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Mark 12: 13-17: Amazing Jesus.

^“13 Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. ¹⁴ They came to him and said, ‘Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the poll-tax^[a] to Caesar or not? ¹⁵ Should we pay or shouldn’t we?’ But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. ‘Why are you trying to trap me?’ he asked. ‘Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.’ ¹⁶ They brought the coin, and he asked them, ‘Whose image is this? And whose inscription?’ ‘Caesar’s,’ they replied. ¹⁷ Then Jesus said to them, ‘Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.’ And they were amazed at him.” NIV

‘’And they were amazed at him’’ (17b) – and so are we!

Alistair Begg told a story about going into a sweet shop when he was a little boy. Someone else in the shop at the same time, praised young Alistair for some reason. When she had left the premises, the lady behind the counter said to him, ’Flattery is like perfume sonny. You can sniff the bottle, but don’t swallow it.’

‘’…their flattering lips speak with deception’’ (Psalm 12:2b).

‘’A lying tongue hates those it hurts, and a flattering mouth works ruin’’ (Proverbs 26:28).

‘’He who rebukes a man will in the end gain more favour than he who has a flattering tongue’’ (Proverbs 28:23).

‘’Whoever flatters his neighbour is spreading a net for his feet’’ (Proverbs 29:5).

There is a difference between genuine appreciation and encouragement on the one hand, and flattery on the other. To keep the ‘scent’ theme going, flattery has a certain whiff to it that trained nostrils may be able to detect. Flattery is manipulative. It uses nice sounding words with ulterior motives. The flatterer attempts to ‘wrong foot’ the one he is flattering (14). They certainly wanted Jesus in their ‘’net’’ (15b). But Jesus spotted the ‘’trap’’ on the ground and did not fall into it. They sought to put Him into ‘check’. He dealt with their slimy, sticky questions with wise questions of His own (16). Before they knew what had hit them they found themselves check-mated (17).

By the way, don’t play games with the Bible (13), the word of Jesus. Be serious with it, or nothing at all.

Mark 12:1-12: Which one did it hit?

“Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: ‘A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall round it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. ² At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. ³ But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed.⁴ Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵ He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed. ⁶ ‘He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, “They will respect my son.” ⁷ ‘But the tenants said to one another, “This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.” ⁸ So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹ ‘What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture: ‘“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; ¹¹ the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes”?’  ¹² Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.”NIV

I read a book in which someone said, ‘If you throw a stone into a pack of dogs, you can tell which one it hits. It’s the one that yelps!’ Reading verse 12 automatically reminded me of those words. It looks like the whole ‘pack’ was hit by this ‘parable’.

Whenever I read this story, it never ceases to amaze me how Jesus distilled the story of the Bible, the history of Israel culminating in the gospel, into just a few lines. It shows how powerful one well-painted picture can be; how subversive its influence. It doesn’t have to be a long sermon; it doesn’t require a lot of words, to make an impact. Jesus held up a mirror and the religious leaders saw themselves looking back. No wonder they yelped!

Jesus ‘made the Pharisees realise how clearly he foresaw the fate which they were preparing for him. They were accustomed to apply Ps.118:22 to the Messiah, and recognised at once what Jesus meant when he claimed it as an emblem of his own rejection.’ F.B.Meyer: ‘Devotional Commentary’, pp.426, 427.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, you whet my appetite to be a better communicator. Please enable me to speak with your wisdom, clarity and economy – and to strike oil!

Mark 11:27-33:Leading with questions.

^“27 They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. ²⁸ ‘By what authority are you doing these things?’ they asked. ‘And who gave you authority to do this?’ ²⁹ Jesus replied, ‘I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. ³⁰ John’s baptism – was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!’ ³¹ They discussed it among themselves and said, ‘If we say, “From heaven,” he will ask, “Then why didn’t you believe him?” ³² But if we say, “Of human origin” . . .’ (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.) ³³ So they answered Jesus, ‘We don’t know.’ Jesus said, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.’” NIV

A good question can expose what is going on in someone’s heart. That’s what happened here (31-33). It was just one sharp, pointed ‘arrow’ of a question, and it hit bull’s eye. It was all that was needed. It showed the religious leaders who they really were on the inside; not, it seems, that any of them were interested in seeing or hearing. One question, though, shone a bright beam into their dark interiors.

I’ve signed up to receive regular emails from an organisation called ‘Leading with questions.’ It’s gradually dawned on me over the years that one good question, wisely-worded, correctly-timed, can achieve far more than many accurate statements. I don’t feel I’m particularly adept at this skill, but I want to get better. I see its value.

I received an email the other day from Bob Tiede. He said that earlier this year he undertook some research, and discovered that in the ‘New International Version’ of the Bible there are 339 questions asked by Jesus. Jesus regularly posed questions of people, and how effective they were.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I want to be your apprentice. Please train me in your skill of asking great questions

Mark 11:20-25: Moving mountains.

^“20 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig-tree withered from the roots. ²¹ Peter remembered and said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig-tree you cursed has withered!’²² ‘Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered. ²³ ‘Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, “Go, throw yourself into the sea,” and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. ²⁵ And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.’ ” NIV

When Jesus cursed the fig-tree, He did so because it was an emblem of the nation of Israel. Israel looked good ‘on the outside’, but inwardly the nation was corrupt. They were not growing the ‘fruit’ of righteousness. The same thing was true of the temple, which lay at the heart of Israel’s religious life. It all looked quite impressive from a distance, but don’t get up too close! It didn’t bear inspection.

When Peter pointed out how quickly the fig-tree had withered at the Word of Christ (21), Jesus seized the ‘teachable moment’ presented by the comment. He turned it into a lesson about effective prayer. He used the occasion to teach about the authority of the disciple and the importance of faith (22-24). God can do anything, and we are to pray to Him in faith (Mark 10:27). But Jesus wasn’t saying that praying in faith is some magic formula whereby you can always have just what you want. Tom Hale, in his Applied Commentary, points out a number of vital principles for answered prayer, garnered from other parts of the Bible. He also adds that although God always answers the prayer offered in faith, He may not answer it in the way we expect. We may ask for one thing, but God in His wisdom might give something better. We can trust Him to answer our prayers as He knows best. Also, we may have to wait for the answer to arrive. God not only knows the best thing to give, but also the best time to give it. Both faith and patience (persistence) are necessary (Luke 18:1-8; Hebrews 6:12). Don’t too easily conclude that your prayer has not been answered. God sometimes ‘answers later in order to answer better’. Ronald Dunn.

In the context, we also note that un-forgiveness will ‘block’ the channel of prayer (25). Jesus is not putting into our hands a ‘blank cheque’ (see also Psalm 66:18 – a very important verse to consider).

I think Tom Hale is so right to say: ‘But God does not look at our lives only during times of prayer. God looks to see what our lives are like all day long. Does our loving and forgiving spirit toward our neighbour last all day long? Do we continue walking in faith all day long? This is what God is looking to see. God will hear our prayers according to our daylong behaviour.’ ‘The Applied New Testament Commentary’, p.260.