After the episode in the Temple on the previous day, I guess Jesus should have expected the religious leaders of Israel to react. In fact, the Lord is trying to get them to react and eventually figure out a way to arrest and condemn Him. In the end of Chapter 11 and into Chapter 12 we see a series of confrontations as they try their level best to trip Jesus up. It can’t be done so in the end they will simply have to make up the charges against Him. It’s kind of fun watching these conversations take place—like one of those bad martial arts movies where you have the hero who takes on multiple assailants at once and dispatches them with ease. But in this case, Jesus is not only giving great answers, He is instructing us about our responsibilities to God and man.
25 – 26
It’s great to stand and in faith and trust ask God to move mountains. But if in your heart you are not willing to forgive others then you misunderstand your position and God’s mercy! The only reason we can ask God for anything isn’t based on our merit but on His mercy and forgiveness. Jesus is saying that we must look on others as He looks on us, and have mercy and offer forgiveness to those that wrong us or we are not going to be successful in our requests to God.
This is a pretty tall order and God knows that we will not be perfect in it. The key is that you have a soft heart towards God and a forgiving heart towards others—you want to act like God. I think too that bitterness and unforgiveness towards others clouds our ability to ask for things in God’s will and to think clearly.
Verse 26 is not likely in Mark’s original writing but the principal from Matthew 6:15 is true. It doesn’t mean we become destined for hell and lose our salvation every time we don’t forgive someone, but it shows we are not following God’s character.
Next, Jesus enters Jerusalem (this is now Tuesday). By this time the religious leaders had had time to figure out a plan to try to discredit Him.
27 – 28
This begins an extended section where Jesus confronts those directly who hold power in Israel. The three groups mentioned here make up the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the nation. It’s likely that night before the group met to discuss ways to get rid of Jesus, though they couldn’t do it with anyone around because He was so popular.
They wanted to stay in power and realized Jesus wanted to take it away from them. But they were very crafty and wanted to use public opinion to do their work. If Jesus answered their question that God had given Him authority then they could accuse Him of blasphemy which carried the death penalty because He would be proclaiming to be Messiah. If He said it did it on His own authority then they figured the people would eventually dismiss Him as another one of the trouble-makers and go back to serving the leaders.
29 – 33
Though their question was legitimate, their motivation was not to test for a false prophet. Their motivation was to keep themselves in power even if it meant killing an innocent man. They had asked Jesus for His credentials, so He asks them what they felt about John the Baptist’s credentials, hinting that both He and John got their authority from the same place.
I love how they argued amongst themselves—not worrying a bit about the truth, only what will further their own agenda. Do we sometimes fall into that same game plan?
In the end they answer by pleading ignorance. Jesus had really already answered their question and those in attendance who knew about John would have realized He was claiming authority from God. But the religious leaders had already rejected Jesus, so the Lord tells a parable about them – more in a long line of Israel’s leaders who rejected and killed prophets God had sent to them.
12: 1 – 12
Jesus tells the story of Israel. The nation was created by God and belonged to God. His purpose was to bless the nations by bringing forth the Messiah. Israel was supposed to show the world what a relationship with Yahweh was like, bring in the Scriptures, and provide a line for the Messiah. God married them after He rescued them from Egypt. But before they could even cut the cake (so to speak) they were already having an affair with another god (Exodus 32).
This continued when they entered the place where the Messiah was to be born, the land of Israel. God sent them prophet at prophet to tell them they were being unfaithful, but instead of welcoming them, they hurled insults at them and killed many of them.
God wants the fruit—the people—but to get it He had to send His own Son, Jesus. Jesus basically reveals in public what the religious leaders had already decided—that they were going to kill this prophet too.
The coming of the son into the vineyard probably meant to the tenants that the father had died. In that day ownerless or unclaimed land could be claimed by the first person on it. So they figured they could kill the son and get the land for themselves.
This is also a further explanation of what God plans for Israel’s corrupt religious system—that He is going to throw the whole thing out. Isaiah 5:4-13 talks about Israel as a vineyard that only brought forth wild grapes and so God would send them packing. Here Jesus clarifies that it was not Israel as a whole that was at fault, but the religious leaders.
13 – 15
So now Sanhedrin regroups and tries another tactic. If they can’t trip up Jesus about religious things, let’s get him on secular. So they concoct what they think is yet another fool-proof plan.
First, though, they butter Jesus up. You can just hear the hypocrisy in their words, though. If they knew He was truthful then why didn’t they believe Him? By the way, just because people say nice things about Jesus doesn’t mean they are your brothers. What matters is if they believe He is who He says He is and trust Him. In this case Jesus had already spoken about the religious leaders of Israel in John 10, saying that they came only to steal, kill, and destroy.
The tax in mind here was the poll tax, which Rome put on Israel in A.D. 6 and represented Jewish subjugation to Rome. Roman hated ran deep so they figured they would get Jesus to either support Rome, and be hated by the people, or reject Rome, and be arrested by the Romans for sedition. A brilliant plan! It’s interesting that the Herodians and the Pharisees came together for this—normally they were bitter enemies. The Herodians believed in working with Rome, which the Pharisees deeply resented the Roman intrusion into Palestine.
16 – 17
Jesus knew they were not seeking information but evidence so He says: “why are you testing me?” If all someone is trying to do is find ways to cast aspersions at Jesus, they aren’t serious and don’t really deserve a serious answer.
Jesus is absolutely brilliant in His response, however. Notice He says “give back to Caesar…” We value money so much but Jesus has riches beyond anything a gold coin could offer. This age created the idea that material wealth is important. In fact, it will burn in the end. Jesus just says to give that back because it is worthless in God’s kingdom. But further, He challenges them to give God the fidelity and faith and obedience that are indeed valuable in God’s kingdom.
It’s interesting here that the Pharisees used a Greek word “to give” whereas Jesus used the word “to pay a debt.” When we live in a country we need to be willing to pay taxes in order to receive the benefits of that country—like roads and peace. But unlike Caesar, who claimed to be God, a country or its government does not have control of your soul—that belongs to God. The denarius had the image of Caesar and an inscription about his divinity so Jesus says “give it back to its owner in payment of a debt.” We are made in the image of God so we owe ourselves to God.
Conclusions
This whole section from chapter 11 verse 12 through chapter 12 verse 12 is really about showing the current state of the Jewish religious system—how it is unfruitful and corrupt. Like squatters, Jesus will throw out these religious leaders, but not before they kill Him.
Something to point out from the parable of the vineyard owner—Jesus is pretty relentless in His communication of the gospel. If you are not in relationship with Jesus it is highly likely that you have or will find yourself exposed to the gospel multiple times. In the end the decision to accept God’s sacrifice on your behalf is yours, but in the final judgment you will not be able to stand before God and claim you never had the opportunity. God is merciful but He is also just. You cannot live in God’s presence (the source of ALL good) unless you come through His Son. It is a narrow way but wide open and free!
I also want to add that it’s okay to question Jesus. He openly encouraged dialogue, in fact. But make sure you come with an open heart. The religious leaders came with a closed and hard heart and they went away with nothing. If you come to listen to the answer Jesus will reveal awesome things to you!
