthew 21:42. This stone, which was the keystone for the building, the most important stone of all, was being rejected, Luke 20:18 / Matthew 21:44.

The Jewish leaders rejected the Christ, their long-awaited Messiah, Isaiah 8:14-15 / Isaiah 28:16 / Daniel 2:44-45 / Zechariah 12:3 / Romans 9:33 / 1 Peter 2:8. The Jewish leaders rejected Christ, their long-awaited Messiah. Despite knowing this, they didn’t want to accept Him, Mark 12:12 / Luke 20:19 / Matthew 21:45-46. This was a right in your face parable.

The stone the Jewish leaders rejected has now become the cornerstone of a new building, the church, Acts 4:8-12. In other words, the life, death and resurrection of Christ, the very words and the teachings of Christ are the very foundation that Christianity is built. All the privileges, all the responsibilities of being a child of God were going to be taken away from the Jews and given to a people who will be grateful for everything He has done and will do for them, Matthew 21:43-44.

Jesus was the stone of Daniel 2, that broke into pieces and consumed all the power that was exerted by world kingdoms, Daniel 2:24-25 / Daniel 2:44-45. The Jewish nation will be done away with, and another nation will be raised. A nation of people who will obey His words and take their responsibilities seriously, a nation of Christians. And that would have hurt, ‘the Gentiles being a part of the kingdom of God. Never!’ a Jew would say, Ephesians 3:4-6. All the privileges the Jews had with God were now going to be available to all who would be obedient to the Gospel of Christ.

‘Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders 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.’ Mark 12:12

They understood what Jesus was talking about with the parable, the chief priests and Pharisees didn’t want to accept Him, Mark 12:12 / Luke 20:19 / Matthew 21:45-46. Instead, they looked for a way to arrest Him but because of fear of the people, they couldn’t at this time. They knew even the people believed that was a prophet. And so, because Jesus was always being questioned about His authority, He tells them right to their face, that He is the Messiah. They knew that He was the heir, they knew they were going to kill Him, Luke 20:18.

In Matthew we find Jesus talking about the so-called spiritual leaders of the Jewish nation and he calls them, ‘blind guides! Matthew 23:16. He calls them ‘Blind fools!’ Matthew 23:17. He calls them, ‘Blind men!’ Matthew 23:19, and He calls ‘hypocrites!’ Matthew 23:23.

But the point is that the Jewish leaders were supposed to produce the fruit, and they were supposed to protect the rest of the vineyard. They were supposed to watch out for robbers, but they didn’t because they didn’t do their job properly. They rejected Him, John 1:11 / John 3:16, and they crucified Him outside the city, 1 Corinthians 2:8 / Hebrews 13:12-13.

Conclusion

When it comes to dying most of us don’t know how or when that’s going to happen. But Jesus knew when and how He was going to die. The cross of Christ didn’t come as a surprise to Jesus but it was still a brutal and shameful way to die, Hebrews 10:5-10. Jesus Christ was born to die, that’s why He came to earth in the first place. He knew He was going to have to suffer and be mocked both physically and mentally. But it’s because of His willingness to go to the cross, that we can come together and worship Him every week.

The stone the Jewish leaders rejected has now become the cornerstone of a new building, the church, Acts 4:8-12. In other words, the life, death and resurrection of Christ, the very words and the teachings of Christ are the very foundation that Christianity is built upon. And what a privilege that is, to be a part of God’s kingdom. The question is, what are we going to do with Him? Are we going to reject Him as our Saviour or are we going to accept Him as our Saviour?

The Jews were awaiting their Messiah, He came, and they missed it. If you’re not a Christian today, then like we said earlier, God is patient with you, not wanting you to perish, 1 Peter 3:9. But He offers you salvation today, He wants to be your personal Saviour, so don’t be like the Jews and miss out.

Paying Taxes To Caesar

This is yet another example of a group of people who are trying to trap Jesus to find any excuse to have Him put to death. What’s interesting is that we also find an example of others giving someone else a loaded gun to shoot, whilst the people who gave them the loaded gun remain in the background because they’re not brave enough to do it themselves.

‘Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words.’ Mark 12:13

It’s obvious that the parables, Mark 12:1-12 / Luke 20:9-19 / Matthew 22:33-45, which Jesus had just finished teaching hit a nerve with the Pharisees, and as a result of this, in order to save their own skin and find an excuse to put Him to death, they wanted to find a way to humiliate Jesus in front of everyone else, Mark 12:13 / Luke 20:20 / Matthew 22:15.

The Herodians

The Pharisees send their disciples along with the Herodians, Matthew 22:16. The Herodians were a political group that supported the Roman leader, King Herod Antipas, who reigned from 4 B.C. to A.D. 39. They wanted everyone to submit to the rule of Herod and they did so purely because of the financial gain they may receive and so they would be left alone in peace.

The Pharisees and others wanted Israel to follow the teachings of the Law but not with any Roman input, whilst the Herodians were willing to work with the Romans. They were the absolute opposite of those who believed that God and God alone should lead Israel.

When we read out New Testament, we see that when two opposing groups have a common enemy, despite their beliefs they will come together and unite against the enemy. In this case, the common enemy was Jesus, Mark 3:6, but of course, Jesus knew their hearts too and warned against their teaching, Mark 8:15.

‘They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.’ Mark 12:14

Flattery

The Pharisees and the Herodians come to Jesus and use flattery as a trap, Mark 12:14 / Luke 20:21 / Matthew 22:16. Remember that the Herodians themselves taught that taxes must be paid to Rome. The ironic thing is that they spoke the truth about Jesus, everything they described Jesus to be, was true, Mark 12:14 / Luke 20:21 / Matthew 22:16.

They knew Jesus was straight-talking, they knew that He didn’t worry if people were offended when He spoke the truth and because they knew Jesus spoke against them and their teachings, they knew they had to get rid of Him because He was exposing their own hypocrisy, Matthew 21:28. Obviously, they are trying to set the trap, they’re trying to set Jesus up for the question to come but as Anne Bradstreet once said, ‘Sweet words are like honey, a little may refresh, but too much gluts the stomach.’

The Question About Paying Tax To Caesar

‘Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay, or shouldn’t we?”’ Mark 12:14-15

In simple terms, they were asking Jesus this question based on the law of Moses, Mark 12:14-15 / Luke 21:22 / Matthew 22:17. In other words, does the law of Moses teach that one should pay taxes to a foreign state? In their theology, if Jesus said they shouldn’t pay the taxes, He would be in violation of Roman law because Israel at the time was under the rule of Rome. But if Jesus said to pay the taxes, then they believed that He would be in violation of Old Testament law as stated in Deuteronomy 17:14-15, which was given to Israel as a self-governing nation.

Roman Tax

According to history, the Roman taxes were made up one per cent of a man’s income. Much like today, the more money you earn the more tax you pay. But we must also remember the Romans had other taxes, customs taxes, import and export taxes, toll bridges, crop taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, and special taxes when there was a war. They had building projects or campaigns to finance.

The Trap

If Jesus had said it was unlawful to give to Caesar, there’s no doubt they would have dragged Him away to face the courts, charged with treason which of course was punishable by death. If Jesus had said, it is right to pay tax to Caesar, this wouldn’t go down well with the people who were listening because they had longed to get out of the Roman bondage.

It’s almost amusing that they actually believed they have come up with a question that Jesus has no way out of, Mark 12:15 / Luke 20:22 / Matthew 22:17, but instead of them humiliating Jesus, Jesus will end up humiliating them.

‘But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him.’ Mark 12:15-17

Notice how Jesus knew what they were up to and knew what their intent really was, Mark 12:15 / Luke 20:23 / Matthew 22:18 / John 2:24-25. Interestingly, those who are in positions of leadership always seem to be hypocritical of other religious leaders who hold a different view. The very fact that they set out to trap Jesus in the first place, Matthew 22:18, tells us a lot about the condition of their hearts.

The coin in question, Mark 12:15-16 / Luke 20:24 / Matthew 22:19-21, was a silver denarius which was worth around a day’s wages and engraved on it was the image of Caesar who was, the Emperor of Rome. The second commandment of the ten commandments prohibited the Jews from making any graven image in order to symbolise the worship of gods in an idolatrous manner, Exodus 20:4.

Jesus’ Response

Jesus tells them to pay the taxes regardless of whose image is on the coin, Mark 12:17 / Luke 20:25 / Matthew 22:21. In other words, the money belongs to Caesar, therefore pay to him that which belongs to him, Romans 13:7. They needed to learn that just because they pay tax to Caesar, doesn’t mean that they are worshipping Caesar. On the other hand they needed to learn that everything ultimately belongs to God, Mark 12:17 / Luke 20:25 / Matthew 22:21, therefore, our lives are given to God who created all men in His image, Genesis 1:26-27.

Remember the Jews weren’t to pay respect to images like that on the Roman coin and when they realised this, they actually trapped themselves concerning paying taxes to a foreign government. Jesus says they must give their lives to God and give Caesar his taxes, Matthew 22:21.

Humiliated

Jesus answered the Pharisees and the Herodian’s questions but not in the way they were expecting. Their trap failed and Jesus ended up trapping them. They came to humiliate Him, but He humiliated them. They were amazed and left, Mark 12:17 / Luke 20:26 / Matthew 22:22 / John 8:1-11, because they knew they didn’t get one single thing from Jesus that they could use against Him.

Conclusion

As Christians, we must obey our government and pay our taxes, whilst at the same time obeying our God in whom whose image we are made. There are genuine people out there who have genuine questions in their hearts which need answered honestly. However, there will also be those among us even today, who try to trap us with double-edged questions, may we be wise enough to recognise the trap and answer with wisdom, Proverbs 15:1-2 / Proverbs 26:4.

Marriage at the Resurrection

‘Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question.’ Mark 12:18

The Sadducees

The Sadducees were a religious sect in the time of Jesus, Mark 12:18 / Luke 20:27 / Matthew 22:23. Their origin is not known for sure. Some think they date back to Zadock, a high priest during the time of David and Solomon, 1 Kings 2:26-27. However, in all probability, they came into existence during the period between the Old and New Testaments.

We do know that they came from the leading families of the nation such as the priests, merchants, and the rich. They can well be described as aristocrats. The high priests, the most powerful members of the priesthood were mainly Sadducees, Acts 5:17.

One of the distinguishing marks of the Sadducees was their rejection of the ‘traditions of the elders’ advocated by the Pharisees. They claimed that God not only gave Moses a written law, but also an oral law which was passed down and given to the elders. They in turn passed these oral laws on down to their successors. The Pharisees claimed the oral law was needed to interpret the written Law of Moses. They regarded these traditions as important as the Law of Moses itself.

By contrast, the Sadducees insisted that only the laws written by Moses, the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament were the only binding laws. In short, the main difference between the two parties was confined, on the whole to this general rejection of Pharisaic traditions. With the Sadducees, little value was placed on the writings of the Prophets or the Psalms. They didn’t outright reject them but they didn’t feel they were on an equal par with the Pentateuch.

The most prominent doctrine of the Sadducees was the denial of the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body. They believed that the soul dies with the body, thus the extinction of life. The Sadducees said that Moses nowhere mentions anything about a soul or a resurrection, Acts 23:8. From this passage, we learn that they didn’t believe in either angels or spirits.

However, angels are mentioned several times in the writings of Moses. In view of this, it’s difficult to see how they could harmonise this with their denial of angels. They may have regarded angels as simply God appearing in some kind of visible form.

The Sadducees also believed in the free will of man, that is, man is responsible for his own prosperity or misfortune. They interpreted the law literally and tended to support strict justice as opposed to mercy toward the offender. Considering their concept of no life after death, it seems strange to us that they were so intent on punishing those who violated the law. Stranger yet, why would they want to be priests and religious leaders if there is no resurrection? The answer may lie in their belief that God prospered the righteous.

The Unrealistic Question

‘“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 raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”’ Mark 12:19-23

Just like the Pharisees before them, the Sadducees’ question was all about trying to trap Jesus, Mark 12:19-23 / Luke 20:28-33 / Matthew 22:24-28. They says that Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him, Mark 12:19 / Luke 20:28 / Matthew 22:24, and then they give an example of a woman being widowed seven times, Mark 12:20-22 / Luke 20:29-32 / Matthew 22:25-27.

When you think about the actual question, the woman being widowed seven times, the possibility of this actually happening in real life is almost none, which tells us that this wasn’t a sincere question, it was a question asked to try and support their idea that there is no resurrection, Mark 12:18 / Mark 12:24 / Luke 20:27 / Matthew 22:23 / Matthew 22:28.

The law, which is referred to as the ‘levirate law’, was based on the principle that the family name of the dead brother is carried on throughout history, Genesis 38:8 / Ruth 3:5-6 / Deuteronomy 25:5-10. Moses said that if the older brother, who had a legal right to continue the family name and the birthright, died leaving his wife without children, his brother must raise up children by the dead brother’s wife.

They asked a question designed to show that the doctrine of the resurrection was absurd. It involved the invented case of a woman who was married to seven brothers in succession. They asked Jesus to tell them whose wife she would be in the resurrection since all of them had been married to her, Mark 12:23 / Luke 20:33 / Matthew 22:28.

Jesus’ Response

‘Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him. ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?’ Mark 12:24-26

Their question was meant to show a supposed contradiction in the teaching of Jesus, but they didn’t know the Old Testament Scriptures or the power of God, Mark 12:24-27 / Matthew 22:29. In Luke 20:34-37, notice how Jesus speaks of two ages, ‘this age’ and ‘the age to come’, Luke 20:35. If this doesn’t tell us that there’s definitely life after death, I don’t know what will.

It’s interesting that Jesus just goes with their thought process. Despite the chances of this happening, the woman being widowed seven times previous, Christ, resolved the issue, not based on what Moses said but on what God said, Matthew 22:31. In other words, Christ tells them, it isn’t Moses they are quoting but God, Mark 12:26 / Luke 20:37 / Matthew 22:31-32.

The Old Testament Scriptures do teach about the resurrection, Mark 12:26 / Luke 20:37 / Matthew 22:31, whether the Jews understood this or not, they couldn’t deny what the Scriptures actually said concerning resurrection, Job 19:25-27 / Isaiah 26:19 / Daniel 12:2. It’s clear that the Sadducees didn’t understand that there is life after death and they certainly didn’t believe in the power of God, Mark 12:24 / Matthew 22:29. This was simply because of their ignorance of what the Scriptures actually teach.

Jesus confirms there will be a resurrection, Mark 12:25 / Luke 20:36 / Matthew 22:30, but He also tells them there will be no marriage at the resurrection, just like angels don’t marry, Mark 12:25 / Luke 20:35-36 / Matthew 22:30. There will be no marriage or procreation in heaven, for the purpose of procreation would have fulfilled its purpose. Procreation was for the purpose of populating the world. Heaven however, will be populated by those who were born again in this world, John 1:13-14.

We also know there will be no death in heaven, Luke 20:35-36 / 1 Corinthians 15:26 / Revelation 20:13-14. Our earthly relationships will be superseded by a state wherein we will be like angels who now exist, Luke 20:36 / Hebrews 1:14 / 1 John 3:2. Even though the Sadducees didn’t ask Him about angels, I believe Jesus mentioned the angels on purpose, we looked at earlier they didn’t believe in angels, Acts 23:8.

And so we could say, they came asking one question, but Jesus actually answers two questions and He tells them they’re thinking, and doctrine is wrong on both counts. There is a resurrection, and angels do exist. The phrases ‘God’s children’ and ‘children of the resurrection’, Luke 20:24, are used to mean the same thing. It’s God’s pledge for His children, Romans 8:21 / Romans 8:23, and as we know the resurrection is absolutely fundamental to the Christian faith, Hebrews 6:1-2.

It’s important to point out that Jesus uses the Greek present progressive tense here, and in doing so, He’s pointing out the fact that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were still living at the time God made this statement and at the time Jesus referred to it, Genesis 17:2 / Genesis 26:24 / Genesis 28:21 / Exodus 3:6 / Exodus 3:15.

The God of the Living

‘He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!’ Mark 12:27

It’s important to point out that Jesus uses the Greek present progressive tense here, and in doing so, He’s pointing out the fact that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were still living at the time God made this statement and at the time Jesus referred to it, Genesis 17:2 / Genesis 26:24 / Genesis 28:21 / Exodus 3:6 / Exodus 3:15.

Jesus is saying that when a person dies, God doesn’t stop being their God and because He doesn’t stop being their God, this tells us that the righteous don’t cease to exist when they die, Mark 12:27 / Luke 20:38 / Matthew 22:32. In other words, the souls of righteous people are kept by God in heaven until the resurrection, after which we all will receive our new resurrected bodies which are made for eternal purposes in heaven, John 5:28-29 / 1 Corinthians 15:35-55 / 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17.

Notice it was ‘the teachers of the law’ who responded to Jesus’ teaching, Luke 20:39-40. You can hear them say, ‘bravo, bravo, teacher’ and sniggering amongst themselves as Jesus seems to side with their theology about the resurrection and angels. It’s also interesting that Matthew doesn’t tell us that the Sadducees were astonished at Jesus’ teaching, but he says ‘the crowds’ were astonished, Matthew 22:33.

It appears the crowds had heard the Sadducees’ theology for years, but no one really seemed to question their beliefs. The Sadducees, like the Pharisees before them, seem to disappear off the scene, no doubt feeling embarrassed and ashamed and no one else dared to ask Jesus any more questions, Luke 20:40.

As with the Pharisees, their whole religion was one of pretence. In other words, they pretended to know the Scriptures when in fact they didn’t know the Scriptures. And so, when Jesus comes along and shows how far off their understanding of the Scriptures actually was, the crowd were astonished, Matthew 22:13. We can almost hear the relief in the crowd, ‘at last’, they cry, ‘Someone who knows what they’re talking about, Someone who actually knows and understands the Scriptures correctly’.

Conclusion

If we learn anything from Jesus’ dealing with the Sadducees, it’s simply this, we must know the Scriptures. You’ll be amazed at how many Christians misquote Scripture, maybe in ignorance, as I’ve done in the past, but there are others who deliberately misquote Scripture to defend their personal beliefs. If you listen carefully, you will hear it from the pulpit, you will hear it on the TV and everyone says the ‘amen’ without realising that they have just been lied to, 2 Timothy 4:3-4.

I was reading a ‘Christian’ survey just the other week and found it shocking that many Christians don’t even possess a Bible. I was even more shocked that those who do own one, don’t read it, and some only read it on a Sunday morning. No wonder people are being led astray and come to believe all kinds of erroneous teachings! It’s a sad fact that many churches don’t have any Bible study time and those who do, don’t have many members in attendance.

I’m not saying that others don’t study at home or by themselves but one of the best ways to know the Scriptures is by sitting in a Bible class, where you are encouraged to read the Bible for yourself. A Bible class where you are encouraged to ask questions and share your opinion, whilst learning from others, Acts 2:42 / 2 Timothy 2:15.

The Greatest Commandment

‘One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31

The religious leaders are around trying to trap Him, Matthew 22:34-35. The Herodians come to Jesus and tried to catch Him out. As soon as they are silenced, the Sadducees come along, and they too try to trick Jesus. And finally, we have the Pharisees, the teachers of the nation.

It seems as though one young man, an expert in the law, Mark 12:28 / Matthew 22:35 / Luke 7:30 / Luke 10:25, pushed his way forward to ask Jesus another trick question to try and trap Him, Mark 12:28 / Matthew 22:36. And Jesus looks at this young man and I wonder if there wasn’t a look of sympathy on His face! This man had been so wrongly informed about Jesus; I don’t think he would believe anything that Jesus would tell him anyway.

But we can imagine that man standing back and waiting for the answer from Jesus. And Jesus deliberately quotes from the Old Testament, Mark 12:29-31 / Matthew 22:37. A passage of scripture that every faithful Jew would recite twice every day. It’s known as ‘The Schema’, from Deuteronomy 6:4-6. Jesus says we are to love God with all our heart, our soul and our mind, Matthew 6:33 / 1 John 14:15, and we are to love our neighbours as yourself, Matthew 19:19 / Leviticus 19:18 / Galatians 5:14 / Galatians 5:22-23. Love is the motivation by which law is put into action in our lives, Romans 3:31.

Poole, in his commentary, says the following about the law and the prophets, Matthew 22:40.

‘Moses summed up all in the ten commandments, to which, truly interpreted, all the precepts of Scripture are reducible. Christ here brings the ten to two.’

Loving God With All Of Our Heart

We all know how much God loves us because the Bible clearly tells us, John 3:16 / 1 John 3:16. And so, there is no questioning God’s love for us, but how do we love God?

C. S. Lewis once said, ‘on the whole, God’s love for us is a much safer subject to think about than our love for Him.’

God never commands us to do something without first telling how to do it. And so, after telling Israel that the LORD God is one, Moses goes on to explain us how we are to love God. The Hebrew word for love is the word ‘ahab’ and it carries with it the idea of having the ultimate love that we can express or feel. In other words, when we say we love the Lord, we’re saying we have loved, and we do love and will continue to love the Lord our God with all my heart, soul and strength.

Do you love God with all of your heart? If we’re honest with ourselves, we will admit that we all love God to a certain extent, but the truth is, sometimes He’s not always the One we love most. Sometimes we love our spouses more or our families more. Sometime we love our jobs or hobbies more. We have many other things in this world that are pulling for our affection.

So how can we obey the Lord’s command to love Him with all our heart? We have to acknowledge that we can’t really love Him or anyone else without His help. In other words, He doesn’t ask us to do anything which didn’t first originate from Him, 1 John 4:19. God is the actual source of our love for Him. He loved us first, and He infused us with His love. To infuse means to fill, to soak, we’re being soaked with the love of God. The love of God in us, is the love with which we can love Him in return.

When most people think about love, they think of the warm fluffy feeling they get when they meet someone. But love isn’t merely a feeling, it’s attribute, hence why God is love, 1 John 4:8 / 1 John 4:16. We can’t claim to love anyone, if we don’t know God because God is love. The reason we know and rely on the love God is simply because God is love.

So what is the heart? You would be forgiven for thinking it is an organ in your body which keeps you alive. That’s just a pump that keeps the blood flowing through your body. We have to remember in the Old Testament the word ‘heart’ didn’t carry the same deep meaning in Hebrew as it does in Greek New Testament.

This is one reason why the New Testament gives a deeper meaning to the word ‘mind’. In other words, the Hebrew concept of ‘heart’ included both feelings and thoughts, Genesis 6:5. Thinking is an activity of the mind, but Jesus asked the scribes why they were thinking those thoughts in their hearts, Matthew 9:4. This shows that our mind is part of our heart.

In Acts 11:23, we read that when we exercise our will, our will is part of our heart. Rejoicing is related to our emotions, but in John 16:22, we see that our heart rejoices. This shows us that our emotions are also part of our heart. Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, Hebrews 10:22, indicates that our conscience is also part of our heart. Our heart does much more than we might have thought. In addition to sensing the wide range of human emotions, our heart thinks, decides, and perceives right from wrong.

If we didn’t have a heart, we couldn’t sense love or love in return, Mark 12:30. God created us with a heart so we could have a loving relationship with Him. So in a very real sense, our heart is at the centre of our relationship with God. We were created by God in such a marvellous way. We have a spirit to contact, receive, and contain Him as life, and a heart to love Him.

He wants to be our life and He wants us to love Him with our whole heart. And if we’re truthful with ourselves, it easy to love God when things are going well, when we enjoy one blessing after another. But what about those difficult times? What about when challenges come our way?

Israel had to learn the lesson which we still have to learn today. Loving God with ALL of our heart means loving God at ALL times, even when God seems quiet. Even when He says wait, even when He says no. And, yes, even when bad things happen and challenges come our way. Loving God at all times is a day to day learning process. We learn more and more how to do it and keep on doing it a little each day. And we do that until we can say what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4:11-13.

Notice that word ‘courage’, in Philippians 4:11-13, the root word for courage is ‘cor’ which is Latin for ‘heart’. Living with courage in our heart, is a good way to remind ourselves to love God. Living with courage in our heart, is a good way to remind ourselves not to trust on our own feelings or understanding, Proverbs 3:5.

Martin Luther once said in a poem.

‘For feelings come and feelings go, And feelings are deceiving. My warrant is the Word of God: Naught else is worth believing. Though all my heart should feel condemned For want of some sweet token, There is One greater than my heart Whose Word cannot be broken. I’ll trust in God’s unchanging Word Till soul and body sever: For, though all things shall pass away, His Word shall stand forever.’

When we depend on our own feelings and understanding, we end up confused. God doesn’t love me anymore! God has abandoned me in my time of need! Loving God with our mind means renewing our mind daily so that we think more of His thoughts instead of our own, Romans 12:2.

God’s will and thoughts are good, pleasing, and perfect and we need as much of them as possible to fill and renew our mind. Renewing our mind in God’s Word is an important way of loving God. God is a loving God, and He created us with a heart so that we would love Him wholly and absolutely. But like I mentioned earlier, we know our heart loves many other things besides God.

So what do we do to make sure we continue to love God with all of our heart? Simply trying not to love those things doesn’t work. When our heart is turned away from the Lord and set on things such as sins, selfish preoccupations, and worldly pleasures, it has a veil on it, 2 Corinthians 3:15-16. In other words, they stop us from seeing the Lord. But when we turn our heart to Him, the veil is removed, and we can see the Lord again. We see His beauty, His virtues, and how wonderful He is.

Then He infuses more of what He is, including love, into us and it’s in this way, our love for Him grows. We can turn our hearts to the Lord Jesus at any time by praying to Him, calling on His name, confessing our sins to Him, and spending time in His Word. These simple practices can remove the veil from our heart, restore our fellowship with the Lord, and rekindle our love for Him.

When Sir Walter Raleigh was led to the block, his executioner asked him if his head lay right. Raleigh answered, ‘It matters little, my friend, how the head lies, provided the heart is right.’ Let me finish by asking you, what does your heart speak? How does your heart lie? Are you loving God with all your heart?

Loving God With All Our Soul

Before we look at what it means to love God with all of our soul, I think we first need to ask the question, what is the soul? All human beings are triune beings. The Godhead is made up of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. And Paul says human beings are also triune beings because we have a body, soul and spirit, 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

Our Body Is Earth Conscious

The body is of the earth and for the earth. We might describe the body as ‘Earth-conscious’, since it is the physical tool or instrument, by means of which a person’s ‘soul’ or ‘self’ by its very nature is invisible is able to function in a physical world. Although the Son existed ‘in the beginning with God’, John 1:1-2, it was necessary that ‘the Word’ should ‘become flesh’ and ‘dwell’ or ‘tabernacle’ among us, John 1:14.

The Lord needed a physical body. Paul says in Philippians 2:6-8, without the human form that Jesus took on Himself, it would have been impossible for Him to fulfil the unique purpose for which He came. And so, The Word must become flesh. This was the divine plan, that’s why we find the writer of the letter to the Hebrews, placing the words of the Psalmist from Psalm 40:6-8, into the Lord’s mouth. Notice that the ‘body’ was prepared for ‘me,’ Hebrews 10:5. In other words, man is more than just a bunch of chemicals. Man, is housed in a physical body and since his body is designed for earthly life, at death, the body returns to the earth, Genesis 3:19.

Our Spirit Is God Conscious

If we consider the body to be ‘Earth-conscious’, we may think of the spirit as being ‘God-conscious’, Job 32:8. In other words, it’s that part of man’s nature which enables him to reach out to, and communicate with God. It’s the spiritual dimension in man’s character, and here again, we see the difference between man and other creatures.

It’s only man says who can say, ‘My soul thirsts for God, for the living God’, Psalm 42:2. Its only man who is encouraged to ‘Seek after Him, in the hope that they might feel after Him and find Him,’ Acts 17:27. Its only man who is given the assurance that ‘He is not far from each one of us, for in Him we live and move and have our being,’ Acts 17:27. And as Solomon reminds us at death, ‘The spirit returns to God Who gave it,’ Ecclesiastes 12:7.

Our Soul Is Self-Conscious

The ‘soul’ is man’s unique self. It is the part of his being which, because it is rational and moral, determines the actions performed by his body, and which, therefore, renders him personally accountable for what he does. And so, it is man’s ‘soul’ which will ultimately be either saved or lost, depending on a person’s response to the offer of the salvation which was made first possible by the coming of the Christ into the world.

The Greeks thought of the soul as the thing that integrates our whole inside. In other words, if something is messed up in our soul, our whole life is messed up. If we have bitterness or unforgiveness in our soul, it saturates everything in our life. To the Greeks, the soul is the thing that tied heart, mind and strength together. Loving God with all our soul means to love Him with our entire inner being.

To love God with all my soul means loving God with all I am, Psalm 62:5 / Psalm 103:1. My will, my attitudes, my intentions, my emotions, my thoughts and feelings, and my body. To love God with all your soul is to love God with your entire inner life.

Have you ever asked yourself, why you are here? Why does my life feel empty at times? We all have a God shaped space within in us which can only be satisfied by Him. People turn to all kinds of things to fill in that space, drugs, alcohol, affairs, work, etc. But that space can only be filled by God because He is the One who fits perfectly into it.

C. S. Lewis once said the following.

‘The mould in which a key is made would be a strange thing, if you had never seen a key, and the key itself a strange thing if you had never seen a lock. Your soul has a curious shape because it is a hollow made to fit a particular swelling in the infinite contours of the divine substance, or a key to unlock one of the doors in the house with many mansions. Your place in heaven will seem to be made for you and you alone, because you were made for it, made for it stitch by stitch as a glove is made for a hand.’

When we allow ourself to go beyond just believing that God exists, our souls takes us much farther than our heart can. Your soul takes you to a solid relationship with the living Lord and as a bonus, heaven. Loving God with all your soul means evaluating yourself and working to be everything God calls you to be.

Let me ask you some tough questions, 2 Corinthians 3:18. Do you look more like Jesus than you did last week? What characteristics, gifts, and talents set you apart? How is God leading you to use your uniqueness to serve Him and to draw others closer to Him? Are you using your resources like time, money, talent, and energy wisely and for His good purposes?

Do you represent Christ with your life? Understanding ourselves and our own special qualities, through the help of others and the Holy Spirit, teaches us how to fulfil God’s purpose in our lives. How valuable is your soul? Are you prepared for eternity? What’s more important to you, your life or your soul? Matthew 16:24-26.

Your family, your job, your wealth or your soul? In spite of whatever circumstances you face or will face in this life, is it not your deep desire to be able to find your way to the place where you can truly say that no matter what, ‘it is well with my soul’, that no matter what, I love God with all of my soul.

Loving God With All Of Our Strength

The Hebrew word for strength, is the word, ‘Me’od’ but it doesn’t mean strength in terms of muscle power. The word literally means ‘muchness’, in other words, the Israelites were to love God with all their ‘muchness’. They are to love God with all their substance, all their possessions, everything which God has given them. They are to love him with all of their might, all their being, all of their energy, Ecclesiastes 9:10.

And as Christians we too, are to love God with all of our might, all of our actions, all of our energy. We’re to love Him not just with a portion of our life but all of our life. There shouldn’t be any part of our lives which is kept back from loving God. When we turn our heart to the Lord, when we turn to soul to the Lord, our strength will naturally follow.

The outward actions that our bodies perform will naturally follow. Loving God will all of our strength will be seen in the way we spend our time. Loving God with all of our strength will be seen in the way we use our energy. In other words, there’s a change which takes place, and that change is demonstrated in the way we use our physical strength to pursue the Lord. It’s the idea of loving God more and more and wanting to please Him more and more with every aspect of our lives.

Remember when God commands anything of us, He doesn’t force us to do anything against our will. The Israelites had a choice whether to love God with all their heart, soul and strength or not. Let me ask you, does anyone force you to love your husband or wife? Of course not, you love them because you choose to love them. Does anyone force you to love your children or grandchildren? Of course not, you love them because you choose to love them.

Love goes way beyond our feelings. God doesn’t force us to love Him, loving God is a choice. And if we choose to love Him with all of our heart, soul and strength, He will help us to do just that. Isaiah says that God will give us the strength to do whatever He asks of us, Isaiah 40:29-31. We all have times when we don’t feel strong, we all have times when we feel weary and weak. We all go through times when we feel hurt, broken-hearted, physically or emotionally tired, and sometimes even spiritually exhausted.

But it’s during those times of weakness we should be asking God, to give us that supernatural strength to keep us going. And when He does, you too will be able to soar like the eagle. You too, will be able to run and walk without feeling exhausted. In other words, God will give you the strength which you need to keep moving forward.

How do we love God with all of our strength? We need to be strong in the Lord and in His might power, if we’re going to keep moving forward, Ephesians 6:10. When we get tired and weak and feel like we can’t move forward any more, then ask God, to give you strength. Pray that He will give you the power to fly hundreds of miles on the wings of Christ.

Loving God will all of our strength means asking God to remind us that our present troubles are only temporary, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. Loving God will all of our strength is going help us to fix on our eyes on what is eternal and not on our physical weakness. Loving God will all of our strength means we remember that He will deliver us in our times of trouble, Psalm 34:17-18. Loving God will all of our strength is going help us to remember that God is with us, when we feel like we can’t go on.

Loving God will all of our strength means we remember not to give up when we’re weary, Galatians 6:9. Loving God will all of our strength is going help us to keep on sharing the Good News with others, even when it looks like nothing is happening.

The point I’m making is simply this, if we want to love God with all of our strength, then we really need to get out of our comfort zones. In other words, we need to get to the point when we’ve used up all of our own strength and we start to rely on His strength. It’s easy to talk about our love for God with likeminded people. It’s easy to talk about our love for God in a religious setting. But what about outside our church circle?

Loving God with all my strength means stepping out in faith. Loving God with all my strength means going out of our way, even when we’re tired and exhausted to share the Good News with others outside of our circle. We’re called to go and share that Good News with others and we’re called to serve and care for needs of others. But all that this requires a degree of physical strength. The point I’m getting at is that loving God with all my strength is simple to say but it’s not always easy to do.

It takes a degree of strength to visit someone who is sick in hospital. It takes degree of strength to sit down and listen to someone’s problems. It takes degree of strength to help someone who has a physical or financial need. And if we want to love God with all of our strength, then we must acknowledge that we can’t do anything without His strength working in us.

Don’t tell me you don’t have the strength to share the Good News with a stranger. Don’t tell me you don’t have the strength to visit someone who is sick in hospital. Don’t tell me you don’t have the strength to sit down and listen to someone’s problems. Don’t tell me you don’t have the strength to help someone who has a physical or financial need.

Tell me you won’t, because Paul says that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you, Philippians 4:13. And so, we have to remember that we can’t do anything of these things by ourselves. Paul tells us we have a strength working within us that enables us to keep on going forward, Ephesians 3:20. All the strength we have comes from God and He gives us the strength to serve Him and serve others.

If your life is anything like mine you have a hundred things to juggle like being a involved in church work, work, school, a social life, hobbies, being a husband or wife. At the end of day, you may be left feeling drained, weak and insufficient because you can’t seem to keep up with it all.

In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, we can hear Paul crying out for his challenging situation to be taken away. He felt like we sometimes feel but God has a better plan for him. Instead of removing difficult circumstances from Paul’s life, God provides a way to overcome them through strengthening him. God always has a perfect solution and He makes that clear when He says, ‘my power is made perfect in weakness,’ 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. Because of God’s grace we can find our strength and contentment in our shortcomings. Grace meets our needs and Paul’s needs because it expresses God’s acceptance and pleasure in us.

Let me encourage you to ask God to give you the strength to do everything He requires of you, Psalm 68:35. Let me encourage you to then go and do it with the strength He gives you. Let me encourage you to love the Lord with all your strength, all your muchness, all your substance, all your possessions, everything which God has given you.

Let me finish this part with the words of John Wesley, ‘Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.’

Loving God With All Of Our Mind

Remember although the word ‘mind’, isn’t used in the Shema, Deuteronomy 6:4-5, but it is implied in the word, ‘heart’. It’s not until we get to the New Testament where we get a deeper meaning to the word ‘mind’. And as we know in today’s society there is an even greater understanding of the mind. Hence why mental health issues have risen over the years and there’s a big focus on mental wellbeing.

1. The state of our mind.

The human mind is one of the most incredible aspects of creation. It’s more powerful than the largest supercomputer and can solve great problems and make great discoveries. However, if a person begins their thinking by refusing to acknowledge what they know to be true. That is, if they refuse to acknowledge there is a God, then the further away from God their reasoning will lead them.

When God created Adam and Eve, He created them with a mind to be able to choose wisely. However, as soon as Satan entered the scene, he corrupted their minds by placing doubts in their minds concerning God’s will for them, Genesis 3:1-5. And mankind has struggled in their minds ever since concerning God’s will.

In the New Testament we find various words, which describe the state of our minds. Because of sin, people’s minds have become futile, depraved, deluded and darkened, Romans 1:21 / Romans 1:28 / Colossians 2:4 / Ephesians 4:18. Paul tells us that the effects of sin in our mind has consequences for how people view God and the world around them, Romans 8:5-7.

2. The cure for our mind.

If people’s minds have become futile, depraved, deluded and darkened, there’s only one option and that’s to renew our minds. That word ‘transformed’ in Romans 12:2, is the word, ‘metamorphoo’ and it simply means to change, to morph. And if we want to renew our minds we must fill our minds with the things of God. If we want to renew our minds we must set our hearts and mind on things above, Colossians 3:1-2.

In the Christian’s spiritual battle, the key element that is being fought over is the mind, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. Just as Satan appealed to Eve’s mind to get her to disobey God, he wants to deceive Christian minds, 2 Corinthians 11:3. And so, our minds need to be renewed daily by God’s Word so that we aren’t conformed to the world and don’t adopt the world’s thinking patterns.

3. To have the mind of Christ.

Paul told the Corinthian church, which loved the wisdom of the world, that Christians are to ‘have the mind of Christ’, 1 Corinthians 2:16. Although it may be a very easy thing to say, it will be a daily challenge for us all to have the mind of Christ in our lives. Loving God with all of our mind means focusing our thoughts on Him. We think about His holiness, His goodness, His awesome works and creation. Whatever is going on in your heart will be reflected in your life, Proverbs 23:7. We are to love God with our thinking and reasoning, not just our emotions.

4. Train your mind.

Paul says we need to think about good things, not evil things, Romans 8:6. We’re to focus our entire mind on the things that please God. To love God with our minds is to hold Him in high esteem, to think about Him with reverence and with adoration. The more we love God with our minds, the more we’ll be driven to worship Him for who He is.

In the Book of Philippians there are 16 references to a person’s mind or their thoughts. I believe that most Christians are much too indiscriminate about what they allow in their minds, Philippians 4:8. In other words, what we think about is our choice and we need to choose wisely what we’re going to focus on.

What ought to dominate the thoughts of people who are on their way to heaven? The Bible says, if you reap negative thoughts and gossip and criticism, if that’s what you sow in your mind, you’re going to reap a negative and bitter spirit, Proverbs 4:23.

Have you ever watched Satan attack a church through negative and critical thinkers? That’s one of his favourite strategies and we don’t even think its Satan, we don’t even know he’s doing it. Satan loves to plant negative, critical thinkers in church and they suck the joy right out of that place.

We could all think about something ugly about everybody else, but that’s not what you’re going to do if you’re going to love the Lord will all of your mind, Philippians 4:8. If we’re going to love God with all of our mind, then we need to think about those things which are good and fine about other people and think about all you can praise God for and be glad about it.

Can I give you some advice about how you can battle against Satan on this one? Don’t let your mind be a vacuum, don’t let Satan decide what you’re going to think about. Remember that worldly thinking is something you used to do before you became a Christian, Ephesians 4:22-24. Start your day in the Word and put the Scripture in your heart. Start your day praying to God asking for His Spirit to control your thoughts, Psalm 143:5.

And when you find yourself tempted and listening to some gossip or to think something ugly about somebody, say a prayer for that person at that specific moment and God will start to work on your heart too, Isaiah 26:3 / Colossians 4:2. God wants us to love Him completely and if we claim to love Him completely, then we must obey Him completely. We must love Him with everything we’ve got, Jeremiah 17:10.

Let ask you, what will history write about us concerning our love for Him? I hope and pray that history will write something similar to what it wrote about King Josiah. Josiah gave it his all, in line with God’s law, 2 Kings 23:25, let me encourage you do to the same.

“Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.” Mark 12:32-34

I want you to notice something about that passage of Scripture in Mark’s account because it looks like the scribe was surprised at the answer, Mark 12:32-33. Also notice when Jesus SAW, that he answered wisely, Jesus didn’t just hear that young man speaking to Him, He SAW on his face an honest expression when Jesus SAW that he answered wisely. Jesus said, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God’, Mark 12:34.

I believe that Jesus saw in that man’s face, faith and honesty. Here is a man who many might call a rationalist, or a ritualist. But there, standing before Jesus was a man who seems to have more understanding than those who had been trying to trap Jesus. And Jesus can bless a person like this abundantly. And notice that after this no one dared to ask Him any more questions, Mark 12:34. They stopped their schemes to trap Jesus in some argument since they had failed to win any of their arguments. The schemes of entrapment thus stopped, and they moved to scheme how they might physically take Him.

Whose Son Is the Messiah?

‘While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, ‘Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David? David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: ‘The Lord said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.’ David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?’ The large crowd listened to him with delight. As he taught, Jesus said, ‘Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honour at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.’ Mark 12:35-40

After weathering their barrage of questions, Jesus asked His opponents a question, how could the Christ be both David’s son and David’s Lord? Mark 12:35-37 / Luke 20:41-44 / Matthew 22:41-46. This question was crucial because the scribes’ objection to Jesus was that He, a mere man they thought claimed divine authority. Jesus showed by His question that the Old Testament had predicted that the Messiah would be both David’s son, human and David’s Lord, divine, Psalm 132:11 / Matthew 1:1 / Matthew 21:9.

The dilemma is how could David, call one of his descendants Lord, Psalm 110:1, when according to Jewish practice the descendant king should refer to his father or ancestor king as lord. What Jesus argued is that Psalm 110:1, is a prophecy by David of the Christ. David didn’t make the statement concerning himself, Acts 2:34 / Hebrews 1:13.

David in the psalm begins by telling us what the LORD, that is, Yahweh, said to the lord, that is, Adonia, that is, Jesus, David’s lord. Please note the word, ‘lord,’ used in the NIV, should have a capital ‘L’. Jesus quotes these words in Mark 12:36-37 / Luke 20:42, and Matthew 22:43-45, to show how David called the Messiah lord, which means that the Messiah was greater than David.

Peter quoted these words from Psalm 110:1, in Acts 2:34-35, to show how David prophesied the deity and accession of Jesus. Paul quotes these words in 1 Corinthians 15:25, to demonstrate the rule and dominion of Jesus. The writer of Hebrews quotes these words, Hebrews 1:13, to explain how Jesus is superior to any angel. Later, in Hebrews 10:13, the writer quotes these words again to explain the rule and dominion of Jesus.

The LORD, that is, God the Father, spoke to the Messiah, that is, Jesus the Son, and told Him He would sit at His right hand until His enemies are made a footstool for His feet, Mark 12:36 / Luke 20:42-43 / Matthew 22:44 / Ephesians 1:20 / Hebrews 8:1. In other words, Jesus would remain there until the Father provided the victory, 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 / Hebrews 2:8.

An important point in Mark in the context of these events is that the common people received Jesus, Mark 12:37. They weren’t part of the religious hierarchy of the religious establishment. They weren’t puffed up by their religious training or the positions they held.

They weren’t part of the religious politics that constantly intimidated the religious leaders into conformity with the accepted traditions and practices of Judaism. They didn’t stumble over their pride but accepted Jesus for who He was. They were the true Israel by faith who accepted Jesus as the Messiah.

Jesus used religious leaders to take Himself to the cross since the leaders had fallen from God. Though the Jews could not actually carry out the death sentence, they were the ones who called on the Romans to crucify Jesus. Peter later identified them as the ones who had to carry the blame for crucifying the Son of God, Acts 2:36 / Acts 4:5-12. Leaders would do well to continually check their motives by the word of God.

God’s leaders must continually caution themselves with God’s word in order to guard themselves from working against Him. The Pharisees were left speechless, and from that day on, no one dared to ask Jesus any more questions, Mark 12:34 / Matthew 22:46 / Luke 14:6 / Luke 20:40.

Warning Against the Teachers of the Law

‘As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honour at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.” Mark 12:38-40

A Warning Against Hypocrisy

Jesus speaks to the crowds and the disciples and tells them that the teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat, Matthew 23:1-2, that is, they enjoy the position of authority and were supposed to teach the law according to Moses. They sat there but they didn’t have any authority, and they certainly didn’t practise what they preached.

They didn’t lead by example but rather led by command, Matthew 23:3. Interestingly, Jesus tells the people to do whatever they tell them but don’t do what they do, this again implies they didn’t practise what they preached. The teachers of the law and the Pharisee’s ideas of religion and their traditions became very heavy, Matthew 23:4 / Acts 15:10, that is, they made it almost impossible for people to obey their legalistic traditions, Mark 7:1-9.

Their hypocrisy was that they didn’t preach ‘justice, mercy and faith,’ Matthew 23:23. They kept binding non-essential burdens on the people that couldn’t be perfectly obeyed in order to accomplish justification before God, Matthew 23:4 / Romans 3:20 / Galatians 2:16. Everything they did was only for public show, Mark 12:38-39 / Luke 20:46 / Matthew 23:5-7 / 3 John 9-10. They make their phylacteries wide, Phylacteries were small leather boxes that contained Scriptures.

Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.

‘In Exodus 13:16 / Deuteronomy 6:8 / Deuteronomy 11:18, it was said to Israel concerning the teachings of the law, that they should be bound, ‘for a token upon thy head, and for frontlets between thine eyes’. In the inter-biblical period, we find the Jews converting this figure into outward fact. They took four passages adjacent to the thrice-repeated injunction, namely, Exodus 13:2-10 / Exodus 13:11-17 / Deuteronomy 6:4-9, and Deuteronomy 11:13-22, and writing them on strips of parchment, encased the folded strips in minute leather boxes. These four boxes were set on edge and fastened upon one leather base, which was placed in the middle of the forehead, and held there by a string tied round the head with peculiar knots which had a mystical meaning. Borders of the garments were considered sacred by the Jews, and the enlargement of the border was another device for ostentation and gratification of the pride of its wearer.’

We also read of how much they loved their authority, as they loved to sit in places of honour at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogue, Mark 12:39 / Luke 20:46 / Matthew 23:6. This was all about the show, ‘look how important we are!’ We can almost imagine them becoming upset with people if no one greeted them at the marketplace or even took the time to call them ‘Rabbi’, which means teacher, Matthew 23:8. Oh, how they loved to be seen by people, sit in positions of authority and liked to have a title.

Barnes, in his commentary, says the following, concerning the word ‘Rabbi’.

‘This word literally signifies great. It was a title given to eminent teachers of the law among the Jews, a title of honour and dignity, denoting authority and ability to teach. They were gratified with such titles and wished it given to themselves as denoting superiority. Every time it was given to them it implied their superiority to the persons who used it, and they were fond, therefore, of hearing it often applied to them. There were three titles in use among the Jews, Rab, Rabbi, and Rabban, denoting different degrees of learning and ability, as literary degrees do among us.’

Jesus turns and speaks to His disciples and tells them three things they were not to do, Matthew 23:8-10.

1. Do not be called ‘Rabbi’, Matthew 23:8.

They weren’t to receive such a title of distinction. Jesus says the reason for not doing so was simply He was their Teacher, and all the disciples were equal, that is, they were equal in authority.

2. Do not call anyone on earth ‘father’, Matthew 23:9.

This obviously doesn’t apply to calling our physical fathers, father. The word used here implies someone with authority, someone who is superior and has the right to command.

The reason Jesus gives is because they have one Father, who is in heaven, Matthew 6:9-13, He is the One with all authority, He is superior, and He certainly has the right to command.

3. Do not be called ‘instructors’, Matthew 23:10.

The word instructor implies a teacher, someone who was considered a leader in Bible times because of their position, James 3:1. The word refers to those who go before others, those who claim the right to direct and control others. The reason Jesus gives for this is simply because they have an instructor, the Messiah, Jesus Himself.

Notice how Jesus tells them the greatest among them will be their servant, Matthew 20:26 / Matthew 23:11. They don’t need any titles, they just need an attitude which is willing to serve others, Mark 10:43-44. Leadership doesn’t begin at the top, it begins at the bottom, it begins by serving others and putting their needs first, Philippians 2:4. Whoever exalts themselves will be humbled, that is, brought down, but whoever humbles themselves will be exalted, that is, raised up, Matthew 23:12. It’s always wise to humble ourselves, otherwise, God will do it for us, Luke 14:11 / James 4:10.

Smith, in his commentary, says the following.

‘Now having declared that to His disciples, these are the rules for His disciples. He now turns and addresses Himself to these scribes and the Pharisees. And He has an eightfold denunciation against them, pronouncing an eightfold woe. To my disciples, don’t follow their example. They say, but they don’t do. They exalt themselves. They draw attention to themselves. They love to be exalted and elevated above people, but you are brothers. If you’re going to be the chief, be the servant. Humble yourself and God will exalt you. But exalt yourself and God will abase you.’

No one knows how they went about ‘devouring widow’s houses’, Mark 12:40 / Luke 20:47 / Matthew 23:14. Note that the footnote in Matthew 23:14, says, ‘some manuscripts include here words similar to Mark 12:40, and Luke 20:47. Maybe when we think of the parable which Jesus taught about ‘Unjust Judge’ in Luke 18:1-8, we can get a glimpse of what they were doing.

Maybe they were charging a huge amount of money when some widows were seeking justice, maybe they abused the widow’s hospitability and took advantage of their kind generosity, Mark 12:41-44. There’s nothing more impressive in some people’s eyes than a long-winded prayer, Mark 12:40 / Luke 20:47. Even today this still happens where Christians treat prayer like a sermon, and they remind God of what He wrote in His Word.

Because of their hypocrisy, Jesus tells them they will be judged and punished with a harsher punishment, Mark 12:40 / Luke 20:47, why? As ‘God’s spiritual leaders’, they should have known better, they were full of arrogance, and pride, and they pretended to be something they weren’t.

And if this isn’t a lesson for the churches’ spiritual leaders today, I don’t know what is. We need to be careful that opinion and tradition don’t become law, 1 Corinthians 4:6, we need to be careful how we treat the venerable among us, James 1:27, and more importantly, we should pretend to be something we’re not.

Jesus used religious leaders to take Himself to the cross since the leaders had fallen from God. Though the Jews could not actually carry out the death sentence, they were the ones who called on the Romans to crucify Jesus. Peter later identified them as the ones who had to carry the blame for crucifying the Son of God, Acts 2:36 / Acts 4:5-12. Leaders would do well to continually check their motives by the word of God. God’s leaders must continually caution themselves with God’s word in order to guard themselves against working against Him.

The Widow’s Offering

‘Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts.’ Mark 12:41

Jesus sat down, looked up and observed people contributing to the temple treasury Mark 12:41 / Luke 21:1. He saw many rich people deposit large offerings into the temple treasury.

THE TEMPLE TREASURY

In the New Testament, there seems to be a lot of things happening in and around the temple treasury which is also known as the Court of Women. It was called the Court of the Women, as that is as far as women were allowed to enter the temple courts. It was in this court where Jesus was presented for purification as a child, the place where they met Simeon and Anna, Luke 2:25-38.

We know that Jesus taught in the treasury, Matthew 21:23 / John 7:14 / John 7:28 / John 8:2 / John 8:20, but one thing we should bear in mind is that He never actually entered the sanctuary itself because it was only the priests who were allowed to enter. The treasury was a court that was located to the east of the temple itself, just below the Nicanor Gate.

The Sanhedrin often met there, and it was here where they brought the woman who was supposedly caught in the act of adultery, John 8:1-20. In the treasury, there were thirteen boxes on the wall, into which people could drop their offering money into. They are made of bronze and called trumpets because of their shape.

‘But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.’ Mark 12:42

Not only did Jesus see many rich people deposit large offerings into the temple treasury, but He also saw an impoverished widow give two small coins which were nearly worthless, Mark 12:42 / Luke 21:2.

THE COPPER COINS

The KJV uses the word ‘mite’ which was a very small Jewish coin called a ‘lepton’, meaning ‘the thin one’, it’s sometimes called a farthing or a penny, Luke 12:59, it was made of bronze or copper and was the smallest in terms of the value of all the Roman Coins, Mark 12:42.

HOW DID JESUS KNOW WHAT SHE GAVE?

I’ve personally held one of these coins in my hand and I must say it’s tiny, I would say around the size of our old British half pennies. How did Jesus know that this widow had given in two little coins? It’s possible that He saw them, we certainly know that He knows all things and all people but it’s also possible that the sound these coins made against the metal would have indicated how much people offered to the temple.

‘Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.’ Mark 12:43-44

The Lord explained that the widow had contributed more than the rich, more than all of them put together is being suggested here, she put in everything she had, while the rich had simply given their left-over change, Mark 12:43-44 / Luke 21:3-4.

This is the difference between a collection and an offering, when we stand outside a supermarket, we usually find someone rattling a collection box and if we like the cause, we’ll do our shopping and give them any spare change we have left over. An offering isn’t about giving the left-over change, it’s purposely given, the amount is purposely given, we give first then do whatever we need to do with the rest.

WHY DID JESUS COMMEND THE WIDOW’S GIFT?

Some commentators suggest that the Jewish law at the time, wouldn’t allow anyone to give less than two gifts, if this is true then it’s clear she gave the smallest amount legally possible. However, if she literally gave everything she had and only had two coins to her name, this speaks volumes about her faith in God to take care of her daily needs.

Her offering was a reflection of her heart. What she gave was in accordance with God’s law, however this law was only addressed to Jewish males over the age of twenty, Exodus 30:12-14. It’s entirely possible that she wasn’t obliged to give but she did so as a free will offering, Exodus 35:29. If that’s all she had, then it was truly a sacrificial gift because this meant she had nothing left.

She is the example of sacrificial living which is in contrast with those who spend their wealth on everything else but reluctantly give God the leftovers, Matthew 6:19-21. Her giving was easy because she knew her giving wouldn’t affect her lifestyle, she trusted in God and not in wealth. She gave because she truly loved God and expressed her love for Him through her giving, 2 Corinthians 4:15 / 1 Corinthians 15:10.

JESUS CONTRADICTS MODERN VIEWS OF GIVING

Many modern churches seem to regard large donations more highly than small ones. Some honour wealthy donors in special ways and allow them more influence in church policy, occasionally they even ridicule small contributions as unworthy of the Lord. It’s clear that the Lord Himself viewed giving in a very different way.

Jesus wasn’t impressed by the size of the offering, whether large or small, but He was very concerned with the attitude of the giver. To Jesus, the gift of the widow, while having almost no monetary value, was worth much more than the large and impressive donations of the rich. We need to think of riches as Jesus did.

CONCLUSION

Jesus teaches us that giving has little to do with the amount we give but the attitude in which we give. He sees what we give, He knows the amount we give but He also knows how much we have kept back for ourselves. The poor among us should take great comfort from the widow’s example, and they should know that their ‘small’ offering is just as accepted by God as someone who is rich and making a ‘large’ offering.

Even today in our churches we have those who give a ‘large’ amount because they have to, God says, we MUST give! But then you get those others, who, out of a heart of thanksgiving for what God has done in their lives, may give ‘less’ because that’s all these have, but their hearts are right.

When we look at the Christian faith as a whole, we know that our faith isn’t just about receiving but it’s also about giving, Acts 20:35 / 2 Corinthians 8:1-4 / Philippians 4:8-18. To be a Christian means we need to be willing to sacrifice, even in our finances. If we will first give ourselves to the Lord, 2 Corinthians 8:5, we will have no problem being liberal in our giving. Remember Jesus saw what the widow put into the temple treasury, so He still sees it today, 2 Corinthians 9:7.

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