Approaching Jesus

Pray

Intro

Over the last several weeks, we have seen in Mark’s gospel some challenges to his authority

Today we will see the last two of these challenges that Mark records

In fact, our passage ends with the words

Mark 12:34 “And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.”

This morning, we want to consider the various ways to approach Jesus

By that, I mean, we are going to look at how people came before Jesus - their posture

And we are going to use that to look into the mirror to ask how we approach Jesus - our posture

Ways to approach Jesus

Confrontationally, as if to pick a fight with Jesus

Mark 11:28 “and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?””

They were trying to pick a fight to discredit Jesus

Cunningly, as if to trap Jesus

Mark 12:13 “And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk.”

They thought they had a question that would trip up Jesus so they could trap him in his words

Arrogantly, as if to prove your own intellectual prowess or because of your own self-deception that makes you think you have standing all on your own

Selfishly, as if to get something from Jesus or trying to move yourself up some invisible pecking order

Curiously, as if intrigued

Suggest that this can either be genuine or not

“What about the baby who dies in Africa that never had the opportunity to hear about Jesus?”

This can either be a trap question thinking someone outsmarted you

Or it can be a legitimate question of curiosity of how God responds to those who never heard of Jesus

Humbly, as if utterly dependent, knowing your own inadequacies

Where you know you have reached the end of yourself

You are a sinner and you know it and all you have is to throw yourself at the mercy of the court

Transition

Alas, and unfortunately, as we come to our passage this morning, we are going to see two more approaches to Jesus

But neither of them are marked by that humility of utter dependence

This morning is kind of a long passage

So here is what I would like to do

Instead of standing and reading the whole passage right now, we will take it in two sections

After looking at each of the two sections individually, we will zoom back out

Scripture Reading 1 / Mark 12:18-27

Mark 12:18–27 ESV

And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.” Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”

Sadducees Approach (Confront) Jesus

Sadducees

In the immediately preceding approach of Jesus (probably better labeled a confrontation), it was the Pharisees

Fair amount known about the Pharisees as they show up throughout the gospels and throughout historical records of the time

But in short, they were a religious sect that were often in opposition to Jesus

Here, we have the Sadducees

They were another religious sect though the record of them is much less

Historical records don’t tell us much about the Sadducees though there is a lot of various thoughts about who they were, where they came from, and what they believed

Two things to know about the Sadducees that both directly shape our passage here today that we do know

First, and this comes directly from our passage, they did not believe in the very concept of resurrection

Mark 12:18 “And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection.”

If you are trying to remember, they are “Sad you see because they don’t believe in resurrection”

Second, they took only the writings of Moses - commonly referred to as the Pentateuch - as authoritative

So they only believed Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy were authoritative

Contra that against the Pharisees who took much more of the Old Testament and a lot of oral tradition as authoritative

Both of those beliefs - Pentateuch only and no resurrection - are going to directly shape their approach to Jesus

One of the ways to approach Jesus that I mentioned was arrogantly, as if to prove your own intellectual prowess

That seems to be the attitude here - there is a level of condescension - in the way they come to Jesus

An Absurd Premise

They approach Jesus with a ridiculous, absurd premise

I almost titled this message today as “Theater of the Absurd”

They start with an appeal to Moses - this is where we start to see their emphasis on Moses’ writings in this passage

That is a reference to Deuteronomy 25

Deut 25:5-6 ““If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.”

Idea here was to preserve family lineages and inheritance

Commonly referred to as “Levirate Marriage”

One brother dies without children, the next brother in line is to marry his brother’s widow and have a child for him

So in their theater of the absurd, the Sadducees ask Jesus the most preposterous, extreme version of this

One man dies without children

But oh yeah, he has six brothers

In succession, they marry the widow and they each die without children

Finally the 7x widow dies

Mark 12:23 “In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.””

Here is their arrogant, condescending challenge to Jesus: “Who is this woman married to in eternity?”

But remember, they don’t believe in the afterlife at all - they don’t believe in the resurrection!

So they see this as a ridiculous disproving of the whole idea

Mark 12:24 “Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?”

Love this response from Jesus

No, you’re wrong - and for two very important reasons

First, you don’t know the Scriptures

Second, you don’t know the power of God

Mark 12:25 “For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.”

Notice that Jesus does not dive into a description of the afterlife to tell them what it will be like

Only thing he says is that their understanding is so out of whack that they don’t know anything about it and that the afterlife is not just some weird continuation of present life

But then he immediately shifts gears

Mark 12:26-27 “And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.””

Remember Jesus opened his response with “Is this not the reason you are wrong”

Now he ends with “You are quite wrong”

And what does he do in the middle?

Responds on the Sadducees terms but tells them why they are wrong both on their understanding of the Scriptures and the power of God

Understanding of the Scriptures

This is where it gets important - the Sadducees only believed in authority of Moses’ writings

So what does Jesus do? He alludes back to Exodus 3 with Moses at the burning bush

Mark 12:26 “And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?”

Power of God

But how does God saying he is the “God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” prove resurrection?

First of all, he says, “I am” not “I was” - inferring a present, ongoing status as their God

But they were all long dead even by the time of Moses, much less by the time of Jesus

Second, that formula, “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” is a reminder of God’s covenantal faithfulness to provide and protect his people

But what good is any of that if God’s covenantal faithfulness failed when they needed it most - in death?

No, there is resurrection because God is faithful and he does not fail them ever

Jesus used the word of the Pentateuch, which the Sadducees saw as authoritative, to show that they are wrong both about their interpretation of the Scriptures and about resurrection life itself

Scripture Reading 2 / Mark 12:28-34

Mark 12:28–34 ESV

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall 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: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Scribe Approaches Jesus

Contra the other groups that approached Jesus, we see something different in this scribe

Now the scribes with the legal scholars, the academics, the historians - not a religious sect like the Pharisees or the Sadducees

One of them comes to Jesus and he seems to be approaching more out of curiosity, whether genuine or not

He seems to have been watching the other encounters and now he interjects, approaching Jesus himself

He asks, of all the laws, which is the most important?

It was held that there were 613 distinct laws binding upon the Israelites - 365 negatives (Do not do this…) and 248 positives (Do this…)

And they were divided into major and minor - big and small

So this scribe wants to know which is the most important - the most major

And here we get some of the most well known verses certainly in Mark’s gospel, if not the Bible itself

The Great Commandment

Mark 12:29-31 “Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall 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: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.””

Worth noting that these words take place within this sequence of challenges to Jesus’ authority

Love your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength

Love your neighbor as yourself

Note again here how Jesus starts his response not only with a quote from the Old Testament, but the Pentateuch itself

The Shema

Deut 6:4-6 ““Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.”

That first part, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” is often referred to as the Shema

It was the opening of morning and evening prayers

A declaration that God is one - there is only one God

Upon hearing Jesus’ response, the scribe affirms the words of Jesus and notes that this law of love exceeds even that of sacrifices

Mark 12:34 “And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.”

Jesus then affirms the man and tells him he is not far from the kingdom of God

Notice here how Jesus turns conversation from Mosaic Law to Messianic Kingdom

It was not just about obeying the law to Moses but upon membership in the kingdom of God!

Jesus’ focus was on their standing in the kingdom of God

Question for us: Are we near or far from the kingdom of God?

Finally, and I love this, Mark 12:34 “And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.”

All these groups and people had approached Jesus, mostly to confront his authority

And they all came up short so that they dared not ask him any more questions

They had lost this battle, he had won

Zoom Out

The Great Commandment serves as a wonderful summation of the law and target for us

Love God - Love Your Neighbor

And the two are so deeply intertwined that Jesus answers question about greatest commandment by noting them both

But you can’t fulfill that law… and neither can I

Jesus is the only one who has ever loved God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength

Jesus is the only one who has ever loved his neighbor as himself

Even more, Jesus loved you not when you were a neighbor, but when you were an enemy

Romans 5:8-10 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”

This morning, you may be here and find yourself outside of the kingdom of God and wondering how you can approach Jesus?

May this morning be the day you confess your sins and humbly approach God, asking for his mercy upon you

If you are a Christian - if you have declared that in Christ alone is there salvation, resurrection, and life eternal, I have a question for you:

What part of your life - heart, soul, mind, and strength - has not yet experienced the power of God and does not yet fully love God?

Ask the Holy Spirit to search your life and reveal areas where you are not yet trusting in God, where you do not love him as you ought

That is a powerful invitation to see the Holy Spirit grow you in grace in ways you did not even know were lacking

Conclusion

Let me suggest there is one more way to approach Jesus

Boldly, as if confident in the finished work of Christ

Heb 4:16 “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Moreover, I suggest that ties together very closely with one means of approaching Jesus I mentioned before

Humbly, as if utterly dependent, knowing your own inadequacies

Jesus turned a question of law into a question of kingdom

From what law is the most important to whose kingdom are you in

If you have trusted in Christ, you are called to obey the law - all of it - that Jesus sums up in the Great Commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength

But your standing in that kingdom is not your goodness, but his

Not your sufficiency, but his

Not on your ability to fulfill the law, but his

You are invited into that kingdom - you are invited to the foot of the throne of the king

And you are invited to approach with this radical combination of humility, recognizing that you are utterly dependent, and boldly, with confidence

Because Jesus did satisfy the law perfectly and he took the penalty for us who did not obey the law

As such, we get to approach God not arrogantly, not confrontational, not selfishly, but humbly and confidently because of Jesus