Parallel Texts: Matthew 22:41-46; Luke 20:41-44
On that fateful Tuesday, Jesus has fought off three waves of attack from Jewish authorities who each peppered Him with questions designed to entrap Him into a mistake they could use as a pretense to arrest and kill Him. Now, Jesus moves to counter-attack.
His opening salvo comes in the form of a question in verse 35: “Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David?
To be fair, the teachers of the law were not wrong about the Messiah being the son of David in the sense that Messiah would clearly be of the House of David, the royal house of Israel, the house of kings. So, while they were technically correct as legalists usually are, they missed the larger point that Messiah would also be the Son of God, here on earth to establish an entirely new kind of kingdom; one that is not of this world at all.
David 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.”’
Mark 12:36; c.f. Psalm 110:1
Take careful notice of this statement of Jesus, for many in our time seem to miss its ultimate significance. Jesus is making the point that David himself in the Psalm refers to this Messiah as “lord” and the son is not the lord over his father; it’s the other way around under the Law (Honor your father and mother). Therefore, the Messiah is not merely of the clan of David, because He is also the Son of God, and being God’s Son entirely supersedes the fact that He is of the House of David.
Here’s an example of this relationship: Suppose the president had a son who was also a brigadier general. Everyone calls the son “general” and he receives the honor and respect of that rank. If a brigadier general walks up to the northwest gate of the White House, and his name is not on the guest list, he is turned away. If the son of the president walks up to the gate, he is always admitted because he is the president’s son, for being the president’s son supersedes his military rank when it comes to access to the president. So also does the fact that Jesus is the Son of God supersede His rank in the House of David.
Probably for all of the wrong reasons, the crowd was delighted.
Parallel Texts: Matthew 23:1-39; Luke 20:45-47
Jesus denounced the teachers of the law in this brief passage. His bill of particulars contains several charges:
They dress richly and expect to receive respect from the people.
They expect to get the best seats at public gatherings.
They “devour widows’ houses.”
They make long public prayers for show.
The other accounts add the Pharisees to this indictment, and Matthew records the seven woes here, while Mark as usual, is pithy. Consider what Jesus is accusing them of. Oh yes, He is calling them colossal hypocrites, but look at the priority system of these “righteous” and “religious” men. They want, more than anything else apparently, to be honored, respected and powerful. It is doubtful whether or not they care at all about their relationship with God, or about being faithful to Him; they are altogether worldly in their outlook in spite of their pious exteriors. They are using their lofty religious positions for personal advancement, and in the end, they will rue the day they started down this path.
Let’s not get too carried away throwing stones at the Pharisees and teachers of the Law, and let’s also not get too carried away with looking for the Pharisees in our midst, even though there are many, for this passage is within a larger context. This larger context runs through the entire chapter, and the climax and application is in the last few verses…
Jesus 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. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
Mark 12:41-44
Parallel Text: Luke 21:1-4
Chapter 12 has been a chapter of battle with Jesus prevailing over three waves of attack. The battle takes the form of a verbal combat between two different value systems, but the more important reality about all of this is our discernment of the fact that the real fight wasn’t a verbal one, but a spiritual one between two opposing powers.
In the last section, Mark 12:35-40, Jesus took the offensive against His real foe, and pronounced God’s coming final judgment on the Enemy, and as I mentioned last time, Matthew really brings this divine judgment into focus in Matthew 23. Here in these few verses, we see the very same spiritual forces at work vying for the hearts of men and women, even though no one speaks. Jesus did not speak to any crowd, but spoke only privately as a Master speaks to His disciples.
Consider the parallels between the wealthy folks here, tossing large amounts of coinage into the pots, clanking loudly so that everyone can see their display of worldly position and success as they part with tiny fractions of their incomes in a demonstration of “piety”, with the Pharisees, Sadducees, priests and teachers of the law and their flowing fancy garments, arrogance and false demonstrations of “piety”. Contrast all of this with the poor widow who gives everything she has to God.
To an onlooker, the situation of the “pious” well to do seems to show great favor from God, but it is only outward and worldly, thus it may not be of God at all, for He is not impressed by the outward grandeur of this world.
No! The poor widow is the one who has received God’s favor! She isn’t playing the world’s game, and so she may be poor in worldly terms, but she is rich in faith, a faith that will see her through hard times and ensure her place in eternity while all of those who so value their worldly positions suffer the consequences for their foolish and selfish behavior.
This chapter was not written, in my view, to show us that Jesus was smarter than the other guys, nor was it written to show us that He was a better debater. It was written to instill in us the truth that Jesus came to establish a whole new kind of kingdom, one that is not of this world, one that is in opposition to this world. It was written so that we might understand that if we intend to follow Jesus, our attitudes must change, our priorities must change, and that in our daily lives this world needs to decrease and His Kingdom increase. In order for this to take place, we must let go of the notion that Jesus will someday return to establish a kingdom in and of this world, for His Kingdom is not, has never been and never will be of this world.
Clearly, this is the best news of all.
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