Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.12UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.11UNLIKELY
Fear
0.08UNLIKELY
Joy
0.52LIKELY
Sadness
0.17UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.43UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.6LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.91LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.8LIKELY
Extraversion
0.6LIKELY
Agreeableness
0.83LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.81LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
A trait that I picked up from my mom and dad is to be a people watcher.
They both enjoyed sitting in the mall and just watch people.
They’d both tell about people that had seen at the mall or in a store and would often laugh about some of the outfits that they saw people wearing or the mannerisms that people had.
If you’re a people watcher you sometimes try to figure out what is going on in a person’s life that they act or dress like they do.
If you pay attention you see all kinds of people out there in society.
I think Jesus was a people watcher.
In our Scripture text this morning we see an example of Jesus being a people watcher and in fact he instructed the disciples to watch, well not to just watch, but to watch out.
He says in verse 38
Mark 12:38 (CEB)
38 As he was teaching, he said, “Watch out for the legal experts.
When you tell someone to watch out for something you are warning them about a possible hazard.
This time of year we tell people when they are driving in this area to watch out for deer in the road.
It’s that time of year, you have to be careful.
I noticed that the small flock of deer that hangs out here has dwindled by 2 over the past couple of weeks.
Someone wasn’t watching .
Jesus tells the disciples to watch out for the teachers of the law.
No I don’t think he was condemning all teachers of the law.
Earlier in this chapter there was a teacher of the law who asked Jesus about the greatest commandment.
Jesus commented to the man that he wasn’t far from the kingdom of God.
There were some good ones in that group that was classified as teachers of the law but Jesus said to watch out for them.
Look at how Jesus describes them in verses 38 and 39.
He said:
He points out some characteristics about these teachers that must have been common of them.
The first thing he says is that they “like to walk around in flowing robes.”
That doesn’t sound like a very practical way to dress to just walk around in.
One writer commented that “A long white linen robe is good only for leisure, ceremony, or show[1]”
That reminds me of some of the outfits that some of the actors and actresses wear at those awards ceremonies.
They often are not very practical and are meant to draw attention to themselves and to make a show of themselves.
There are news stories about “famous people” and what they wear or where they live or what kind of car they drive.
People follow them like they are gods or something.
There are people that make millions of dollars a year just for the videos they create and post on-line.
They are called “influencers.”
People buy into what ever they are selling.
Christian people get into following these people to the point of making them more important than their relationship with God.
Some of these teachers were the influencers of their day.
Jesus said these teachers wear these impractical robes out in the market place just so they can be greeted with the average Joe.
They like to be spotted and recognized.
Jesus takes it a little further and says that they “have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.”
The important seats in the synagogues were the ones up front like these chairs up here behind the pulpit.
If someone were to sit up here they would be noticed.
When there was a banquet or pot luck dinner they would have the best table.
Well, they didn’t sit at tables they reclined on couches to eat and the couch that they had would have been the best.
The places of honor would have been right by the food.
They were the people that when they arrived at the synagogue or someone’s house they commanded everyone’s attention.
Have you ever been around anyone like that?
They have this air of importance about them.
They want the attention of everyone and they do things to draw the attention to themselves.
It happens today in the secular world and it also happens in the church.
Jesus says to watch out for them.
He goes on to describe two other things that they do.
He says there in verse 40
He says “they cheat widows” is important for us understand.
Widows were amongst the poorest of the poor.
The Bible says in Malachi chapter 3
God takes a pretty dim view of those who oppress the helpless.
In this case that Jesus points out are the religious elite taking advantage of the vulnerable.
One commentator wrote:
Their role gives them the opportunity to convince lonely and susceptible women that their money and property should either be given to the scribe for his holy work or to the temple for its holy ministries.
In either case, the scribe gains personally.
If he can convince a widow to become a patron of his work, a life of comfort is assured.
If the widow prefers to contribute to the temple, he determines the share that can be taken as his consulting fee.
Of course, there is no better way to assure the confidence of widows than by a show of spirituality, whether with long prayers in the temple or instant tears on television.[3]
How often do we see people take advantage and abuse the trust and faith that an older person has in a family member or a care giver?
Sadly, it happens way to frequently.
I had a lady in a previous church that a family member was taking advantage of her financially.
She was tens of thousands of dollars in debt because she wouldn’t say no to the family member.
The family member had made all sorts of promises to her and never once kept the promises and she was ruined financially.
That is what was happening with some of these teachers of the law.
Jesus even said that “for a show make lengthy prayers.”
They were trying to show how spiritual they were while at the same time they took advantage of very vulnerable around them.
We’ve witnessed the abuse of children by religious leaders here in our area.
The vulnerable, the ones that a priest or pastor or other leader should be protecting has caused them harm.
Jesus gives a very condemning consequence of that abuse.
Jesus said:
Mark 12:40 (CEB)
They will be judged most harshly.”
That punishment is not in the here in now.
Yes they need to be held accountable by our laws and punished appropriately.
The punishment that Jesus is referring to is at the judgement day where they will give an account for what they have done.
Mark changes the scene for us but it is a continuation of the teaching that Jesus has been doing.
Mark writes:
Bob Hope once said
‘I was on a plane,’ said the comedian Bob Hope, ‘and suddenly it started to go into a spin and head straight for earth.
Everybody was panicking and someone said, “Do something religious!”
‘So,’ he said, ‘I took up a collection.’
In the Temple they didn’t pass an offering plate like we do here.
They had offering stations setup around the Court of the Women where you could give your offerings and gifts.
These stations were 13 in number.
Each was a brass vessel that was shaped like a trumpet.
Nine of them were for what the law prescribed that worshippers give for the support of the Temple and the priests.
The other four were for voluntary gifts to the Temple.
Mark doesn’t tell us which one all this action is taking place at.
My personal opinion is that this action is taking place at one of the trumpets, offering receptacles for voluntary gifts.
I’ll try to explain why in a moment.
There is an important thing to notice also here.
Jesus sat here in the Temple.
According to several commentaries, some of the later writings of the Rabbi’s stated that “sitting there is reserved for the Davidic king[4]” Remember, this event had occurred after Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
The religious leaders had been challenging Jesus authority.
Here Jesus sits in the Temple a reference that the religious leaders would have recognized as a statement that Jesus was making regarding his authority that he was the son of David, the Messiah.
Jesus is watching the people as they come and give their offerings and gifts.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9