How can we say we love Jesus if we don't want to spend time with Him and when we do, all we talk about is ourself? How can we say we love Him and we never read the Bible? The other way to look at this also goes along with what we have been emphasizing in this jaunt through Mark is that if we love someone, which Juan Pablo obviously didn't, we want to spend time with them, get to know them, listen to them, etc. If we fall in love with Jesus, the Christian life becomes a great adventure rather than a huge chore. So lets look at what's so awesome about Jesus in Mark 12 so we can fall deeper in love with Him this week.
CHAPTER 12
1. Read Mark 12:28-34. What are the two most important commands and why?
When the man agreed with Jesus, what did Jesus say to the expert in the law?
What do you think was keeping the man from the kingdom of God? (Matt.7:21-23, 1Cor.8:2,3)
Let's look at the 4 descriptions of how we are to love God
1. With all our heart. The greek for heart is Kardia which means the middle. What does it mean to love God with your middle?
2. Soul is that immaterial part inside us that communicates with God and is essentially who I am. What do you think it means to love God with all your soul?
3. Mind basically means intelligence. What do you think it means to love God with all your mind?
4. Strength means physical power. What do you think it means to love God with all your power?
How is your Love for Jesus doing?
Throughout this chapter 12 which marks Tuesday and Wednesday of the Passover week, Jesus is teaching in the temple. Meanwhile, the enemies of Jesus, who normally were enemies of each other, joined together to get Him arrested, discredited, exposed as a fraud or whatever they could do to end His popularity. Let's look at how focused Jesus is in these passages on teaching loving and believing in Him in the midst of questions meant to get Him sidetracked. He kept bringing the discussion back to what really matters.
Read Mark 12:1-12
How does the following video relate?
The first meaning behind the parable is obvious. Read Isa. 5:1-7
1. Who is the vineyard?
2. Who is the owner?
3. Who are the tenants?
4. Who are the messengers?
5. Who is the son?
How does this answer the question they never got an answer to in 11:28?
6. Who are the new tenants?
The second meaning is more personal. Read Acts 17:24-31
1. Who is the vineyard?
2. Who is the owner?
3. What did the tenants do? (see Rom. 1:18 - 25)
4. What is their punishment?
With this interpretation in mind, Read Mark 12:38-44. When it says that the widow says "she gave all she had to live on". The greek word for that is bios which means she gave her life. She entrusted her life to the owner of the vineyard to take care of her.
According to this passage, who does it appear the Pharisees are living for?
Read Mark 12:35-37. Who had their hero David surrendered to?
Read Mark 12:13-17? According to verse 17, what should they give Caesar?
What should they give God according to what we have learned?
Summary
When the teacher of the law repeats Jesus' answer (vs. 29-31) in verses 32-33, he leaves out one thing that is easily glanced over - Jesus says "love the Lord your God..." and the teacher, who is close but no cigar leaves that out. All the knowledge, good deeds, saying the right words doesn't get you to Heaven. It is surrendering your life to the owner of your life and living in a love relationship with Him. I went fishing in Canada once and we drove all the way to the northernmost part of Minnesota but we still weren't in Canada. We had to cross through a narrow gate, humble ourselves to the border guards, and then live under the rules of Canada such as if it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down. (I got yelled at at the first filling station in Canada we stopped at) Although this illustration has flaws because I didn't love Canada nor did they love me, you get the point. This teacher was close but yet he missed the narrow way which is a personal love relationship with Jesus attained by surrendering Lordship of our life to the one who deserves it and demands it.
The Pharisees, Saducees, Herodians also missed it because they weren't looking for the truth they were looking for a way to get rid of the Truth. In the end of Chapter 11, when Jesus asks them about "John's baptism - was it from Heaven or men?" - they didn't even ask themselves "what is true"? They were just concerned with their own reputation and saving face. The Pharisees who heard his parable missed the most crucial part of the parable - that Jesus was the vineyard owner's Son - and just looked for a way to kill Him because He told the parable about them. The tax question was a hot potato because the Romans instituted a census in order to tax all the Jews, in addition to all their other taxes, one Denarius for the pleasure of and in deference to the honor of living under Cesaer and the coin's inscription said that he was king and God. People had revolted against this and been executed (Acts 5:37) and the Pharisees, with Herod and Cesaer in town were hoping for a wrong answer and a quick execution. Jesus, without being distracted kept focused on the point - Give God your life!
The Saducees then tried to make up a nonsensical question like who was Cain's wife or could God make a stone so big He can't move it? - but Jesus focused on God is the God of the dead and living. Since you are living, is He your God? Even their hero David called Him Lord and the widow surrendered her whole life to Him and was publically praised by Jesus.
The word for this week is focused. Jesus didn't get distracted by secondary issues but focused on the Lordship of Jesus Christ and our need to surrender fully and completely to Him and to love Him with our whole being. The important questions in life aren't your eschatology, predestination, which day to worship on, contemporary vs. traditional worship, but rather what have you done with Jesus? What is your relationship with Him like. That's the eternal question that even the rich young ruler missed. He said what must I do to receive eternal life and Jesus recognized this and told him what it costs to follow Him. He was looking for heaven rather than Jesus! Do you love Jesus?
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