Whose Son is Christ?

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 219

Mark 12:35-37

Whose Son is Christ?

  1. Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
  2. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
  3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
  4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
  5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
  6. Reread it. From memory, determine the central points.
  7. The setting–Wednesday of the Last Week. Jesus is teaching at the temple.
  8. For a long period, perhaps from the beginning, Israel had supposed the Messiah to be a man, the son of David, a human being only.
  9. Indeed, the Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah and from the clan of David, the great king, who had lived one thousand years before. (see Matthew 1:2-6 and Luke 3:23-34)
  10. Many had announced their Messiahship, raised up small armies, and attempted to overthrow Rome. All failed.
  11. At that point, despite the failures, the people yet looked for a human, political/military deliverer.
  12. Now, with Jesus’ time running out, He makes a strong attempt to make it clear that the Messiah was also divine.
  13. Psalm 110 and verse 1 is where David himself made it clear that “my Lord”, as revealed by “the Lord” who is no one less than Yahweh–the covenant name of God—(see Exodus 3:13-15) must be God as well.
  14. The problem would be then, and throughout subsequent history, that the nature of Jesus would be misunderstood.
  15. The Body of Christ, the Church, gradually realized who Jesus must be, very God of very God and very man of very man, or in other words, both God and man at once.
  16. This is, to us, unreasonable and thus can only be understood by special revelation from God directly.

 

Paying Taxes to Caesar Mark 12:13-17

GOSPEL MEDITATION

Mark 12:13-17

Paying Taxes to Caesar

  1. Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
  2. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
  3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
  4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
  5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
  6. Reread it. From memory, determine the central points.
  7. Jesus had powerful enemies who desperately wanted Him out of the way, and murder was the end goal.
  8. The Roman coin denarius was the yearly tax for every male Jew; it was called a “poll tax.” The Romans would calculate the potential rebel force liable against them.
  9. The coin has Tiberius Caesars imprint on it with the words, on the reverse side, “Highest Priest.” The coin was considered “unclean” by the Jews.
  10. A calculated plot by the leaders, the Sanhedrin, now combined with the Herodians, a political/religious party that served Roman interests — a perfect chance to trap Jesus.
  11. If Jesus denied paying the tax, He would be counted a rebel. If He taught it right to pay the tax, His enemies thought He would lose favor with the people who hated to pay the denarius to the hated Romans.
  12. What a mind, what a quick and cutting rejoinder: He asked for a coin, the one used to pay the tax.
  13. He asked the obvious, which question pointed out that the coin was minted by Tiberius and therefore belonged to him. He who ruled had the right to tax.
  14. Render to Caesar, one of the most oft repeated phrase in human history. So then, pay the tax whether liked or not.
  15. But larger is what is owed to God, the Creator, the King of all people – render to Yahweh then what is owed.

 

The Parable of the Vineyard Mark 12:1-12

GOSPEL MEDITATION #215

The Parable of the Vineyard

Mark 12:1-12

(Also see Psalm 118:19-29; Is. 5:1-7; Jer. 2:21)

  1. Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
  2. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
  3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
  4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
  5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
  6. Reread it. From memory, determine the central points.
  7. Foreigners rented out land to be worked by Galileans, so the framework of the parable was common knowledge.
  8. The owner made it possible for the land to be productive, all at his expense. Thus, the owner of the land had a right to a return on the investment and thus would send others to receive that.
  9. The mistreatment of those sent was beyond reason. Here we are to think of the prophets and others God had sent to those of His “vineyard” to receive what was His.
  10. One after the other, the owner of the vineyard was rebuffed, ignored, and treated with great disrespect.
  11. One emissary was held in reserve – a beloved son. When the time was right, the owner sent this special son supposing this one would be respected.
  12. Here we see the nature of the parable: it can be interpreted according to another story line.
  13. The son is obviously Jesus Himself, the beloved of the Father, who ought to be received and honored. The opposite occurs.
  14. This favored son is killed, which would actually take place within three days. The result would be catastrophic for the workers of the vineyard – they would be destroyed.
  15. This scenario had been predicted long centuries before. The son, or in the words of the Psalmist (Psalm 118:22-23), the “cornerstone” would be rejected.
  16. We are however startled to discover that the whole of it “was the Lord’s doing” and what appeared to be a tragedy is really “marvelous in our eyes.” And so it is!

 

Jesus Cleanses the Temple & The Authority of Jesus Challenged

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 214

Mark 11:15-19 & 27-33

Jesus Cleanses the Temple &

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

  1. Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
  2. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
  3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
  4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
  5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
  6. Reread it. From memory, determine the central points.
  7. It is likely that Jesus “cleansed” the Temple twice, the first time is recorded in John 2:13-22. So then at the outset and the close of Jesus ministry He protested what worship in the Temple had become.
  8. It was at the court of the Gentiles where the money changers set up shop (only the proper shekel could be used to pay the yearly tax and not the Roman denarius.).
  9. The animals, from sheep to doves (not pigeons), had to be “pure” and available, so the sellers of animals were there.
  10. Noisy, stinky, crowded—not the conditions for worship and prayer. The Gentile court had become a market.
  11. Such was not the intention of God and Jesus’ action called attention to that fact.
  12. Those who held religious authority were highly upset and thus they challenged Jesus about what He had done on the day after the event.
  13. They wanted to know by what authority He was acting under. Jesus did not answer but brought up the matter of John the Baptist whose message is best represented by the words found in John 1:19, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
  14. John’s ministry was rejected by the religious authorities, but he was well received by most people.
  15. Jesus then asked His questioners as to weather John’s ministry was of God or not. This question is still valid.