Mark 12

 Jesus then spoke to the chief priests, scribes, and elders in parables to expose their hypocrisy. He said a man planted a vineyard and leased it to vinedressers, while he went far away. At vintage time he sent a servant to receive some of the fruit from his vineyard, but the vinedressers beat the servant and sent him away. The man sent another servant, and him they threw stones at and sent him shamefully away. The man sent more servants, and the vinedressers beat some and killed others. Finally, the man sent his son, but these the vinedressers killed, thinking the inheritance would belong to them. 

Jesus asked the temple rulers what they thought the man should do? He will come and destory the vinedressers and give the vineyard to others. 

The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

The temple rulers knew Jesus was talking about them, and they sought to lay hands on Him; but they feared the multitude.

Later the Pharisees and Herodians meant to trap Him by asking Him if it was lawful to pay taxes. Jesus, knowing their hypocrisy, asked them to give him a coin. He asked whose image was on the coin. They said Caesar. Therefore, Jesus told them, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar; but give to God what belongs to God. 

Next the Sadducees asked Him about the resurrection because they did not believe in a resurrection. They gave a lame story about a woman whose husband died w/o children; she married his brother and he died without children; she married the next brother, and he died without...you get the picture. In the resurrection, they wondered, whose wife would she be? Jesus told them they were wrong because they do not know the Scriptures. In the resurrection,  there is no reason to marry. And besides, God is the God of the living, not the dead. 

Then the scribes asked which was the greatest commandment, and Jesus told them:

Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the fist commandment. And the second like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. 

Finally, Jesus asked them how it was that the scribes say that the Messiah is the Son of David? For David himself seid by the Holy Spirit:

The LORD said to my Lord, sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.

David himself called Him Lord; how is He then his Son?  

Jesus condemned the scribes because they were hypocrites. Later he observed how the wealthy gave much to the treasury of the temple; however, a poor widow gave all she had. Jesus used it as an example to demonstrate true sacrificial giving. 

COMMENTARY

In the parable of the vineyard, the man is God the Father and the vineyard is the nation Israel. The servants God sent were the prophets, and the heir was Jesus Christ. Obviously, the vinedressers were the religious rulers. While Jesus came to the lost sheep of Israel first, He was also for the whole world; however, this was directed at the religious rulers and they knew it. Jesus even foretold what the religious rulers were plotting and would do to Him at the end of that week. Furthermore, He predicted what God the Father will do with the religious rulers by pronouncing judgment on them. By A.D. 70, Rome would destroy the city of Jerusalem. 

In His final week on earth, Jesus had confronted every group that targeted Him: the chief priests, scribes, Pharisees, Herodians, and the Sadducees. He exposed them as hypocrites and ignorant of the Scriptures. Every time their paths crossed, they stepped right into it. 

When He asked them about David, He was pointing to His virgin birth. David spoke about one of his future descendants, calling him Lord, which was the Son of God. Jesus said David wrote the Psalm through the Holy Spirit and that this Psalm is about Him, the Messiah. 

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