2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All
Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and
training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be
thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
I
sure am being blessed by Pastor JJ’s Sunday Sermon series on the gospel of
Mark. The spiritual truths, clarity of issues and life applications presented
develop a greater understanding of our position and purpose for such a time as
this. We left off with the religious leaders plotting to have Jesus arrested,
so now they attempt to trick the Lord, but it’s them that learn a lesson in
righteousness.
Mark 12:13-17 Later
they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to
catch him in his words. They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are
a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by others, because you pay no attention
to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is
it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn't we?” But Jesus knew their
hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius
and let me look at it.” They brought the coin, and
he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then
Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him.
Intentionally
going out to deceive people in order to achieve your own purposes is
an attitude and offensive display of superiority in self-worth or
self-importance manifested in an overbearing prideful manner, called arrogance. The Pharisees and Herodians
proven by their actions that they believed it was more important to follow
God’s rules, but not God Himself or His “intent of the law”. They’d make extra
laws that burden the people in order to protect their political structure and
power. They worshipped the law, but not the Law-giver or His purposes. It was
critical to be religious on the outside, while planning to kill the Son of God
on the inside. They came with the evil intent to deceive, so Jesus rebuked them,
showing the deceivers that it was them who were deceived, while trained the
deceived in righteousness.
Mark 12:18-27 Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came
to him with a question. “Teacher,” they said,
“Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no
children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The
first one married and died without leaving any children. The second one married the widow,
but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. In fact, none of the seven left any
children. Last of all, the woman died too. At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the
seven were married to her?” Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in
marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of
Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the
dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”
The group
of religious leaders who didn't believe in an after-life, bring a loaded
question about resurrection? Sadducees were very religious (man’s conscientious
devotion to a principle or ideal in a system of faith), but wrapped their
theology and doctrine around “wrong” teachings. Our experiences shape our
thinking, but sometimes, though sincere, are just “flat wrong” and affect our
lives negatively. Misguided, The Lord corrected their error. Believe what is
true.
Mark 12:28-34 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating.
Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the
commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel : The Lord our God, the Lord
is one. Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all
your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love
your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no
commandment greater than these.” “Well said, teacher,” the man
replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your
neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered
wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from
the kingdom of God .” And from then on no one dared ask
him any more questions.
Confused by
conflicting counsel of “This is what it means.”, the teacher of the law asks: “which
one should I focus on?” There was no clarity on the “real” truth. Are we
seeking God everywhere? We desire a clearly defined path and direction, but
nobody takes the time to make it clear how to get to Jesus. What can we hang
our life on? Like the teacher, we desire a simplified message. Does Jesus hold
everything together and how? Is Jesus Christ the cornerstone that we build our
lives upon and the keystone that holds the arc of our being in place? If there
is anything else, other than Jesus, it will falls, but if it is Jesus alone, it
will stand. It has to go back to what the Word of God says and obeying it. Jesus
is in the business of teaching of the confused, the rebuking of the deceived, the correcting of
the errant and training of everyone in righteousness, so that the servant
of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work because our restoration
is His goal.
In Christ, Brian
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