Victory over death part 5

April 8, 2020

Today is Wednesday in our journey to victory. It is “Holy Week,” as some Christians refer to it. This is the dramatic last week of Jesus’ earthly life.

We are not certain of Jesus’ movements or actions on Wednesday. However there are some things during this final week that need covered. I’m going to take a brief look at five lightning bolts from Mark 12.

The first lightning bolt happens in Mark 12:17, “Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” His reply left them overcome with wonder.” [CEB] This teaching was in response to a trap. The Pharisees (conservative theology) and supporters of Herod (upper class supporters of King Herod) intended to either a.) turn the crowd against Jesus or b.) collect evidence against Jesus. If you follow the conversation, they set it up with what is called a “narrative.” A narrative is a frame in which to box the one who answers into an unfair disadvantage. It’s something done regularly by the media that is either hostile or looking for something interesting (a.k.a. “dirt).

Lightning bolt number two is found in Mark 11:24, “Jesus said to them, “Isn’t this the reason you are wrong, because you don’t know either the scriptures or God’s power?’ [CEB] This is a response to a group of theologians called “Sadducees.” They did not believe in the resurrection; so they offered a theoretical question to disprove the resurrection. Jesus was clear, they didn’t know the scriptures or God’s power. In essence they had a form of godliness, but it was based on ignorance.

Lightning bolt number three and four comes from the sincere questioning of a lawyer. Mark 11:29 – 30 records, “Jesus replied, “The most important one is Israel, listen! Our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, you will love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.” [CEB] 

The question is “Which commandment is the most important of all?” [Mark 11:28c CEB] On the surface, it is a “no-brainer.” The answer was considered a settled matter. Loving God is the greatest commandment. Yet, Jesus gave an answer only a lawyer could love. He expands the meaning. If you love God, Jesus insists, you will love those God loves (your neighbor). The two cannot be separated. The lawyer gives his approval to Jesus’ answer. Jesus then states, “When Jesus saw that he had answered with wisdom, he said to him, “You aren’t far from God’s kingdom.” After that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.” [Mark 11:34 CEB]

The last lightning bolt comes, not from a question, but an observation. Jesus sat down and watched people at the “collection box.” In America, we think it’s rude to look to see what someone else is doing with their money. Jesus watched rich people and poor people give. One caught His attention. He called the disciples to Him and pointed out an poor widow. Most likely this was embarrassing for her, after all the attention seekers were dropping in large amounts of money. Jesus praises her with these words, “… I assure you that this poor widow has put in more than everyone who’s been putting money in the treasury. All of them are giving out of their spare change. But she from her hopeless poverty has given everything she had, even what she needed to live on.” [Mark 11:43 – 44]

So in this chapter we have a wide selection of religious and political perspectives:

1. Pharisees, who were “holiness” in theological orientation. We’d call them “conservatives.”
2. Herodians, who were religious supporters of Herod. 
3. Sadducees, who were upper class theologians who basically denied the supernatural. We’d call them “liberals.”
4. A lawyer seeking the truth. We’d call him “skeptical.”
5. A poor widow giving everything out of “hopeless” poverty." We’d call her “disadvantaged.”

The poor widow seems out of place among the educated, elite, and arrogant in this chapter. But I submit to you for consideration, she is not. She is "the moral of the story."

Go back to the first lightning bolt for a second. Question: what does God want? Answer: what belongs to Him. What stands between giving to God what is His is our not knowing (understanding) Scriptures and the power of God. The core issue is, do we love God? The “acid test” of loving God is loving others (Jesus "neighbor" means everyone). Knowing all this is good. In fact that puts you “not far from the kingdom of God.” Problem is if you miss heaven by an millimeter, you still missed heaven. The poor widow demonstrated the “all in” mentality of the true follower of God. Soon Jesus is going to demonstrate this by laying down His life, dying on the cross.

Theology, politics, and philosophy all crumble when compared to Jesus-like love in action.