Mark 12
CHAPTER 12
The parable of the vineyard
And he began to speak to them in parables. A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge about it, and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower; and rented it to husbandmen. Then he went into another country. 2 And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, so he might receive from the husbandmen the fruits of the vineyard. 3 And they took him and beat him, and sent him away empty handed. 4 And again he sent to them another servant- and him they wounded in the head and handled shamefully. 5 And he sent another- and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some. 6 He had one other, a beloved son. He sent him last to them, saying: They will reverence my son. 7 But those husbandmen said among themselves: This is the heir! Come, let us kill him and the inheritance shall be ours. 8 And they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard to others.
10 Have you not read in the scripture: The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner? 11 This was from the Lord and it is marvellous in our eyes? 12 And they sought to arrest him; but they feared the crowd. For they perceived that he had spoken that parable against them; and they left him and went away.
The Jews try to trap Jesus with trick questions
13 And they sent to him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, that they might catch him out in his teaching. 14 And when they arrived, they said to him: Teacher, we know you are truthful and do not care about anyone's opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? 15 Shall we give, or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them: Why do you test me? Bring me a denarius, that I may look at it. 16 And they brought it. And he said to them: Whose is this image and inscription? And they said to him: Caesar's. 17 And Jesus said to them: Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled greatly at him.
18 And there came to him Sadducees (these say that there is no resurrection) and they asked him: 19 Teacher, Moses wrote to us: If a man's brother dies and leaves a wife behind him and leaves no children, then his brother should take his wife and raise up seed to his brother. 20 There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife and died leaving no seed. 21 And the second took her, and died leaving no seed behind him, and the third likewise. 22 And the seven left no seed. Last of all the woman also died. 23 In the resurrection, whose wife shall she be? For the seven had her as wife. 24 Jesus said to them: Is not the reason you err that you do not know the scriptures, nor the power of God? 25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels in heaven.
26 But concerning the dead, that they are raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying: I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? 27 He is not the God of the dead but of the living. You do err greatly.
28 And one of the scribes came and heard them arguing; and knowing that he had answered them well, he asked him: What commandment is the first of all? 29 Jesus answered: The first is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. 31 The second is this: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. 32 And the scribe said to him: Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, that He is one and there is no other but He. 33 And to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is much more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices. 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him: You are not far from the kingdom of God. And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.
35 And Jesus asked, as he taught in the temple: Why do the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? 36 David himself said in the Holy Spirit: The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. 37 David himself calls him Lord; and how is he therefore his son? And the common people heard him gladly.
38 And in his teaching he said: Beware of the scribes, who desire to walk in long robes and to have salutations in the marketplaces, 39 and the chief seats in the synagogues and chief places at feasts. 40 They that devour widows' houses and for a pretence make long prayers, these shall receive greater condemnation.
41 And he sat down over against the treasury, and watched how the crowd threw money into the treasury; and many that were rich threw in a lot. 42 And there came a poor widow, and she threw in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 43 And he gathered his disciples, and said to them: Truly I say to you, this poor widow threw in more than all they that are throwing money into the treasury. 44 For they threw in money they didn't need, but she though needy threw in all that she had- all her livelihood.
Commentary
12:1 God is the vineyard owner, the vineyard is Israel. God did everything so that they might bring forth spiritual fruit; as He does for us. The servants He sent are the prophets.
12:2 At the season- there were many times when the harvest could have come; the Kingdom of God could have been established earlier, but God has given us genuine freewill, and so He awaits the time when His people give Him the fruit. This could imply that Jesus will only return once Israel have repented and are giving spiritual fruit to God.
12:7 This is the heir- Implies the Jews recognized who Jesus really was (11:28-33 implies the same). The Jewish conscience about Jesus is apparent today too.
12:9 Others- The Gentiles.
12:12 Mark emphasizes how “the crowd” were supportive of Jesus (11:18,32; 12:37; 14:2). But this same crowd were soon shouting “Crucify him!”. We must battle against this same fickleness of human nature- to love and adore Jesus one moment, and deny Him the next.
12:17 We are made in God’s image and so we should give our bodies and lives to God.
12:24 You do not know the scriptures- But they did know them, many could recite the entire Old Testament from memory. We can know the Bible and yet not know it at all if we don’t personally believe in the power of God which it teaches.
12:31 To love our neighbor as ourselves we must love ourselves; in the sense of perceiving our own value and meaning in God’s eyes. We all tend in some ways to have too negative a view of ourselves.
12:33 The whole burn offerings involved every part of the animal being burnt to God. To love God and our neighbour involves giving our entire lives to God; the life of faith can’t be a hobby, a book we read occasionally out of interest, a church meeting we occasionally attend, a social circle we move in.
12:40 Greater condemnation- there will be degrees of both reward and punishment given to people by Jesus when He returns and judges us.
12:43 Jesus was very observant to notice those two coins going into the box. He is the same today- He notices the quiet devotion and sacrifice for Him which nobody else does. This is why He teaches against doing good deeds which others see, and was so against how the Scribes behaved (12:39).
