Mark 12
Our Lord used many parables to tell the people concerning the Kingdom of God, what was to come, and many mysteries regarding the life of man.
But most of the time, the people did not understand what Jesus was speaking about.
In today’s chapter, Jesus spoke a parable, and surprisingly the chief priests, the scribes and the elders understood the parable!
There are truly many things that we can learn from our Lord’s dealings with the people, both the hypocrites and the sincere seekers of truth.
Allow me to share some.
Bible Passage: Mark 12
Denial Of Sins
Jesus spoke a parable of the wicked vinedressers that revealed the evilness of man’s heart.
This parable also revealed the wicked plan of the devil, who destroyed many prophets who were sent to shepherd the people of God; and they also killed the Good Shepherd who came to die for the sins of the world.
I am quite surprise that these hypocritical high priests, scribes and the elders could understand this parable was spoken against them, because at other times, when Jesus spoke parables, no one could understand a single bit, not even the disciples.
When these hypocrites understood the parable was spoken against them, did they bother to ask Jesus to explain to them the parable’s purpose? No they did not. Instead they chose to get angry with Jesus and even wanted to kill Him.
This reminds us of how we listen to the message of God. We must understand that there is power in the word of God.
The word of God has power to set us free from the bondage of sin (ref. John 8: 32).
The word of God has power to convict us of our sins. (Hebrews 4: 12).
If we have been convicted by the word of God of our sins, are we going to get angry with God and take on a denial mode, and then try to justify ourselves?
Jesus went through a series of testing questions by the Jews, but no one could beat His wisdom in the truths.
Then came a particular scribe, he had a different attitude towards the words spoken by Jesus.
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.
Mark 12:32-34 (ESV)
I believe this scribe did put effort in not only copying the scriptures and memorizing them by heart, but he must have also put in effort to understand them.
This is the kind of attitude we must have towards the word of God, to be diligent in not only reading, but also to pray for God’s wisdom to understand them, and most importantly is to submit to the teachings in His word.
Our Giving
Jesus was good at using the surrounding things and happenings to teach His disciples on many things.
From vvs. 41 to 44, we can see that Jesus was in the temple and He was observing the people who threw in their contributions into the treasury. An old lady’s offering caught His eyes, and immediately Jesus saw her heart of offering.
Jesus saw her heart of sincerity and love towards the matters of God. Her offering might have been the least compared to all those who threw in there share, but Jesus saw her offering as the most fragrant.
This old lady gave all she had, even her livelihood! Didn’t she even worry about her next meal? Could she be so sure that she could definitely be successful in begging for some money later on?
This old lady’s offering did set me thinking of my offerings to God, in terms of divine works and money.
Am I giving my all to God? No, not there yet.
I think we must constantly ponder over our giving to God and man, are we giving enough or are we always worried that we don’t have enough?
May God guide us to become better Christians.
5 Comments
biblereadingcompanion
Upon reading today’s chapter, I agree with Shalom that we really need God to help us to be better Christians.
Even those… maybe those… especially those… who have been in Church for a long time and are doing many things in church…. and I certainly include myself in this category – we need to be better Christians or we may be punished most severely (cf. Mk 12:40).
I find Mark 12:38-40 a strict warning for me today.
Serving God is one of the most satisfying and fulfilling things one can do in life as a Christian. But in our quest to serve God and in the years of doing what is ‘right’, we may give in to the pitfalls of:
Pride: Jesus described here the teachers walking around in flowing robes (v. 38). They want everyone to see and know they are teachers.
Respect or Recognition: They wanted to be greeted in the market places. The office must be known, respected and acknowledged.
Power: They must sit in the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honour at banquets (v. 39).
Greed: Not sure why, but instead of helping poor widows, they devour their houses! (v. 40)
Phoniness: They make a show of devoutness by making long prayers (v. 40)
Sometimes, many a times, when we are given just a little bit more to do in church or because we have been in church longer than the rest, we think we know best.
But the enticement of Pride, Recognition, Power, Greed and Phoniness are all very real as I consider my service to God. And being leaders or teachers or the more outstanding workers for God, we face the risk of an extra measure of punishment (v. 40) if we succumb to these enticements.
But God grant His grace that I may resist these temptations and see myself for who I really am… a sinner saved by grace that can only serve Him because He allows me to and not because I am able.
Locked Garden
Whenever we feel weak in faith, or tired of loving, or losing hope, imagine Jesus in Heaven saying, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God”.
biblereadingcompanion
Dear Locked Garden,
I liked what you wrote very much. 🙂 A timely reminder for a tiring week ahead!
appleofHiseye
Thank you for highlighting this verse, it brings me comfort to imagine Jesus in Heaven would say this to us.
PS
Mark 12:43-44 So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury, for they put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.”
This touching parable is recorded after the dialogue of Lord Jesus with the scribe who was not far from the kingdom of God.
What does it mean to love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength? Lord Jesus not only teaches by words, he teaches by visuals too.
The old widow is His live testimony.
Yes, quantitatively speaking the 2 mites was light. The intangible offering of all her heart, all her soul, all her mind and all her strength was enormously invaluable.
She gave her livelihood. May be for the day or next 1 or 2 days she might have to go without food.
However i imagine that she’ll be light hearted as she went about her work bec for a particular day she had given her all to God. She prayed to God for mercy and grace as she fasted (bec of no food rather than abstinence from food).
God saw her from heaven. God heard her from heaven. And God accepted her offering. Who knows? This old lady might even be nearer to the kingdom of God than the scribe 😀