You are not far from the kingdom of God (Mark 12b Note)

 

Mark 12:13-34

Key verse 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

Introduction: As Jesus entered Jerusalem, he received a great welcome as the king of the Jews or the Messiah. Soon, he exercised his authority at the temple and drove out animals and overturned the tables of money exchangers of those who were selling animals and money exchangers with a rebuke, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.”(11:17) In response, the religious leaders demanded Jesus to reveal the source of his authority. In his answer to this question, Jesus gave them a parable of the tenant of God’s vineyard. In this parable, Jesus implicitly revealed their wickedness as the tenants of God’s vineyard and Jesus’ identity as the son of God. In this way, the conflict was set in full motion. From this point on they questioned Jesus on various subjects of their expertise: first the issue for the Herodians: if they had to pay taxes to Caesar or not, second the issue for Sadducees: if there is resurrection or not,  third the issue of the teachers of the Law: what is the greatest commandment? In each of these challenges, Jesus taught them with clarity and in the end, it was they that were challenged for their ignorance or unbelief.

1.      [13-15b] Who sent whom to Jesus and why? (13; cf. 12) What did they say to Jesus? (14a) And what question did they ask? (14b-15a) What were their hypocrisy and trap? (15b)

In his parable of the vineyard, Jesus implicitly labeled the leaders of the time (the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders v12) as the wicked and ungrateful tenants of God’s vineyard.  They knew this and were determined to catch Jesus for anything wrong. They sent delegates from each of these groups to interrogate Jesus based on their expertise.

First one was that of Herodians. Herodians were those who sided with Herod and his governing authority as the king of the nation. The most important matter for them was collecting taxes from people to run the government. In general, Jews did not like or even hated Herodians for they were a part of the pagan kingdom Roman Empire.   So devout Jews were reluctant or even hated to pay taxes. So paying taxes was a hot issue between the Pharisees and Herodians. The Pharisee was against it and Herodians were all for it. Just on this issue, they hated each other. But at this time, they came up together to Jesus, not to find the right answer but to trap Jesus. The question was a simple one: “Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?” (14)  If Jesus says yes, then it would offend the Pharisees, and if he says no, then it would offend Herodians and would be considered a challenge to the Roman authority.

In deep down underneath this question lies a fundamental question: who has the authority over them? Does Herod or Roman Emperor have any authority over them? Or, which authority, God or the Emperor of Rome do they have to honor and submit to? In their piety, the Pharisees chose God as the sole authority and felt that they did not have any obligation to the Emperor/Herod. On the other hand, Herodians lived by the provisions and remunerations from the governing body. They felt that they were definitely obligated to pay taxes. It is not clear if the Herodians recused themselves from offering to the Lord as the law of God prescribed. It was likely that they did not care much about God or His law for their lives were going well without paying much attention to the Lord or His requirements. Simply Herodians accepted and adopted the Roman rule as legitimate authority over them.

To them Jesus answered this: “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” (17)

First, what does this mean? They asked one question if they had to pay taxes to Caesar or not. But Jesus refined his answer by saying that they were obligated to pay Caesar as much as they used and benefited from Caesar. But Jesus did not stop here. He added that they had to pay the Lord what they owed to Him as well. When one clause is connected by ‘and’, there are two ways to understand: the first clause is equal to the second clause.  Another one is that the second clause is the sequel to the first one in time or on top of the first one in emphasis. In this case, Jesus was putting emphasis on the second clause on top of the first one. That is to say that you are to pay Caesar what belongs to him. On top of it or above all, you have to pay what is God’s. In this way, Jesus gave them each of these two parties an answer to what they expected to hear but also pointed out their wrongs.

What was the reason to argue on this issue, paying taxes or not?  In them were strong desires not to give up what they earned. We can simplify this by saying that they lived off by what they have on earth, the riches of this world. They were not God-dependent. God was not the source of their living but materials that they earned were the source of their lives. Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Mat 6:21 NIV) In the US, the median tax rate ranges from 20% to 35%. In an effort to keep more money in our pocket, we make all our effort to reduce taxes. Was there anyone who is happy to pay taxes?  Grudgingly or reluctantly we obey the fax law to escape the punishment of the law. What if we pay taxes with joy for the fact that the government provides us a peaceful environment where we can flourish in all that we do?  Simply we all have a desire not to pay what is due for us in order to keep more for ourselves. This is ungodliness and sinfulness.

Second, why did they fail to recognize the authority of the Lord in and with the authority of the Roman empire?

Israel was chosen by God and she became God’s by the Covenant. But they violated the law of Covenant and incurred His punishment. Lev 26:14-46 describes the five stages of God’s curses that will come when Israel disobeys the Covenant.

39 Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their ancestors’ sins, they will waste away.

This is the fifth curse that God would impose on Israel when she disobeys the Lord. According to this covenant curses, the nation lost its country BC 586 when Babylon destroyed the nation. Since then, they never recovered and had been under the rule of superpowers of the world: Babylon, Persian, Greek, and now Roman empire.   Now, Israel was under the fifth covenant curses, and Israel under Roman rule was the very evidence of the fact that they were still under God’s punishment. This punishment had one purpose, under extreme hardship they might turn their hearts to the Lord (Lev 26:40-42).

 40 “ ‘But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, 41 which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, 42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham and I will remember the land. (Lev 26)

Simply put, God let Roman Expire rule Israel for the punishment of their sin. The Lordship over Israel was never relinquished and His lordship over Israel was partially given to Roman Empire for a specific purpose. If they did not see or failed to see God behind the Roman Empire, then it would be a pitiful thing for they remained blind the LORD of all creation still ruling over and above Roman authority.

Jesus’ word spoke of this fundamental truth about the nation Israel under the Roman Empire. No one or no nation is happy to be under subjugation under a superpower, esp. when this power is oppressive and tyrant. Nevertheless, faithful eyes do not fail to see the LORD’s power and authority above and beyond the oppressive powers of this world. Then, he accepts the proper dues for the kingdom and for the LORD as well without grudge or grievance. I would say that the due for the government is ‘a form of sin tax’ in the sense that the LORD put such ungodly government over us because of our sin and unbelief.

2.      [15c-17] What was Jesus’ question for them and what was their answer? (15c-16) What did he say, then? (17a) What is Caesar’s and what is God’s? What did he mean by saying this? Why were they amazed? (17b)

Jesus pointed out that they were using Roman money, denarius and this spoke to the fact that they were under Roman rule, whether they were willing to accept or not. How did they come to be under such a predicament? Roman rule over Israel spoke of ‘their rebellion’ against the LORD as it was a part of the Covenant curses. In other words, God instituted Roman power over Israel for His purpose.  Because of this, it was the time to go back to him and to give what belonged to the Lord.  What is then exactly what God’s is? What is giving full honor to His holiness?  At the beginning of His covenant with Israel, God told this :

24 “ ‘Make an altar of earth for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you. (Exo 20)

To honor the Lord, as He was worthy of, is to offer burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Simply there won’t be true honor given to the LORD unless our whole being was given to the LORD as a burnt offering. This was what Jesus did on the cross on behalf of us. Paul urged believers to do the same thing:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. (Rom 12:1)

Anything less is not sufficient for the glory of the LORD. To think that he had done enough without full sacrifice is to dishonor the Lord or a form of defamation for His glory. How can this be possible? It can be done only in and through Jesus, the redeemer. When one failed to accept the full sacrifice of one’s life to the Lord, there is always complaints and unhappiness. This was exactly shown in these leaders of the nation.

3.      [18-23] Who came to Jesus? (18) Who were they? (cf. Acts 23:8) What did Moses write about a man whose brother died, leaving a wife but no children? (19; cf. Deut 25:5-10) What was God’s purpose in this provision (Gen 38; Ruth 3-4)? What was the story they brought to Jesus? (20-22) What would be the dilemma at the resurrection they pointed out? (23)

After the Herodians, Sadducees came to challenge Jesus’ authority. They were small in number but held a powerful position of the nation, politically and religiously for they were mainly priests and governed the temple and all religious matters of the nation. Certainly, they were recognized for their power and wealth. Their thinking was conservative and accepted only the five books of Moses and denied the prophets and historical books of the Hebrew Bible (OT). They did not believe in the resurrection unlike the Pharisees or other religious groups. Based on the levirate marriage that God established for the purpose of keeping the land that was allotted the family for good. (Deut 25:5–10). But in their foolishness, the Sadducees brought up a question on whose wife she will be after resurrection after marrying seven times with succeeding brothers.

 

 

4.      [24-27] Why were they in error? (24) What was their error in marriage after death? (25) What did God say to Moses at the burning bush? (26; cf. Ex 3:6) What did Jesus teach from this? (27) Discuss the God of the living.

Jesus pointed out two flaws in their thinking:

24 Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?

First, they did not know the scripture:

Their reasoning was founded on the law of levirate marriage. We are to look carefully at the purpose and circumstance of this law. Long before the law, as given, it was seen in the life of Judah (Gen 38). And soon after the law, we see in the life of Ruth (Ruth 3-4). Interestingly on both occasions, the linage was kept alive by levirate marriage. If there were not the levirate marriage, then Judah’s linage was cut off and never came to fulfill the promise of God. No David was born and no Jesus was born in David's linage.  Interestingly enough, the birth of Jesus through Mary and the Holy Spirit would be considered a form of levirate marriage. Joseph, her husband-to-be, was as good as dead for all men sinned against God and fall short of the glory.  Yet God himself, as the levirate brother of the dead sinner, fathered His son through Mary. The setup of the levirate marriage itself speaks of God’s blessing that shall last beyond the power of sin and death. It involves the death of sinners and the revival of the linage by this particular marriage set up. Simply levirate marriage itself speaks of God’s vision to bless one beyond his death, i.e., to eternity. If one dies and does not resurrect, what is of value to have a land on his name forever? This was an absurd concept. Simply levirate marriage speaks of God’s will to resurrect his children from death to life in Him so that he might have a place in His kingdom for good to eternity!! Notwithstanding this, they deduced the conclusion that there was no resurrection. They transferred all the settings of the earth to heaven. If one woman married to seven brothers, whose wife she would be in the resurrection?

25 When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.

When one’s mind is totally framed by the things of the earth and does not concern the things of God, his mind is a novice to the things of God. Man will remain under such darkness until he opens his heart to the one who is in heaven beyond the perimeters of human living. To accept the Lord is to count His world as a part of the sphere of my world. All are under the power of death. This renders man to be unable to fathom the life beyond death. This is the true reality of life on earth now. Only by faith in the Lord who created the whole universe and is now presiding over his creation, our mind is open to see a glimpse of the kingdom of God. We will be like angels in heaven. There will be no marriage and no reproduction.

Second, they did not know the power of God.

When God introduced himself to Moses in the burning bush, he said that he was the God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Though these three were dead long before, God counted him to be their God, meaning that they were living with Him. God is living God and he does not call himself the God of the dead person or God of stone. In Him is life and in Him no one is dead. God has the power to resurrect the dead to life. In Him all are alive! Failure to know that the LORD is the Lord of life is his total ignorance of Him.

Also, when the dead rises, there will be no marriage at all. They will be like angels in heaven, a body enduring to eternity.  How can this be? It is beyond our imagination for we have never seen it or known it. But Paul understood this concretely (1 Cor 15:35-49).  We do not know and remain oblivious to most of the things of heaven. But by faith, faith only, we have certainty on our resurrection and resurrect body in glory.  When our hearts are devoid of this certainty, we are forced to live and suffer by the futility of the mortal body. Jesus’ death and resurrection serve as the foundation of that certainty for us. In this, we rejoice in him.

 

5.      [28-34] Who did one of the teachers of the Law ask Jesus (28)?  How was this man different from the previous questioners (28; Cf. 13, 23)? In his answer, what did Jesus quote (29-31; ref. Deu 6:4-5; Lev 19:18)? How did the man expose the two commandments (32-33; ref. 1 Sam 15:22)? How did Jesus accept his understanding of the word (34a)? Discuss what Jesus meant saying you are not far from the kingdom of God (Ref. 15b, 24; Cf. Eph 2:13).  Find the significance of the fact that no one dared to ask him any more questions. 

On the previous two occasions, they came as representatives of the group. But here is one man among the teachers of the Law. He came forward to Jesus and asked a sincere question: “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” He was so happy to hear how well Jesus answered to the Sadducees and the Herodians and because he fully concurred with Jesus’ teaching.  Jesus answered by quoting two verses almost word for word from the Deu 6:4-5 and Lev 19:18 without any expository comment.

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.(Lev 19:18b)

But as we compare this with v30, we see that Jesus added ‘with all your mind” to Deut 6:4-5. Though the two things, heart, and soul represent fully what a person constitutes apart from the body, it seems that Jesus added ‘mind’ in order to make it comprehensive, not missing any elements of man.  The entire being must love the Lord and no elements of a human being must deviate from the Lord. As heard what Jesus said, he commended Jesus and repeated Jesus’ word and added this: to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. In other words, he was fully aware of the spirit of the Law of Covenant. In addition, this man added his exposition of these two commandments, saying ‘more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices’.  Though these two verses are in the five books of Moses, the phrase or the idea of ‘more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices’ is not found the five books of Moses but found frequently in the warnings of prophets (Hosea 6:6; Isa 1:11; Amos 5:22). This teacher keenly knew where the failure of his people came from or why Israel failed to serve the Lord. Where they failed, he also struggled not to follow their path. Simply this teacher knew well and captured the depth of the significance of the two commandments.  There was an insurmountable wall between what He had and what the Lord requires. What does it mean? It would give a great burden for one who tries to keep the two commandments. But it would be a much greater burden to know that all the burnt offerings and sacrifices cannot replace what they failed to do in keeping the Law. In this realization, one comes to utter helplessness in himself and this helplessness makes the beginning of repentance.

What did Jesus say to the man as he heard of this man?

“You are not far from the kingdom of God.”(34a)

Truly he was ready to welcome Jesus, the one who would bring the kingdom of God. In addition, what if we can find a sacrifice that can completely and effectively cover the failures in keeping these commandments? What if we can find a sacrifice that can effectively replace the failures and wrongs committed against the commandments? Jesus was right there before this man as he was ready to do so on behalf of him. Truly he was not far from the kingdom of God. 

6.      Expose these two commandments in your own terms (ref. 1Jn 4:19b-21; Ro 5:8; Mt 5:43-48) and find how and why the three leaders of the nation misapprehended these two commandments.

The Pharisees and Herodians were hung up on the matter of how one can offer to the Lord. This was because their hearts were set on the things on the earth.  

They were right in what and how they offered to the Lord according to their own understanding. But they failed to see themselves far too short of God’s command to love the Lord and to love others as they love themselves. They did not set their hearts to the Lord of heaven but to themselves.