Questioning Jesus

Intro

What were one of your main objections before you became a Christ follower? Or maybe you took a hiatus from church for awhile.

Christianity is a crutch. I’m doing just fine on my own. I don’t need anyone to tell me what to do.

Christianity is oppressive. Their ethics are backwards. They are not longer relevant. They are superstitious and uneducated. They don’t love people and they don’t practice what they preach.

Maybe it is and intellectual hang up. Christianity and the problem of evil. How can a God who is all good, and powerful allow evil to occur. Or reconciling scientific discovery and inquiry with faith.

Or perhaps you were burned by religious leaders or Christians who were close to you. OR maybe you heard from others about some atrocities committed in the name of of God, and that left a really bad taste in your mouth.

Some of you here may still be unsure. I’m glad you are here. I want to let you know that though you may have questions, you are not the first person to ever question Jesus, and you won’t be the last. Others who have had questions and believe that Jesus is truly God and he is Lord and Saviour, I want to encourage you to remember that there was probably a time when you had questions, you had doubts, as ever slight as they may have been.

What we see in this passage are questions trying to implicate Jesus and discredit him. What we need to realize is that our questions probably reveal more about us than they don’t about God. How often do we test Jesus? He says things we don't like and we decide either to reject it, or to dismiss it. Our challenges to the faith are more about our unwillingness to follow Jesus than about Jesus’ Lordship.

Jesus has just committed an act that has caused a major stir in the community. In particular amongst the religious leaders. Jesus has done something far worse in their eyes, than if we witnesses someone kneeling during the national anthem, or burning a flag. He has said through his enacted parable that everything they have arranged their lives around - the tabernacle, this tent of meeting, which later became the tabernacle under king Solomon has reached its end. Israel was going to be judged for their lack of fruit bearing. (((What is a modern institution that would related)))

Based on Jesus' actions in the temple the religious leaders are faced with 2 options: [[fight or flight]]: flight (submit to the way of Jesus) or fight (go after Jesus). The religious leaders choose to fight being are armed with enough ammo, to try to end this uprising. Remember early on in Mark 3:6 “The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.” they held a meeting to try to figure out how to destroy Jesus. Jesus was upsetting the religious status quo because he was asking people to follow him without the temple. Jesus was a prophet who was not to be trusted.

Jesus and the Victory of God (3. The Jewish Charge)

In terms of the Jewish authorities, then, the question ‘Why did Jesus die?’ evokes a fivefold answer. He was sent to the Roman governor on a capital charge(i) because many (not least many Pharisees, but also, probably, the chief priests) saw him as ‘a false prophet, leading Israel astray’;(ii) because, as one aspect of this, they saw his Temple-action as a blow against the central symbol not only of national life but also of YHWH’s presence with his people;(iii) because, though he was clearly not leading a real or organized military revolt, he saw himself as in some sense Messiah, and could thus become a focus of serious revolutionary activity;(iv) because, as the pragmatic focus of these three points, they saw him as a dangerous political nuisance, whose actions might well call down the wrath of Rome upon Temple and nation alike;(v) because, at the crucial moment in the hearing, he not only (as far as they were concerned) pleaded guilty to the above charges, but also did so in such a way as to place himself, blasphemously, alongside the god of Israel.

So the religious leaders going on the defensive and they challenge him in three key areas.

Challenge of license

challenge of loyalty

challenge of logic

The challenge of license

Jesus' actions must be challenged after what he did in the temple, so several religious leaders begin to challenge him with questions.

The Gospel according to Mark The Authority of the Son (11:27–33)

The “chief priests, scribes, and elders” were the three groups that comprised the Sanhedrin, although in this instance they represent a delegation from the Sanhedrin rather than the entire council. The Sanhedrin, a buffer organization between Rome and the Jewish nation, was composed of seventy-one members who held near complete freedom in religious matters and restricted power in political matters. This is the only instance in Mark in which the Sanhedrin approaches Jesus (apart from his trial in 14:55). Both the approach and question of the Sanhedrin attest that the issue of Jesus’ authority was a matter of concern at the pinnacle of the Jewish religious establishment

In what ways have you been challenged by Jesus’ authority? This could be something he is asking you to do, that is out of your comfort zone or something he is asking you to change.

The question one is who gave you the license or the authority to act or teach in the temple? In other words, who authorized your actions...because we certainly didn't give you permission. Now if Jesus says God gave him the authority, they would be able to charge him of blasphemy.

Jesus response is impressive to say the least. He doesn’t back but in Rabbinical fashion he answers their question with a question of his own. The purpose of the question is to expose the hardness of their their hearts. It is not a debate tactic per se. The reason for the battle of wits is that they really don't want to know the answer, they want to entrap Jesus.

But look and Jesus’ response. You want to talk about authority, first tell me about John’s baptism. Where did it come from. His question has a domino effect, if they answer that John the Baptist is from heaven (meaning from God), then they should have listen to him. And here is where the domino comes in, John proclaimed the way for Jesus. Not only that, but what happened when Jesus was baptised. In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

And they are stumped. If they say heaven, then they are dead to rights. If they say man, then the people will turn against them. The people knew John was a prophet.

The Sanhedrin reveal their hardness of heart. They are unwilling to answer the question. They know, they just don’t want to admit to themselves or to Jesus that he is the way the truth and the life.

So Jesus doesn’t answer their question. IF they can’t be honest with where they are at, how can Jesus’ answer be heard or received. It would fall on deaf ears.

We all have these people in our lives. They can’t admit their wrong even when you point out the truth to them. This can be over little things too. Think of the time in the car when you knew you were going the right way, but the person next to you said I think we needed to turn right. No we don’t. We turn left. You find out you were wrong, and you say…oh I thought it was over here. We can’t own up that we wrong. If we can’t don’t it over something small like driving, how much harder is it when the matters are more important.

How often do we question Jesus and aren’t willing to engage him with his questions and his authority? We are more like the Sanhedrin than we realize. Some of us don’t want Jesus’ authority in our lives. We like the idea of community, and grace, and mercy, and these are good things. But the call to submit everything to him, is tough. Lord by what authority do you ask me to give of my time? By what authority do you ask for me to slow down and rest in you? I have too much to get done. By what authority do you ask me to be careful what I consume whether the endless netflix binges, or youtube rabbit trails, or mindlessly scrolling through social or watching the endless 24 hour news cycle. Lord by authority do you ask me to put my house in order? By what authority do you ask me to be hospitable when I want to have my home as a refuge. By what authority To have my finances align with your purposes.

Instead of answering the questions he shares with them a parable.

Jesus used a lot of parables in his teachings. They are meant to be subversive and the meaning hidden. The parables functioned the way all (good) stories function, by inviting hearers into the world of the story. They were designed to break open worldviews and to create new ones, encouraging listeners to identify themselves in terms of the narrative. To see the point of the parable was to make a judgment on oneself.

The imagery that Jesus uses here would be very familiar to them because he has taken it straight from Isaiah 5,In Isaiah the vineyard is unresponsive to the owners wishes.

But like Jesus so often does, he adds a twist. The vineyard is leased to tenants and the owner goes on a journey. So the tenants in this parable represent the religious leaders of Israel. when the vineyard is ready to be picked the tenant sends his servants in to begin to gather fruit. Now here is the critique, the tenants beat the servant. And the violence escalates. There is even murder involved. Finally the tenant thinks, surely they will respect my son. But the tenants think, hey if we kill the son, then we get to inherit the vineyard. It is ours!

Now here is the critique Israel has a rich tradition of mistreating their prophets. God in his grace and patience, continued to send prophets to speak to the Israel. They were ignored and mistreated. So Jesus’ parable is a dagger to Israel’s history and their continual rebellion against God.

The Gospel of Mark The Parable of the Rejected Son (12:1–9)

Like the vineyard owner’s servants, God’s prophets were repeatedly ignored (2 Kings 17:13–14; Jer 7:25–26; 25:4), mistreated (2 Chron 36:15–16), and killed (1 Kings 19:10; Neh 9:26; Luke 13:34). Micaiah, for example, was imprisoned on bread and water (1 Kings 22:27), Jeremiah was scourged and put in the stocks (Jer 20:2), Zechariah was stoned in the temple courts (2 Chron 24:20–22), and Isaiah was sawn in two.

Another critique is the human pride and arrogance. If we kill the son, we will become the rightful heirs to the vineyard. In other words, if we can dispense of God’s ways, we can become our own gods. The dagger is that these religious leaders in their pride, arrogance, and self-righteousness have believed their plan would work, only to find out that the vineyard was never really theirs to begin with. They are not the rightful heirs of God’s vineyard. In fact this is another prophetic word that the temple and the marks of Judaism, temple, food laws and circumcision will be coming to end.

The cultivation of the vineyard will be given to others. Us. We are the others. The reason why we are able to worship the God of Israel is because the plan of God was always to include the people of the world. Remember Isaiah 56:7 “these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.””

Jesus’ mission also sought to include the Gentiles

Mark7:24-8:10 “And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his h…”

See Ferguson

Is there any way this parable can become true of our own hearts, meaning we aren’t willing to listen to the proclamation of the Word of God?

Again we need to be on guard that this parable doesn’t become true of us. We need to always be willing to listen to the people God sends to correct, rebuke, and reform his people. We as a people need to be open to correction and to not be quick to dismiss the Word of God. See Ferguson and flesh out.

Challenge of loyalty

Not only was Jesus’ authority challenged but now he is challenged by two opposing groups with the same question. Jesus where is you loyalty? Let me just say, where we do spend or invest our money is a pretty good indicator of what is important. So they challenge Jesus by asking him where their money should go.

Now what is interesting is that these two competing groups should be working together. This would be like the democrats and the republicans working together to get something done. These people were at odds with one another politically and religiously. The Pharisees where more religiously buttoned up than the Herodins.. The Pharisees were an influential religious sect within Judaism in the time of Christ and the early church. They were known for their emphasis on personal piety (the word Pharisee comes from a Hebrew word meaning “separated”), their acceptance of oral tradition in addition to the written Law, and their teaching that all Jews should observe all 600-plus laws in the Torah, including the rituals concerning ceremonial purification.

The herodians were compromisers. The Herodians held political power, and most scholars believe that they were a political party that supported King Herod Antipas, the Roman Empire’s ruler over much of the land of the Jews from 4 B.C. to A.D. 39. The Herodians favored submitting to the Herods, and therefore to Rome, for political expediency. This support of Herod compromised Jewish independence in the minds of the Pharisees, making it difficult for the Herodians and Pharisees to unite and agree on anything.

Pharisees - couldn't believe that they were occupied by a foreign power. They watned to be liberated from them. Herodians were okay cooperating with the Roman empire because they were benefit from it.

They would have radically different views on taxes and what to "render to ceasar."

These two groups were usually hostile toward one another, so it is odd that they would partner together in this way. But they were united around 1 thing. How do we get rid of Jesus. He is a nuisance .

Jesus is in trouble with this question. Ostracize the people who resent Rome by saying that they should pay to Ceasar or be seen as an enemy of the state, by saying that nobody should pay.

Hypocrisy is referring to the greek word for a stage actor and they would change their masks to take on a different character. This is what is going on here. They are not being genuine in their question. You can tell by how Mark writes it that their flowery introduction is disingunious. But he knows that they are not really curious about the question, its not something that has been gnawing at them. They are trying to trap Jesus.

Jesus asks them for a coin. And this is genius. Here is why.

The **denarius** was a silver Roman coin equivalent to the daily wage for a laborer. Stamped on it was the image of the emperor, who at the time was Tiberius, and the inscription: “Tiberius Caesar Augustus, son of the divine Augustus.” On the reverse side was the title “High Priest” (_Pontifex Maximus_), claiming that the emperor was the supreme mediator between human beings and the gods. Tiberius’s claim of divinity was a way of promoting the emperor worship that was widespread in Roman civic religion, but was an abomination to Jews

Isn't it interesting that one of them was carrying a coin. If I were to guess, I'm thinking it might have been a pharisee that handed it over to them.

Jesus asks them a simple question but there may be more to this question than the obvious answer. Jesus likely used some phrases that were intentional in his question. For example, whose likeness is this? It has Caesar’s image on it, so it belongs too him. But there was probably another layer to what Jesus is saying.

The Gospel of Mark Caesar and God (12:13–17)

But what belongs to God is what bears his image—that is, every human being, including Caesar! Jesus’ listeners recognize that he is alluding to Gen 1:27: “God created man in his image.” The state may lay claim to a paltry piece of metal, but God lays claim to our whole being—mind, heart, soul, and strength (see v. 30).

#### _application here_ :our primarily allegiance is to God above all others. Sorry guys you don’t get out of paying taxes with this one. And we need to acknowledge that we are to live peaceably in where God has placed us. But there are times, if or when the government forces the people of God to break God’s moral law, your moral duty is to God supecedes all other alligiences. And it doesn’t always have to be a nefarious government that is forcing you to do something explicitly unbiblicla. It could be that you have compromised fidelity of the gospel and have conflated it with supporting our nation. I’m not saying don’t be a good citizen, but we do need to be willing to not participate in cultural norms that are contrary to the gospel.

How should Christ followers live out Jesus’ teaching in Mark 12:13-17? How can we discern when it is proper to disobey? Daniel 3 can provide some helpful guidance.

challenge of logic

Resurrection problem. These people view the resurrection as a fairy tale. Something that is totally unbelievable. Yet Jesus acknowledges that they are wrong in 2 key areas.

* They don't know Scriptures

* They don't understand the power of God

These two are related. The Word reveals to us who God is. We've lost the ability in society for transcendence. To believe that there is something beyond the physical world. It's not that our society has come to a place where they don't need to believe in a God who is active and miraculous. This thought is nothing new. There were practical atheists in Jesus' time as well. The Sadducees where those who did not see the transcendence of God.

There are people who know the Bible very well, yet do not understand it. How can we as a community prevent God’s Word from being misinterpreted?

Our salvation is wholistic. Body and soul. Just as Jesus took on a true human body. For that which He has not assumed He has not healed. So the people before Jesus where fully and truly saved, body and soul. They were alive in some sense with God. Which is why Jesus quotes the verse Exodus 3:6 “And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.”

How can you submit to the authority of Christ?

Now What?

Challenging Jesus is not new. And coming up with challenges is not extraordinary difficult. But Jesus as answers to their challenges. And I believe that gospel, the good new of Jesus can answer those difficult questions. The challenges we bring, can be answered. The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture” (WCF 1.6).

God’s word has the answers to many of our questions. God is a God of the living. IF you want to have life, God graciously offers it to us in his Son Jesus Christ. We respond with trust and repentance.

But here is the rub, the life we think we need is not the one Christ offers us. But so often, when I’m faced with the life Jesus offers, it seems backwards. It seems too difficult. It is upside down, counter intuitive. I mean, Jesus says I’m to love my enemies. I don’t want to love my enemies. I don’t want to love the people who hurt me. I don’t want to love the people I disagree with. I want to challenge that and say, Jesus by what authority do you call me to do these things.

I don’t want to part with my money. I want to spend it on leisure, toys, adventrues, gadgets. I don’t want to sacrifice my comforts to support the work of ministry. I want to challenge that.

What are your challenges? How have you been challenging Him? What questions have you come to Jesus with and said, by what Authority? Or Jesus…my loyalty is divided, or Lord this does not make any sense to me.

My encouragement to you, is to allow the gospel to flip the Script on your life. Instead of challenging what Jesus is calling us to do, and the people we are to become, allow the light of Christ, the Word of God challenge us to become the more like him by his Spirit.