Mark 12:1-17. Hopefully you have been reading along in this at some time other than when I originally wrote it.  The writing got interrupted for several weeks and that interrupted my focus.  In other words I started to forget the big picture.  Two posts ago (5/29/13) I talked about how Mark can be divided into five sections, an introduction, three main sections, and a conclusion.  The first main section was a bout the power or authority of Jesus, his miracles proved his claim to be God.  The second main sectin was about the path he was on.  His path was toward Jerusalem and the cross but it also involved producing followers who would continue to tell the world about him after he was gone.  The final section, which started in Mark 11:1 is about the purpose or passion of Jesus.

We want to remember, too, that the book of Mark was written to the believers in Rome around 62 AD.  It was a time of growing hostility toward those believer.  A new Caesar would soon be in power, one who hated the Christian, Caesar Nero.  The way Mark presents Jesus’ story would have been helpful to those Roman believers, especially the way the book ends (but that is for another post).  Throughout the book though we see ideas that would have been important to the Roman believers because of the culture they lived in.  The fact that Jesus was the perfect God-Man is one of these ideas.  That is why Jesus is called both the “Son of Man” and the “Son of God” by Mark.

Another feature of Mark that I have mentioned before is how everything seems to happen “immediately” at least in the first main section.  The pace slowed down in the second main section and even more so in this third one.  To a troubled group of believers I think it would have been important to see that Jesus had the power and was willing to use it quickly.  Over the years I have had several times when I needed help or was in trouble.  It is very easy to get anxious waiting for help, even when you know it’s coming.  But remember that the word “immediately” means “straightaway”.  As I said I think the idea of the right path, not just the quickest, is part of that word.  Jesus’ path was the best and most appropriate path for him and for us.

With respect to his physical life on earth, our reading today has Jesus pretty far along that path.  He is in Jerusalem for the last time before his crucifixion (at least in the area since he comes and goes from the actual city several times during that last week of his earthly life).  In yesterday’s reading we saw conflict between the religious leaders and Jesus.  They were upset that he had thrown the money-changers out of the temple.  (Remember that the money-changers were using the “Court of the Gentiles” as a place to do business.  It must have been encouraging to the believers in Rome, many of whom were Gentiles or non-Jews, to see Jesus “defending” their territory.)  They challenged his authority.  To test their sincerity Jesus asked them a question before he answered their question about his authority.  Their response showed that they were “posing” or “posturing”; being “politically correct” we might say today.  The first part of today’s reading is a direct confrontation of their attitude and Jesus uses a parable to do it.

A parable uses something we know to help us understand something we don’t know.  Many people think that parables are supposed to confuse but that is not their purpose.  The word “parable” means to lay something along side of something else; to compare.  In this case Jesus is comparing the leaders to a group of guys renting a vineyard.  At harvest time the owner sent several representatives to collect his rent; part of the produce.  The vine-growers beat up the first few men that the owner sent and then killed at leas one.  After sending several employees the owner eventually sent his son, expecting that they might show some respect to the son.  But the vine-growers were so twisted that they thought that if they killed the son that they would inherit the vineyard.  It was possible that they could “inherit” the land if no one was living to claim it, but remember the father was still alive, but still their logic was quite twisted.  Remember though that this is an example, a story, and not necessarily true.  The parable is about the idea.  Jesus gets to his point when he asks the leaders what they think the land owner will do when he finds out that they have killed his son.  He doesn’t wait for them to come up with some “politically  correct” answer though.  He tells them that the land owner will destroy the wicked vine-growers and give the land to someone else (By the way in the ancient world it was perfectly legal for family to avenge a murder).  Jesus then quotes Psalm 118:22.

Psalm 118 is about how God faithfulness to all his promises (the word “lovingkindness” means that) is a comfort to the people of Israel during times of trouble.  Israel had plenty of trouble in thier history especially with surrounding nations.  The Israelites understood the “rejected stone” to be their nation, rejected by the world.  Here in our reading today Jeus is applying the metaphor of the stone to himself and the religious leaders are the ones doing the rejecting.  So the leaders are the evil vine-growers in the parable, God is the land owner, Jesus is the son, and the servants are earlier prophets in the nation of Israel, many of whom were rejected by the people of their time.  The leaders were furious because they got the message, Jesus was confronting them.  Their response wasn’t to turn back from their evil (repent) but to plot a way to get rid of him.  They were in a dilemma though,the very people they wanted to control had a lot of respect for Jesus.  So the leaders went away.

That wasn’t the end of the conflict though.  The leaders were just in a huddle looking for some other way to get rid of Jesus.  If they couldn’t get rid of him themselves (because that would make them look like the people of the past who had mistreated and killed the earlier prophets from God) then they needed someone else to do it for them.  The Roman government pretty much left the people they ruled to themselves but they would not tolerate rebellion.  The slightest hint of revolution brought down the weight of the Roman army and it was a formidable weight.  One form of rebellion would have been refusal to pay taxes.

The religious leaders decided that they might be able to get the Roman government to deal with Jesus if they could get him to sound like a revolutionary.  So they sent some of the leaders to try to trap Jesus by asking him a question about taxes.  The tax in question was a tax on each citizen and amounted to the amount a farm worker would be paid for a day’s worth of work, less thatn $100 in today’s terms.  The Jewish people hated the tax because it was a sign of Roman domination.  Also the coin used had a picture of Caesar on it with the inscription “Caesar the son of god” on one side and the words ”high priest” on the other.   The coin was offensive to most Jews.

Jesus’ answer is amazing.  He asks them to look at one of the coins.  Interestingly one of them had one.  He asked them who’s picture and inscription was on it.  “Caesar’s” they answered.  He then told them to gove to Caesar what was his and to God what was his.  Under Roman law the coin belonged to Caesar even though they were circulated for use.  If Caesar wanted it back then it was his.

The bigger part of Jesus’ answer was the part about God.  According to Genesis 1 each person is made in the “image” of God.  God’s likeness and inscription is on each of our lives so we belong to him.  Jesus told them to give back to God what belongs to Him; their very lives.  By the way in verse 13 we are told that they were trying to “trap” Jesus, in verse 15 Jesus recognizes that they are testing him and calls them hypocrites, a word that was used of actors pretending to be something that they are not.  Jesus wasn’t surprised by their trickery and he wasn’t tripped up or trapped by it either.

To the believers in Rome some 30 years later this all would have been helpful.  First of all the story shows that Jesus followers are not revolutionaries they are good citizens.  Also it shows that Jesus isn’t surprised by what is going on in the world, he isn’t fooled or tricked, or caught off guard.  That would be comforting to a group of people being hunted by the government.  But most important it shows that we must remember who we belong to and let God have control of our lives.  One last though, although Jesus was blunt with the leaders it is interesting that he didn’t just curse them like the fig tree and let them wither too.  He continues to appeal to them to give their lives to God.  That is awesome, I don’t think I would keep giving my enemies a chance to turn around.  But that is what Jesus was about, saving lives; bring people back to God.  In the words of Psalm 118:29 we need to thank Yahweh (the personal name of God) because he is good and his faithfulness to us is everlasting.  What an awesome God.

God thank you that you are aware of the things we go through.  Thank you that you are aware of the way we struggle with living in this world.  Thank you that you are willing to use your power for us.  Thank you that you made the ultimate sacrifice to solve our biggest problem; offending you.  Help me not be one who rejects the foundation of your forever kingdom-Jesus.  Let me give my life to you each day.  Thank you for promising to help us and for following thorough on that promise.