Sunday School Session 13

Jesus Reveals His Authority as King in Mark 11–12

Hello again, here we are in the gospel of Mark. Again, we wanna continue as we look at what it has to say about Jesus as King and as teacher, revealing his authority, first of all, as King, and then as teacher.

We are, of course, in Mark chapters 11 and 12, and we began last time looking at chapter 11, where Jesus reveals his authority as Lord. You remember, as you're looking at your notes, which should be lecture six, that Jesus reveals his authority as Lord.

How does he do that? Well, he purposely reveals himself as the promised Messiah, the coming King. He reveals his authority by cleansing the temple. You remember as well that he reveals his authority by refusing to answer the questions of those who were considered authorities.

By those around them.

And then Jesus reveals his authority by telling the parable of the vineyard. And that is where we stopped. We stopped at the end of explaining and understanding that parable. Now, before we go on, let's pray, shall we?

Father, once more, would you please help us as we seek to understand your word? Help us now as we see our great King and the ultimate teacher in these chapters of Mark. Thank you now for giving us your word, for revealing to us this Jesus that we love, and we'll thank you in his name, amen.

You recall that we ended last time by saying, we're going to pull all this together and say, what does Jesus reveal about the hearts of those people that were involved in praising him in the authorities and the people in the temple?

What does all this reveal about their hearts? Now, a key to this, you remember, is this inclusio, that literary device of bookends. And this inclusio involves chapter 11, verse 12, and then chapter 11, verses 20 through 26.

And the inclusio revolves, or the inclusio is the bookends of the fig tree, the fig tree that did not, that proved unfruitful. When Jesus came to find fruit, it wasn't fruitful, so he cursed it. And then at the end of our section, you see that we come across that fig tree again.

Now, again, if you haven't read the text, I'd encourage you right now to stop and read chapters 11 and 12. So what does Jesus reveal about the hearts of all those involved in these narratives? Well, the first of all you have to see is the enthusiastic worshipers when Jesus came to town.

What you need to see is that they are no friends of grace. They are not followers of Jesus because their praises are empty. Their praises are empty. We know that because of Jesus cursing the fig tree.

All right, there's our inclusio, and everything in between it talks about, everything between it is a lesson on the lifeless, hypocritical, prayerless, faithless religion of the people. They had their doctrine right.

They had great enthusiasm for Jesus. They did know that he was the king, but it was just a bunch of foliage without fruit, just like that fig tree. Lots of foliage, but no fruit. Can you think of people today who have great enthusiasm for Jesus, but no fruit?

Can you think of people today, oh, who talk about Jesus and how wonderful he is? They talk about Jesus and how they believe in him, and yet their entire lives are fruitless that show nothing of a true love for Jesus.

And so here you find from these people an empty enthusiasm. You know what else you find? You find the settled opposition of the religious rulers. Nothing will change their minds. They are willing to kill, yet unwilling to answer.

Finally, the parable indicates that most people will reject Jesus, the parable of the vineyard. Most people will reject Jesus. What they reject, though, God exalts.

Faith, Forgiveness, and the Rejection of Jesus

So what should Jesus,.

Or what should the disciples of Jesus learn from this?

Here's the first.

It is not enthusiasm that determines who belongs to Jesus, but a faith that reveals itself in believing prayer and in forgiveness. This is important to see. In chapter 11, Jesus is saying in response to all this enthusiastic stuff, look, when you go to prayer, you pray with faith.

You pray believing that God will answer that prayer, believing that he'll give it to you. And you forgive people in your heart. That is, you always have the attitude that no matter what, you will forgive when someone repents.

And so what he's saying is true religion. If you really were following me, you'll be characterized by believing prayer. You'll be a prayer who believes when he prays, and you will be one who is intent on forgiving those who sin against you.

That's what he says. Let me give you an example about believing prayer. Many years ago, 2003 is the year, we were having our Bicentennial here in LaRue. And someone came up with the idea that the Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, and the Baptist Church should all have a worship service together.

And frankly, I was not too thrilled about that because I don't believe we ought to hold hands with people who deny the gospel and who will not do what Jesus says. But so I prayed because they were gonna have a meeting of the clergy of the town, of the three pastors, right?

And I prayed, and I had just studied this passage about when you pray, pray believing that God will answer it,.

Will give it what you ask.

And so I remember praying, oh Lord, oh Lord, I don't know what to do in this clergy meeting. I don't know what you do, but please, please help. I know that you will bring something out of this. And so the time for the meeting came and oh, I was so nervous.

And then the thought came to me, instead of having a worship service, let's have our individual worship services, but then let's get together in the afternoon,.

All of our churches,.

And we can give a history of each of our churches. This was an answer from God. I am convinced of it. He gave what I asked for. I believed, I went in believing, and he gave what I asked for. And you know what happened that day?

What happened that day is we organized this thing. We would say, let's talk about the beliefs and the history of our churches. And so I was able to stand up, and here's the fun part. I was the senior clergyman, so I got to talk last.

And so I got to speak about our beliefs, primarily, first of all, at least first of all, about why we're called Baptists, because we baptize by immersion, but then why we do that as a confession that Jesus is Lord and how people are saved when they believe in the Lord and by faith alone, they are saved and so forth.

And so God really answered that prayer. I love that passage because it always rings in my mind. But this is what Jesus is saying to his disciples. True followers of me are not just gonna be enthusiastic.

They're not just gonna be foliage without fruit. They're gonna have the fruit of believing prayer and forgiveness. Here's what else he says. Jesus' disciples learned that what men reject, God exalts to the highest position.

Men had rejected Jesus, and Jesus becomes the capstone. We also learned from that parable of the vineyard that those who accept the authority of Jesus are really God's people. The Jewish people of Jesus' day thought that they were God's people, and they were under the old covenant.

But now you could be God's people only one way, and that is through faith in Jesus. By the way, we all need to learn this today. Although the Jewish people, I think, I believe, are a special people, a Jewish person is not part of the people of God unless he believes in Jesus.

Only those who accept Jesus as their authority are part of God's kingdom. That parable teaches that God's kingdom will be given to anyone who accepts the authority of Jesus. That brings us now to Mark 12, verse 13.

Jesus Teaches About Taxes, Resurrection, and the Greatest Commandment

Here we see that Jesus reveals himself as teacher. In each section, Jesus is addressed somewhere in that section as teacher. He is asked a question, and it gives him an opportunity to teach his disciples.

And then this last section, verses 35 through 44, is a warning against teachers, against giving us, again, giving us an opportunity to learn something about being a disciple of Jesus. What does Jesus teach his disciples?

Well, how does he, every challenge that comes his way, he uses as a means of teaching his disciples what's important. What does Jesus teach? He teaches us about our relationship to our government, verses 13 through 17.

If you would truly follow Christ and claim to be his people, then no, don't neglect to pay your taxes. That's one lesson. Don't neglect to pay your taxes. Jesus makes it clear, you owe your taxes to Caesar.

But there are things that Caesar cannot demand of us. It's interesting, he uses the idea, the image of Caesar, whatever is that belongs to God. What about those of us who bear the image of God?

We belong to God.

Certainly, we have a responsibility to our government, but we belong to God. We belong to the one in whose image we are made. We belong to the one who redeemed us. And so I also give to God what rightfully belongs to him.

Now, in our culture today, as we're seeing right now with a number of churches, we have to determine before God in good conscience what belongs to God and what belongs to government. And sometimes we disagree on that.

But the point is clear here. Jesus says, don't give to government what belongs to me, but make sure you give to the government what belongs to it. You see, they're trying to trap him and they wanted him to say, we don't owe money to this oppressive government.

He says, on the other hand, hey, it bears the image of Caesar, the money does. You give to the government what it owes. And part of that lesson then is, listen, a good disciple of Jesus will pay his taxes.

That sits hard with some of us, but that's the case. In verses 18 through 27, we have a proper view of God. The Sadducees tried to trick Jesus by using the Old Testament law. When a woman died without, or when a husband died without having any children, then it was his brother's responsibility to take that woman and to have children by her.

Her brother-in-law then was to marry her and produce children. And those children would be counted as his dead brother's children, okay? And so the Sadducees who do not believe in resurrection, they don't believe in a resurrection, okay?

They're the rationalists of the day, the liberal theologians of the day. They do not believe that anybody's raised from the dead. And so they try to use the Old Testament law.

And trick Jesus.

They say, teacher, here's a woman whose husband dies with no children. And this man's brothers, all of them, marry her in order to produce children. And none of them produce children, they all die. So whose wife is she at the resurrection?

Aha, they say, we've got Jesus.

We've got Jesus.

And Jesus replies, there's no marriage in the resurrection. There's no marriage. We're like angels. We will be unmarried beings at the resurrection. My father, my father was married twice.

My mom died.

He was married to my mom for about 25 years. And then my dad got married again. And he was married for another 25 years. Now, which will be his wife? My mom or my step-mom when the resurrection comes and Jesus says, we don't have to worry about that.

There is no marriage in the resurrection. Besides, he says to them, didn't you hear what God said to Moses when he called him? I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In other words, I am the God of them.

That is, they still exist. Too often we think of those who have died as dead. When in fact, they have a conscious existence today. And so Jesus turns the law back on them, all right? Because the Sadducees only accepted the first five books.

All the rest of the Bible, they didn't think were part of the canon. So therefore they did not believe in a resurrection. Jesus took the very law that they used, the book of Exodus, the calling of Moses and says, you've missed the point.

God says, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God's not the God of the dead. He's the God of the living. You see, what kind of differences is this going to make to us in our everyday life, right?

God is the God of the living. And then verses 18 through 34, understanding the greatest commandment. A teacher comes to Jesus and asks the question, what is the greatest commandment? And Jesus responds and the teacher who's quizzing him, responds with great respect.

Truly you have said rightly, Lord. And notice Jesus' evaluation of this teacher in verse 34. You are not far from the kingdom of God. What should we take away from this exchange? What is Jesus teaching his disciples by this exchange?

He's saying this teacher who quizzed him has captured the essence of the Old Testament, which points to Jesus and his kingdom. But he has not quite seen Jesus. But it's clear that in Jesus' kingdom, these are still the two greatest commandments.

Just like it was in the Old Testament in the kingdom of God back then, now as the kingdom takes on a new face with Jesus, these are still the two primary commandments. Again, this points us right back to the beginning of this portion of scripture.

It is not religious activity that counts with Jesus. It's not just enthusiasm that counts with Jesus, but a faith that expresses itself in love towards neighbor or towards God and toward neighbor. Now in this last section, verses 35 to 44, Jesus indicates what characteristics are important for teachers.

That is, those who would follow him and those who would teach, what are the most important characteristics of the teachers that follow Jesus? Well, first of all, what he's saying is here,.

Who should teach?

And Jesus gives us checkpoints by which to understand who should teach,.

Verses 35 through 34.

The first is this, true teachers must have a Christocentric view of scriptures. That is, they must see scriptures as teaching about Jesus. He is the center of the scriptures. And as you see in this section, he quotes to them from the Psalms.

He quotes to them from the Psalms when he says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. All right, that's Psalm 110. All right, that's Psalm 110. And he says, wait a minute, how could David say that?

How could David call him Lord? How is this Lord his son then? They all knew that the Messiah was coming from David. How could David then, referring to this future coming Lord, King who would come from him, descend from him, how could he call him Lord?

How is it that David would call this descendant Lord? Can they not see that David's son is also David's Lord? Teaching the word means understanding that word, that that word reveals Christ. So he says, you've got to understand, if you're going to teach, then understand that scripture is Christocentric.

Jesus talks about what's really important in teacher then, and that is character. For most people, the important issue is not character, but credentials, right? We put a lot of stock into those teachers who have the PhDs and who have the great advanced education.

And that is not to say that those things are not worthy of our pursuit. That is not to say that they are wrong. It is to say that even if you have the credentials, character is important. And that if you have character, then credentials are not necessary to be a teacher.

You see, most people look at the credentials and here he describes these teachers who have all this honor, who have the primary seats, who go along in long robes that show their learning and so forth.

They expect honor. Here's what happens. They expect honor, yet they are cruel and greedy. They put on a show of piety with their prayers, but they are still harsh in their rule. And so we see that that's so important.

What are essentials for disciples of Jesus who would be teachers? It is Christ-likeness. It is understanding Christ and Christ-like character. That is what's important in those who would teach in Jesus' name.

And then here's an important point. And I want you to pay careful attention here. And I'm not trying to be cranky here or tell everybody what you've learned is wrong, but I think we have misunderstood this passage about the widow's offering.

Jesus is illustrating his point about how these teachers can be proven to be false. Notice what he says about the character of these terrible teachers. Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers.

They will receive the greater condemnation. And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums and a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny.

And he called his disciples to him and said, truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box for they all contributed out of their abundance.

But she out of her poverty has put everything she had, all she had to live with on. You know what he's saying here? This woman is listening to these scribes who devour widows' houses. These teachers had encouraged this kind of travesty where she would give everything she had to live on because that's what's important to God that you even give them the last penny.

They're devouring her. They're devouring her resources and all these things. They speak high and mighty and yet they treat these people so shabbily, so cruelly, so harshly.

You know what?

What you need to see here is the same thing we see today. You see these prosperity preachers on the television who are telling people, give, give. And to widows on these fixed incomes who are barely making it and they hear them say, give and God will bless you with more.

And so they give and they're bankrupt giving to these preachers. That's what Jesus is talking about here. He's talking about the fact, he's not just suddenly switching the discussion to how great a giver she was.

He does commend her. He does say, she's given more than the rest of them, right? But he's not suddenly switching. In this context, he's not suddenly switching to a discussion about giving. It's just still in the context of scribes who devour widows' houses, who teach mighty things, but their character is we want money, you see.

And so Jesus emphasizes this point. What are essential for disciples who are teachers? They must understand Christ as the center of scripture and they must exhibit Christ-like character. And so in these two chapters, we see that Jesus reveals his authority as King.

And as that King reveals the hypocritical hearts of those who would claim him as King, but are truly do not submit. He also reveals his authority as teacher, the ultimate teacher who doesn't just give us information, but the essential truths that we must know to live under his rule.

All right, so there we go. Next week, we begin lecture seven, which will be Mark chapter 13, one through 37. If you haven't gotten lecture seven yet, you will in the email from the office. So you will open it to lecture seven next week and we will begin in Mark chapter 13.

Well, it's been a good time together. I hope this has encouraged you. I hope this is bringing change in your life, that you see Jesus for who he is and follow him in the way that he desires. Well, let's take a moment and pray, shall we?

Father, thank you once more for your word and for what it says to us. You are good in leaving behind us the words, the commands, the life of Jesus so that we would know how to live for him. And so we ask, change us, help us, help us not just to learn the gospel of Mark, help us to learn Jesus and to live for him more fully.

We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.