False expectations are surely among the greatest curses to afflict mankind. Mark draws a stark contrast for his readers between what was expected by the various parties opposed to Jesus and what He actually taught and did as Messiah. In Jerusalem at that time, the status quo was the real god of the Jewish leaders.
In our last chapter, we saw how the priests and nobles were questioning the authority of Jesus. Having tied Himself to the message of John the Baptist, He told a parable which clarified the sort of sin John was addressing. The Parable of the Wicked Vine Dressers was all too obvious to the Jewish leaders standing present. To them it was clear Jesus lambasted them for rejecting every messenger from God. Now the time had come for God to send His Son, who would be executed. The wrath of God would follow quickly against His murderers.
While it isn't clear they understood Jesus referred to Himself as the Son, they did get the point Jesus was saying they had defied God. More than anything else, any public criticism of their rule, given to such a large crowd who so gratefully heard it, made them indignant. Not only had He verbally trapped them in their own cowardice before the mob, He twisted the blade of embarrassment in their wounded pride. For all this, they still only half-understood, for they believed He intended to stir up a revolt against them.
While the crowd probably thought so, too -- and surely the disciples did -- Jesus plainly intended to let His Father take care of the problem. His revolt would be spiritual. Any conflict with current leadership in the performance of their duties would be entirely incidental to preaching a Kingdom of Heaven, not of earth. Rather, Jesus was pointing out their place in God's plans had come to an end. They had utterly failed the spiritual requirements, completely dismissing the other-worldly perspective inherent in ancient Hebrew culture and religion. Turning away completely from faith and embracing the ritual and symbol as the thing itself, they had made Judaism an empty cult practice. Again, Jesus pointed to complete lack of spiritual fruit. Therefore, they would simply cease to matter.
Instead, the spiritual outlook and faith in God, as taught by the Son, was completely rejected, but would become the foundation of God's new Kingdom. So trying to draw Jesus into their debate about whether paying taxes to Rome was treason, as the Pharisees taught, was a waste of time. Nobody wanted to pay taxes, and surely Mark's readers understood this, if nothing else. Jesus pointed out the common currency was just a tool. Produced by Rome, it belonged to Rome. Things of this earth are simply the background against which the faith life is lived; taxes and politics were not important. What really mattered was whether God got His offerings in the currency which really mattered: souls committed to live His Law.
The highly paganized Sadducees also tried to trip Him up with questions regarding marriage and Jewish laws of inheritance. Their entire assumption was eternity was just an extension of their current temporal existence. This Jesus firmly rebuked that. Their highly Hellenized outlook was unable to grasp the ultimate reality: people in Heaven would not need to procreate, so spiritual beings were asexual. Angels were in their eternal form, and sex was not any part of their existence. The needs answered by the typical family household structure did not exist in Eternity. Furthermore, all the saints of old were living and standing in the presence of God right at that moment, in an afterlife the Sadducees denied. God is a living God; to deny the afterlife was to deny God.
Apparently one of the lawyers standing there realized whatever else one might say of this troublemaker, He was very wise. Not simply sharp minded, but had a solid grasp on truth. So for his own curiosity, he asked Jesus to declare the first commandment, the fundamental starting point of knowing God. Jesus answered with the shema found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5, a ritual quote many Jewish men repeated daily. Then Jesus adds a quote from Leviticus 19:18 about placing the needs of your fellow man on a par with your own. In these two commands, Jesus summarized the essence of what the Law of Moses was all about. What many miss is Jesus indicates this is the essence of the higher Law of God itself. Everything else was just an expansion on these two concepts. Get those two right, and everything else takes care of itself. The lawyer agreed, and Jesus noted he was on the threshold of entering the Kingdom.
With that exchange, the Jewish leaders ran out of ammo for verbal sparring. Meanwhile, Jesus continued pointing the way to the other-worldly nature of truth, by pointing out the failures of the lawyers. He presented what would be a paradox to human logic, particularly as evinced by these lawyers, but completely acceptable to Hebrew mysticism. How could the Messiah to come be both Lord over David and his descendant, too? Ultimate truth can never be explained, it can only be demonstrated. In the very act of doing so, one cannot avoid demonstrating how it defies mere intellectual grasp.
Not content with that, Jesus went on to show the moral bankruptcy of those who managed to memorize vast stores of intellectual content. They truly understand the nature of Moses' Law as law, but completely missed the point of it all, as demonstrated in the previous discussion. These men demanded respect as powerful figures, but merely used their position to hurt people for their own profit. They were phonies, knowing the Law but not the God who gave it.
In contrast to such greed, Jesus pointed out the Kingdom measure of wealth. While observing the Temple offering drop-box, Jesus and His disciples noted the showy gifts of the wealthy, contrasted by the pitiful offering of someone poor. While the wealthy were hardly sacrificing anything, this poor widow gave painfully, never mind how little it was in terms of cash value. She preferred to live in want because her faith declared a bit of human misery didn't matter. She had already given her whole self to God, which the others would hardly consider.
The Jewish leadership had utterly failed the intent of the Law of Moses. They had led Israel down a dead end path. Worse, they had utterly denied the higher Law of God by denying there was anything beyond human grasp. It was a tiresome blasphemy to have told the world God Almighty was nothing more than a slot machine for worldly gain. They forfeited what little comfort the Law offered in this world, and locked everyone out of the embrace of faith which made this world's goods of little importance.
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By Ed Hurst
26 April 2008
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