Mark 12:13-17; Public Image

Sermon in a sentence: Humans must reflect God’s image.

The Public Image of the Hypocrites (vs. 13-16)

The Pharisees and Herodians only hated Jesus more than they hated each other.

Their question was another attempt to trap Jesus, not listen to him.

I have seen so many nonbelievers present objections to Christianity for the same purpose.

Abortionists do this all the time!

Is there some excuse you are using to question God instead of obeying his commands?

They were practicing the very thing they wanted Jesus to condemn.

The Gospel of Mark The Roman Poll Tax (12:13–17)

The silver denarius was the required coinage for tax payment, and it carried a portrait of the emperor together with his official title, which at this time under Tiberius would include the words DIVI AUG. FILIUS, ‘Son of the divine Augustus’. For a strict Jew this was not only politically but also religiously offensive, involving both a ‘graven image’ and also words which should not be applied to any human being, certainly not to a pagan Roman. But for everyday commerce the Jews were able to avoid ‘idolatry’ by using copper coins, locally minted, which bore no image.30 By asking his questioners to show him a denarius Jesus wrong-footed them. He himself apparently did not have a denarius, but his questioners were able to produce one. They were therefore in no position to criticise Jesus for lack of patriotism or of religious scruples, if they themselves were already carrying the ‘idolatrous’ imperial money.

-R.T. France

I want us to ask ourselves how many times have we questioned God? We begin to question God’s decisions but we can’t even take care of our own decisions.

The Public Image of Jesus (v. 14)

Even the enemies of Jesus realized he was not afraid of men. (Mark 12:12)

Church, where are the men with chests?

Last year, I was talking to a proclaimed Christian about LGBT. This person keep trying to talk about not trying to push people away or leading them to self harm. Beloved, they are already rebelling against God and headed to destruction.

Jesus was known for his teaching and impartiality. (James 2:1)

We are to be like Christ. We must say what God says. We must also act like God acts.

The Public Image of God (v. 17)

Caesar, and the Roman government, took upon themselves the mantle of “god”.

We see this all the time! When COVID was still being talked about every day on the radio tv, the government used religious language.

We should submit to sinful governments, but not participate in the sin!

Voting and political opinions are often sins. You should repent of those choices and views.

Every single person is made in the image of God.

The image of God is a responsibility with blessings and curses.

Even though they couldn’t recognize it, Jesus was the very image of God in the flesh. (Col 1:15, 1:19; 3:10)

He came to restore the broken and marred image of God in humanity.

One of the great heroes of the faith was the mighty fourth-century theologian, Athanasius. His name means "immortal." And it's quite appropriate. Athanasius had a lovely image to help us get how Christ is the image of God and how He restored the image of God in humanity. He said, "Adam was like a beautiful portrait painting. On him, the image of God was drawn.” And what happened at the fall was that the portrait was utterly wrecked. Adam was no longer anything like God. He'd become vicious, selfish, horribly unholy. And so the image, the painting was ruined. So, how could this precious portrait be restored? And the problem was, there was nobody who knew what the portrait had once looked like. They couldn't restore it. To restore it, you had to know God. You had to know what He's like. Otherwise, you could never know what the image of God should look like. There was only one hope. The original subject of the portrait had to come and have His likeness redrawn on the canvas of humanity. Only the One whose likeness was originally drawn on Adam could restore and renew it. And so, the image of God Himself came. He took humanity to renew His image in it. He came and showed us the image of God in the flesh. And in Christ alone could humanity be restored from what Athanasius called all this "dehumanizing of mankind." Only He, the image of God Himself, could rehumanize us. Only in Him could we, as Paul puts it in Colossians 3:10, "put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator." Friends, no wonder our society is crawling with identity issues. With the image of God ruined in Adam, sinners don't know what they're for. So, we seek to mend ourselves, but we don't know what “mended” looks like. Sensing our brokenness, we try to restore ourselves with morality or with authenticity, but we're fumbling in the dark, trying to redraw a portrait when we have no idea what it should even look like. All we can come up with are monstrous aberrations. Our only hope of wholeness is in Christ, the image of God. Humanity can be mended nowhere else.

-Michael Reeves