Mark 12:35-44

Whose Son Is the Christ

35While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, "How is it that the teachers of the law say that the Christ is the son of David? 36David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared:

" 'The Lord said to my Lord:

"Sit at my right hand

until I put your enemies

under your feet." ' 37David himself calls him 'Lord.' How then can he be his son?"

The large crowd listened to him with delight.

38As he taught, Jesus said, "Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces, 39and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely."

The Widow's Offering

41Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.

43Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on."

BACKGROUND READING:


Psalm 2


Psalm 89:1-37


2 Samuel 7


Psalm 110



Dig Deeper

At first glance, it appears that these two passages don’t really have much in common or belong together. As we look a little deeper, however, we will see the similarity in them and the reason that do they belong together.


In the first passage, Jesus asks a particularly difficult riddle. This is a bit of a twist as it is usually the teachers of the law and the Pharisees who try to trap Jesus with difficult questions. This time, however, Jesus is the one doing the asking.


Part of Jesus’ ministry was to challenge the Jews in their thinking on every level. So far, he has challenged their thinking on important Jewish institutions, what it meant to be God’s people, the place and future importance of the Temple, and now he is about to challenge the way they think about the Messiah.


With what he did at the Temple, Jesus had symbolically asked what will the Messiah be, and he answered that it would be the kind of Messiah that had authority over and would bring judgment on the Temple. He had continued to expand on that theme in various ways with his discussions of John the Baptist, the parable of the wicked tenant farmers, and paying taxes to Caesar.


Now he challenges the common Jewish belief that the Messiah would be a son of David, an assumption based on Scriptures like Psalm 2, Psalm 89, and 2 Samuel 7. How can it be said that the Messiah will be a son of David if David calls him Lord? The by-standers appear to be amused by both the depth of the riddle and perhaps the inability of the teachers of the law to answer it. They no doubt have long experienced the teachers of the law parading their knowledge around, and rather enjoy the spectacle of them being stumped. It’s not, we should be clear, that Jesus is implying that the Messiah is not going to be a descendant of David, it is that he will not just be a descendant, he will be more than that. The early church was very clear in stressing the importance that he was descended from the line of David (Matthew 1:17; Luke 2:27; 32; Romans 1:3). What Jesus wants them to understand is that the Messiah won’t be simply a king from the line of David. He will be David’s Lord in addition to being his son.


To make this point Jesus quotes from Psalm 110, an important Psalm in the early church, used to explain Jesus’ ascension and lordship over the earth. What Jesus is saying is that if they understood what it means to be Messiah in light of this Psalm, they would understand that the Messiah will be a descendant of David, but also rightly be called the Lord of David. In Revelation 22:16, the message from Jesus is that he is the: "the Root and the Offspring of David." How can both be true? Just as your knowledge of the book of Mark, which is in the future for me as I write this, is the cause of me writing (thus, the future causes the past), so it is true that God wished to reveal himself in the person and work of Jesus Christ. That means that everything that happened in the past was a result of the cause of wanting to send Jesus into the world. Jesus, then, can rightly be called both the root and the offspring of David.


Psalm 110 goes on to speak of the Messiah as a priest forever. In quoting this Psalm Jesus was alluding to an idea that Mark has been brewing ever since Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, a point that will bubble over when Jesus confronts Caiphas, the high priest in chapter 14. Jesus is claiming authority over the Temple and the ability to pronounce God’s judgment on it. He is doing this not just as a prophet, not just as the King, not just as the priest; but he is doing this as the true Priest-King, the full embodiment of YHWH, the God of Israel.


Having silenced the teachers, Jesus takes the opportunity to warn people about their hypocrisy in using religion to puff themselves up. Mark then leads right into a story that Jesus tells about a woman who seemingly put in only two coins, but in reality Jesus tells us, put in everything she had.


Once again, Mark has done a masterful job of relating a real story that demonstrates in living color something that Jesus has just taught. You might have thought she was just putting in two coins, but in truth, she put in everything she had. You might have thought that the Messiah was nothing more than a human king, but in truth, in the Messiah, God had given all that he had. He had given nothing less than himself.



Devotional Thought

We know that God gave everything to us, but have you given everything to God? Have you truly made Jesus the Lord of your life? If you have, have you made it your mission in life to help other people learn how to make Jesus the Lord of their life?