Read Mark 13:1-13

Forewarned is Forearmed

Jesus has given His last public teaching in the Temple.

The mood shifts. Mark records what scholars call the Olivet Discourse, so called because Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, looking across at the temple as He spoke.

After preaching to thousands, Jesus now gives an audience of four a candid forewarning, honest and terrifying, spoken to them, and us, in love.

            What lies ahead? False Christs, wars, unsettled times, natural disasters, breaking of family ties (vv. 6-8, 12).

He says nothing about being delivered from troubles. What He does say is pretty amazing. Don’t worry about the natural disasters and wars. Things happen, always have, always will.

Don’t worry about coming persecution. If you have to defend yourself out loud in public, the Holy Spirit Himself will help you know what to say. The top priority is to get the word out. Preach Christ to all nations (vv. 10, 11).

            The other priority, Jesus says, is faithfulness. It’s not the strong start; it’s the sturdy finish that counts (v. 13).

In Proverbs 1:23, the Lord says if we had paid attention to His rebuke, He would have poured out His heart to us. So loving is our Lord that, even in the last week of His earthly life, as humanity was busy rejecting Him, He poured out His heart to us anyway.

Read Mark 12:28-44

Honest Question

This nameless teacher of the law asks the first sincere query of the day.

Honest enough to realize that Jesus was making very good answers to a series of loaded questions, the man inquires: “Of all the commandments, which is the most important” (v. 28)?

Jesus replies in the sublime words of the timeless shemah: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one,” quoting Deuteronomy 6:4. The man, seeing himself as Jesus’ equal, or perhaps His superior, compliments Him on His answer.

Jesus goes on to summarize the Law as loving God with every fiber of your being and your neighbor as yourself.

His questioner agrees. Jesus looks at the man and sees a hungry heart. “You are not far from the kingdom of God,” Jesus tells him.

Then Mark records a deepening of the topic. Jesus addresses His true identity. The chapter ends with Jesus’ observation about what would become a central teaching of His new Way—sacrificial giving (v. 44). It harmonized with His earlier teaching that the true leader is a servant (Mark 10:41-45). Both concepts turned old ideas upside down.

We are not told whether the man who asked the straightforward question heard the rest of this discussion or not. We are left to wonder if he ever came to full discipleship. Would we, given his position and knowledge?

Read Mark 12:1-17

Gottcha!

            Jesus was a country preacher, as the big shots in Jerusalem saw Him.

How awkward to be forced to deal with this rube.

They start with flattery. “You teach the way of God in truth,” they say (v. 14). Then they move in to nail Him. “Should we pay taxes to this evil, godless ruler Caesar?”

            “Bring me a denarius,” he requests. Somebody fishes in his purse and finds one. Jesus looked at it as if He had never seen one before. “Whose portrait is this?” Jesus asks, straight-faced. Caesar’s, of course.  With that infuriating twinkle in His eyes, He flips the coin back to its owner and says, “Pay Caesar what you owe him and God what you owe to Him.”

            Jesus’ answer rings down the centuries. Because you don’t like the guy does not excuse you. Pay what you owe to whomever it is due. Pretty simple, huh?

            Mark sandwiches a somber little story, Jesus’ Parable of the Tenants, between his reports of Jesus’ two dicey exchanges with the Jewish religious leaders (11:33; 12:17).  It predicts Jesus’ death. Jesus’ enemies fail to trap Him in open debate. But He knew, and they knew, that sooner or later they were going to win this battle. They would kill Him.

            What they did not anticipate was that He would win the war. For all time and eternity. For all of us.

Read Mark 11:27-33

Over a Barrel

            It was the last Tuesday of Jesus’ earthly life.

The religious leaders in Jerusalem didn’t know that. They didn’t know a lot of other things, either. So they asked. “By what authority are you doing these things” (v. 28)?

What are they talking about? What things? What had Jesus done on Sunday? Ridden in to Jerusalem on a colt to a tumultuous welcome (vv. 9, 10), symbolically presenting Himself as Messiah, Savior, King. What did He do on Monday? Drove the dishonest money changers and merchants from the temple, thus declaring Himself Lord of the Temple (v. 15).

Maybe it’s a fair question. Who do you think you are?

Like a good rabbi, Jesus answers a question with a question. “Where did John get his authority?” he asks (v. 30).

When people criticize us Christians, maybe we should ask some questions of our own. Can you name a system that has worked better than Christianity? Has any other religion ever set men and women free? How do Jesus’ teachings compare with what other religious systems have offered us? That includes religions with names like “Communism” and “Secular Humanism.”

Christians are not perfect. We’re a long way from the perfection Christ wishes for us. But touched by Christ’s love, poor, imperfect, bungling human beings can still create a society and an economic system that beats any other all hollow.

Read Mark 11:12-19

Fair Game

Why was Jesus so exercised about what was happening in the temple?

Pilgrims came regularly to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. They needed animals for the ritual sacrifices, but they couldn’t bring live animals long distances. Instead, they purchased animals in Jerusalem.

Coming from all over the world, they arrived with many foreign currencies. They had to do what we still do today. If we go to another country with only dollars, we go to the money changers, who, for a fee, will exchange our dollars for pounds or yen or shekels, whatever the local currency is. It was no different back then.

What was wrong with that? Why did Jesus become angry about it?

All of this buying and selling and money changing was going on in the part of the temple called the court of the Gentiles. This was where devout Gentiles were allowed to come to worship God. How could they concentrate on their prayers in this madness? Besides the uproar, Jesus noted that they were cheating people.

What can we learn from this? Some things don’t belong in church. There is a time and a place for legitimate business. Had the animal vendors and money changers set up shop at a market away from the temple area and charged fair prices, observing honest business practices, it seems clear that Jesus would have had no objection.