Gospel of Mark Study #39

“3 IEDs on the Road to Calvary”

Mark 12:12-27

Study #39 in Mark Series

INTRODUCTION:

During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan we heard story after story of American and coalition troops injured or killed by roadside bombs. They call these, I.E.D.s, which stands for Improvised Explosive Devices. For example, a convoy would be traveling from one place to another. They come to some spot in the road where, unbeknownst to them, the enemy has placed some sort of home-made bomb. These take many different forms. Some are detonated by vibration, some by pressure, and some by remote-control. These devices are easy to make and cheap to build, requiring a minimum of technical know-how and only the most rudimentary detonating system. Many of them are set off using an old cell phone, or a child’s remote-controlled car transmitter, the kind of thing you can buy at any electronics store. As the convoy passes, someone observing from behind cover, sets off the blast at just the right moment to do the most damage, leaving soldiers dead or severely injured.

It is difficult, if not impossible to spot these killing devices because they are designed to blend into the background. There is no sign, “Beware of bombs!” There is no red flag to show where they have been planted. It takes special skills to detect them before somebody steps on one and gets his legs blown off. 

TRANSITION:

In our text for today in Mark 12, Jesus came across three bombs in the road as He made His way toward the cross. They were provided by the devil working through people, people who hated Jesus and wanted to see him DEAD! Let’s look at these “3 I.E.D.s On the Road to Calvary.” 

NOTES on the Text:

Today we’re in Mark 12:12-27. The first I.E.D. was physical in nature and is identified in verse 12, which was also the last verse of our text from last week. If successful it would have resulted in physical harm to Jesus. The second I.E.D. is described in verses 13-17 and is in the form of a political question designed to ensnare Jesus and get him into trouble with the Romans or with the Zealots. The third I.E.D. took the form of a theological conundrum, which Jesus’ enemies hoped would make Him look foolish and unsophisticated and cause him to lose his following among the common folks. Let’s examine these roadside bombs one by one. 

Verse 12: And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the people, for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so, they left Him and went away. 

• This first I.E.D. was a physical threat to His person. The religious leaders wanted to “seize Him,” meaning arrest Him, drag Him off somewhere and beat Him half to death. In fact, they tried to grab Him on several occasions, but He always slipped out of their hands.
• This time they backed down, realizing that Jesus had too many supporters around Him, and they knew that their plan could backfire against them. 

Verse 13: Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him in order to trap Him in a statement [lit. “to catch him in his words”].    

• This is the second I.E.D. in the road. You will remember our study from a couple of weeks ago when in 11:27-33 Jesus posed a question to the Scribes and Pharisees about where John the Baptist got his authority to call people to repentance and to baptize converts. — ²⁷ They came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to Him, ²⁸ and began saying to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?”  ²⁹ And Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things.  ³⁰ “Was the baptism of John from Heaven, or from men? Answer Me.”  ³¹ They began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From Heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’  ³² “But shall we say, ‘From men’?” –they were afraid of the people, for everyone considered John to have been a real prophet.  ³³ Answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”  
• Notice that He asked the question in such a way that they felt unable to answer it either way without incriminating themselves. That must have really bugged them. They were trying to catch Him in a word-trap, and they ended up being the ones to get caught. So… now they are taking another run at it. They are going to try once again to ensnare Jesus by getting Him to say something that will either get Him into trouble with the Romans and their supporters, or with the radical zealots who hated the Romans.
• Notice that the text clearly indicates that the last bunch sent in these people. It is like watching tag-team wrestling. And who are the people that showed up for this second road-side bombing attempt? Pharisees and Herodians. You know what Pharisees are but what are Herodians? Unlike the Pharisees and Sadducees, the Herodians were not a tight-knit religious group but a loose political one made up of all kinds of people. Basically, they were supporters of the Herod family, and believed that the Herods were their best hope as rulers who could act as a buffer between Israel and the Romans. In other words, the Pharisees disliked Herod, hated the Romans, and opposed all Roman taxation. The Herodians, on the other hand, liked the Herods, worked with the Romans, and supported the Roman tax. The only reason you would ever get these two groups to work together was as co-conspirators to bring down Jesus. Strange bedfellows indeed!

Verses 14-15: They came and said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?  ¹⁵ Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at.” 

• They started out by shamelessly buttering up Jesus to get Him to lower His defenses. That did not work. He saw right through it. Finally, they got to the question, the I.E.D. they hoped would blow Jesus off the road. “Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?  ¹⁵ Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?” This was not a legitimate question because they had no choice in the matter—they had to pay it! They knew it and Jesus knew it, and He named their question for what it was, “hypocrisy.” Besides, they were not interested in learning from Him or even in having a legitimate dialogue. They just wanted to find something with which to accuse Him.
• This poll-tax was a widely hated thing in Israel. It was a head tax, paid directly into the Roman treasury, which everyone had to pay just for the privilege of existing. The cost was one denarius per year (equal to one day’s wages) to be paid personally by all males aged 14 to 65. Husbands also had to pay the tax for their wives.
• Notice that Jesus did not even have any money with Him. He had to borrow a coin to use for His object lesson. This is a good reminder that Jesus never worried about money. You see, money is never a problem for God. He can provide the finances in a thousand different ways. He is only concerned with our hearts and our attitude toward wealth, not with the money itself. One of my favorite NT stories is found in Matthew 17:24-27. It’s about a different time and a different tax: After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax [i.e., the annual temple tax] came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”  ²⁵ “Yes, He does,” he replied.  When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” He asked.  “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own sons or from others?”  ²⁶ “From others,” Peter answered.  “Then the sons are exempt,” Jesus said to him.  ²⁷ “But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake, and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for My tax and yours.” 
• Think about this for a moment. In the first place He was not even obligated to pay the tax because He was the King of all kings and Lord of all lords. His point was that as the Son of God He was not obligated to pay a tax on the House of God, the Temple. However, to avoid offending, He said, He would pay the tax. Then He sent Peter to go out and catch a fish. But He did not tell Peter where to go on the lake. How did He know which fish Peter would catch, if any? And how did He know that that particular fish would have a coin in its mouth? And how did He know that the money would be the exact amount needed to pay the tax? This is an amazing example of the fact that Jesus knows everything there is to know. He is truly God Incarnate.

Verses 16-17: They brought one and He said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.”  ¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were amazed at Him. 

• I can just see Him holding up the coin in His fingers for everyone to look at. He shouted, “Whose image is stamped on this coin? And whose motto?” At that time, the image was of Tiberius, the reigning Caesar. On the “heads” side of the coin circling around the image were the words, “Of Tiberius Caesar, the divine Augustus, son of Augustus.” The “tails” side of the coin had the inscription: “Pontifex maximus,” meaning that the emperor was the high priest of the Roman nation.
• For this to make sense you need to understand something about the ancient view of coinage. Three important principles (taken from William Barclay’s commentary on Mark):

1.       Coinage was a sign of power. It was one of the first things a king did after conquering another nation—he issued coins to demonstrate his kingship and power.

2.      Where the coin was valid the king’s power held good. His power was measurable by the area in which the coins were valid currency.

3.      Because a coin had the king’s head and inscription on it, in one sense it was considered the personal property of the king.

• Everyone knew the answer to Jesus’ question: “Caesar’s!” they all shouted. At that Jesus said: “Then give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar but give unto God what belongs to Him.” His point was that by using the coinage of Tiberius they were recognizing his political power in Israel and by paying the tax they were only giving back what was rightfully his. The second part is true as well: the world and all that is in it belongs to God by right of creation and He has stamped His own image on every man, woman, and child. Therefore, we are His by divine right and we need to pay God what is due Him; namely, to offer our lives back to Him in loving and faithful service.
• This response by Jesus left the Pharisees and the Herodians standing there with their mouths hanging open. They had nothing more to say.

Verses 18-23: Some Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) came to Jesus, and began questioning Him, saying, ¹⁹ “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves behind a wife and leaves no child, his brother should marry the wife and raise up children to his brother.  ²⁰ There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife and died leaving no children.  ²¹ The second one married her and died leaving behind no children; and the third likewise; ²² and so all seven left no children. Last of all, the woman died also.  ²³ In the resurrection, when they rise again, which one’s wife will she be? For all seven had married her.” 

• This is the third I.E.D. buried in the road in the hopes that Jesus would step on it. This time the threat was not physical or political, but theological. Notice that this time the trap is set by a group of Sadducees. These guys were in a sense the classical liberals of their day. They were aristocratic and wealthy. They included most of the priests and all the high priests. And naturally, wanting to hold onto their wealth and power they were usually collaborators with the Romans because that was the only sure way to retain their comforts and their privileges. They were religious but they had come to believe that they had moved on beyond the simplistic doctrines and teachings of the more fundamentalist Pharisees. The Sadducees, for example, did not believe in any sort of resurrection from the dead. Therefore, they had jettisoned any belief in an afterlife, whether in Heaven or Hell. They also rejected the notion of spirits of any kind, including angels, good or evil. Moreover, the only part of the Scriptures to which they gave credence was the Pentateuch. They did not have much use for the rest of their Bible, and they cared nothing for the traditions and oral teachings that were so important to the Pharisees.
• Knowing that Jesus believed in the resurrection and life after death, these Sadducees saw this as a weakness in his theological armor and attacked Him on these points. The possibility of a resurrection was only assumed by them as the basis for their argument. It was merely a hypothetical for them. The purpose of their question was to attempt to prove the impossibility of a resurrection by reducing it to absurdity. 

Verses 24-25: Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God?  ²⁵ For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in Heaven.” 

• This sentence is a tad confusing to us because it is a question posed in the form of a double negative. Turn it around and put it in the positive and it makes perfect sense: “The reason you are mistaken is that you do not understand the Scriptures, or the power of God.” Jesus was using a culturally acceptable way of making a statement. He was not opening the conversation for debate. He was telling these Sadducees that they were all wet and did not know the first thing about interpreting the Bible!
• Who should know more about the day-to-day goings on Heaven than the Son of God, the One who created the worlds and cast them out into space, the One who created the angels in the first place?
• Jesus is attacking the Sadducees’ argument on several levels:

1.       The question of the resurrection, which the Sadducees did not believe in, but is clearly taught in Scripture. Every person will eventually be raised—either to eternal reward or to eternal damnation.

2.      The question of what happens to people when they die and what they can expect in the afterlife, because everyone will spend eternity in one of two places—Heaven or Hell.

3.      The question of angels and their procreative practices. Sadducees did not believe in angels even though their existence is clearly taught in the Scriptures. Jesus said that angels do not procreate and when we get to Heaven, neither will we. That is part of this earthly life. It will not be a part of our life in eternity. Jesus said that we will neither marry nor be given in marriage. 

Verses 26-27: “But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?  ²⁷ “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken.” 

• Here Jesus is referring to Exodus 3:6, a verse that all these Sadducees knew by heart. His point is that in that text God speaks in the present tense, implying that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were alive, which in fact was the case. “I AM their God,” not “I WAS their God.” At the site of the burning bush God told Moses that He had an on-going fellowship with the three patriarchs. They all three died physically but were made alive spiritually and were spending eternity with God. 

CONCLUSION:

The devil is subtle and clever but not very original. He has been pulling the same old tricks repeatedly since the beginning because they still work! He twists the truth, he manipulates the truth, he waters down the truth, and he denies the truth. However, he cannot change the truth and he cannot do away with the truth. Satan, working through sincere religious people tried his dead-level best to blow Jesus up with a roadside I.E.D. to get Him off the rails so that He would not accomplish His mission. 

He will do the same thing to you and me. He will use people, or politics, or theological rabbit trails to blow our legs off and keep us from accomplishing our mission for God. It did not work with Jesus because He kept His eye on the prize. He knew Scripture and used it to rebuke and instruct those who tried to put roadblocks in His way. You and I need to do the same thing. We need to know the Word, rely on the Spirit, and stay on Mission. We must not become weary, discouraged, or complacent. We must never give up, because “greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world.”

Jesus did not let anything distract Him or deflect Him from the job He came to do. He set His eyes on the cross and kept going. We need to do the same thing—day by day, step by step. 

FEEDBACK:

There is much to chew on in these verses but what is the “take away?” What is the practical lesson for us/for you? What is the Spirit saying to God’s people today from this text?