Mark 12 Part 2
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Mark has slowed down the fast paced action of his book to zoom in on the hour by hour drama that leads to the cross
Jesus entering the temple and shutting it down, taking the role of judge and jury pronouncing destruction on the leaders, and quoting Psalm 118 calling himself the forever cornerstone where in Him and Him alone is life found, has placed Jesus on an irreversable road to His death
Anyone remember an english class from school…remember you had to find the thesis of a book?
Mark’s thesis is: this is the real Jesus. You have to crown this Jesus or Reject him completely there is no middle ground
This zoom in on the drama is Mark supporting His thesis…You know He is King because Here is His Kingdom and the Cross will be His coronation
We are entering the confrontation in the temple the same day he has returned to see the war that takes place and the fight that leads to His death on the Cross
Now begins the terrible game of ‘cat and mouse’, His enemies endless maneuvering that will end in the death of Jesus.
We are zoomed into Tuesday of the Passion Week when Jesus is killed…and its the day of controversy
As we launch into the terrible game today we are going to see three things: The Pain Beneath the Question, The King Unafraid, The Revolution We Need
Painful Politics Mark 12:13-14
Painful Politics Mark 12:13-14
Then they sent some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to Jesus to trap him in his words. When they came, they said to him, “Teacher, we know you are truthful and don’t care what anyone thinks, nor do you show partiality but teach the way of God truthfully. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”
Remember the thesis of Mark. This Jesus is King of the universe come to save His people from sin and death. In His is the ushering in of the Kingdom where everything is being made new back to how it was always supposed to be
So why does he have the politics of Jesus in this epic as evidence? How do the politics of Jesus give us hope on our days of fear, or boredom, or sadness, or regret?
No one asked this more than me as I am the poor guy sitting here trying to prepare a message
The barrage of attacks actually do show the real Jesus and the Kingdom we long for but we have to do some work to get there
2 unlikely political sides have become friends united by their hatred for Jesus
The Herodians were those who had completely abandoned their faith and sucked up to Rome
They were culturally liberal and saw the Roman Cults as just as ok as Jewish worship like so many progressive churches today
They saw Rome as the great savior to the good life unshackeling old ideas to the progress of the day
Pharisees were on the complete opposite
They hated Rome and what it stood for
They believed God alone was the rightful ruler of Israel
Imperial worship was idolotry that went against the God of the Old Testament and they were part of the Jewish political party who supported riots and zealot political hatred of Rome
Herodians were the far left , Pharisess were the far right
The Herodians wanted Jesus to side with the fanatics and make Rome his enemy, destroying Him
The Pharisees wanted Him to side with Rome and turn the 250k people hoping he was here to make Israel great again turn on him and kill him in a mob
United in the desire to kill jesus and the politics of the day were so volatile it could work…why was it so volatile in those days ?
There is incredible pain in the politics they try and trap him with
That land is kind of a big deal to the Jews
If you have seen the news in the last 50 years there are always wars and blood shed over that small patch of earth
That land is everhing to the Jewish people because it was the promised land given to them
Disobedience cost them the land but their hope is that the promised Messiah would come and take it back kick out the pagan invaders and make Israel Great Again
This tax was the pain point of it all
Just 22 years or so before this in 6 AD Rome made Jerusalem a territory
The poll tax was the imperial tax imposed for a brutal reason
Don’t think poll like a toll on a road…it was a tax on every person simply for existing
It was a tax to pay homage to the honor and joy and privilege of having Ceasar as your god to be worshiped
It was a constant reminder that they were dominated by a foreign power. It was a spit in the face everytime they paid it
Not only was the tax a hardship, but it drove home the tragic reality that they were not enjoying the kingdom of God the way they should have been
This isn’t a hated tax like the Boston Tea party
At its deepest …the pain of the tax meant the painful belief from all they could see that GOd has abandoned them and was unable to keep his promise
They had seen glimmers of hope and expectation that God would restore everything that was wrong
They believed God’s promises
THey thought they knew revolutionaries that they thought the promised Messiah would be like
in AD 6 a man named Judas led a revolt against the Roman tax and created a ground swell of patriots who would not bow the knee…Paul records this in Acts 5:37
After this man, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and attracted a following. He also perished, and all his followers were scattered.
but the nationalistic domestic terrorists simply went underground and were a bomb ready to go off in Jesus time
But as we have seen so far there is the deepest sort of pain in the politics
it drove home the tragic reality that they were not enjoying the kingdom of God the way they should have been
It drove home the horrible fear that man was bigger then God
it drove home the gut punch that maybe they got it wrong and God was making promises he couldn’t live up to
What the zealots and patriots gave the people was the glimmer of hope that maybe the revoution would happen and God would be who He said He was going to be to His people
So the trap is to put Jesus into the volatile pain of the politics and make him pick a side alienating one of the groups and making Jesus irrelevant at minimum and at best to them kill him for treason
The world wasn’t how it was supposed to be then as much as it is broken today
Everyone has had to come to grips with their own answers to the quesions:
What is wrong with the world?
How did it get that way?
and What is the hope it can be what it was always meant to be?
the pain and anger and resentment conservatives and liberals have against each other is nothing new it was there in the temple 2000 years ago
But Jesus is ushering in a third way no one saw coming
standing before them was the very life that showed God was keeping every promise he has made since Eden....but they want it to look how they want so bad they are rejecting the very GOd who they blame for their pain
He is standing before us today
And He has a revolutionary way to flourishing no one saw coming and so many reject in our pain
Revolutionary Response Mark 12:15-16
Revolutionary Response Mark 12:15-16
But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at.” They brought a coin. “Whose image and inscription is this?” he asked them.
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
It is so common to picture Jesus as weak or passive
The Jesus of Love and tolerance
The Real Jesus came to wage war on sin and death and all that has shattered our world
He has come for a fight and he is better at it than anyone....hes better then these guys
He told them to bring him a denarius
It is incredible what he does here to get at their heart and ours
First he asks because he doesn’t have one and the disciples don’t either ....but he knows the pharisees do because no matter what they show on the outside …they love the power Rome gives them
When they produced one, he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” (v. 16).
On one side of a denarius was stamped the image of Tiberius, the reigning Caesar, with a Latin inscription that read, “Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus.” The opposite side bore a Latin inscription for “High Priest.
You have to picture this…among the ruler of the Jews that wanted to kill jesus was the high priest
the one who claimed to be the mediator between GOd and man....and in his pocket what he had to pay homage too was this coin saying Tiberius Ceasar was the divine mediator of a pagan cult that ruled over the Jews
They are slapped in the face everytime they have to see a coin…and now this Jesus has burst into the temple and claimed to be God as judge and jury declaring the time of the old temple is done He is the new mediator the new dwelling place of God with Man
Here for a fight Jesus is the Jesus of Mark
This isn’t a disconnected one off argument for us to play make it say and get the republican or democrat Jesus we want
This part of the war He has come to fight and has everything to do with the parable of the vineyard we saw last week throat kick these same guys
One commentator sums up what Jesus is basically doing so we can picture it: Jesus responds to them in a very simple and straightforward fashion by examining the coin as if it is a lost item that may have the owner’s name on it. “Let me see that piece of metal. I’ll tell you whose it is!”
Here is Jesus to them and us
I know things aren’t how they are supposed to be. I made a world without funerals and regret and pain. Sin shattered it. Once upon a time is what I have come to wage a war to take back....don’t you see where it went wrong…it wasn’t Rome it was the moment the once upon a time was shattered
Jesus specifically asks whose image is on the coin…remember that because he is telling them the image language is what is truly broken
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image;
he created him in the image of God;
he created them male and female.
You have lost me ....you have no idea the very image that matters the only image you need to get back…and it is what you don’t even know you need most
The image that changes everything that should make them fall on their knees and crown Him is the one right in front of them
He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.
For everything was created by him,
in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through him and for him.
He is before all things,
and by him all things hold together.
All of those things are His and He alone deserves the worship of us all
He is the revolutionary King who came to lay down His life to save His people
He is not here to do battle with temporary powers who owe Him everything
He is here for more then we can imagine
What you need at your deepest darkest part of your heart he has come to do…and it will cost him his life to lead the revolution we long for
The Revolution We Long For
The Revolution We Long For
Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at him.
Instagram and facebook comment sections are a treasure trove of humanity and internet gold
But the comments on anything political are brutal
I have yet to meet someone who has said you know I held this belief or that position and it was karen in Omaha bashing me online that changed my position
Political argument doesn’t go that way.
But unlike anyone in history the ones who came to fight are left speechless and utterly amazed
How has Jesus, the true King left them speechless
Because the Kingdom He ushers in is what we long for if we are HIS
Jesus doesn’t answer conservative or liberal
he doesnt say red or blue
He says His kingdom is more complex than that
The bible presents the poltiics of Jesus as completely different
There are things the bible says that makes liberals think Jesus is too conservative
defining marriage, protecting the unborn, ultimate truth, individual responsibility,
There are things the bible says that makes conservatives think Jesus is too liberal
care for creation (almost tree hugging), care for the refugee, and calling out systemic injustice
We are all confronted with a Jesus who shakes us up....
On the surface he is simply saying pay your taxes as you would pay for the utilities you use
Rome provided roads, order, legal courts, on and on…you use the public roads and rome repairs them when they break so pay your taxes…be a good citizen
But he puts them in a gut punch position....the question he asks under his comment is: Will you give to God the things that are His?
Ultimately what He is saying is will you give to me what you owe me…your heart
that is ceasars image on the coin…but he is asking who’s image is stamped on you?
Render means to pay back…pay what is owed
To the government we owe as followers of Christ
Be a good citizen
pay your taxes
be engaged in the public square to work for the common good
respect authority
pray for the country
H.B. Charles says this passage isn’t about the seperation of church and state. It is about the supremacy of God over all things in your life
Again it is the king of kings before them and he has turned the tables and is asking who’s image is on you? He is telling them it is His own image and they owe Him their heart
God created you to know Him, love Him, enjoy Him and His good gifts the way he created them to be enjoyed,
He has the right to your life
Are you giving to God what you owe Him…the God who so loved you He left the 99 sheep to find you the one who went astray
Are you going to give this King your allegiance…this king who stepped down off of his throne to take the form of a servant to wage war on all that has made you cry and conquered it with His death on a Roman Cross
Give to Washington what is Washingtons…but will you crown the Real Jesus King
Work for the biblical vision of the Kingdom Jesus lays out
FIght for the unborn, the orphan, the refugee, the education of our children
work to see flourishing happen for all people....but who has your heart
who’s image is imprinted on you
Trump didn’t hang on a cross to take your sin, biden didn’t come to take the keys from death and hell so you could know life everlasting
The Kingdom isn’t a red state or a blue state
it is a countercultural revolution that leads to the life you long for
Rome promised peace for everyone under its rule
It obtained it through horrific terror
it promised closeness to the gods in Ceasar …if you compromised and worshipped them
The good life could be had if you played the game
Thats what the Herodians believed
The pharisees believed the good life would come if someone came who would make Israel Great Again
If Rome was gone and everything was like the good old days of King David then we will have the good life
Both visions could never deliver on their promises
Our political parties promise the same
The life where everything broken is being made new is only found in the man standing in front of them that day 2000 years ago
The Kingdom to make Eden real again was right in front of them
the King who could lead the revolution the cosmos is desperate for was right in front of them
And Mark has Him right in front of us 2000 years later
What you long for is His kingdom
Like a distant memory we all long for Eden, we long for a place with no sadness or funerals or abuse or regret
Washington cannot give it to you
But the King has come who can
On His last tuesday in His earthly life he stood alone for you to put His kingdom before the world
Here is His campaign promise seen fullfilled from John’s Revelation
Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.
The Roman Empire is now a tourist attraction, the Greek Empire is gone, the British Empire is gone, and America has chosen to follow in the very steps of the Roman Empire and what led to its downfall....give to it what its owed but what has stamped your heart with its image for eternity
Caesars died, presidents die, emperors, and tyrants and fanatics all die
But our King is risen and He is moving all of human history to make His Kingdom cover every inch of this earth
This Jesus is in a resurrected body sitting right now occupying space on the throne that will never end
And he is going to make his Kingdom of no more tears or death or fear cover the earth
That is the real Jesus before you, the question he put to them and still asks us today....will you crown Him King or kill him ?
Crown Him today and become part of His glorious kingdom to see every life live in our loving kings kingdom