3 Final Questions

 Read Mark 12.

Religious leaders of the day took turns in attempts to accuse Him of some punishable statement (v.12).  Though Jesus repeatedly demonstrated His true identity, their hard hearts refused to accept Him as the Messiah. 

1. The positional question. (vv.1-11)
This context begins in 11:27, with the chief priests, scribes, and elders.  These men were all about positional leadership.  It threatened them greatly that someone not under their authority, such as John, the Baptist and now Jesus, would teach and serve great crowds of people without them.  John and Jesus did not receive education from their system, nor were they authorized by the Temple leadership.

In response, Jesus told this parable.  The owner has full authority over what belongs to him.  Those he placed in charge of his property have accountability to the owner.  This is a very thinly veiled reference to these religious leaders and their lack of stewardship responsibilities for the nation on God's behalf.  God, the Owner, will reject these who have rejected His Son, and give the spiritual stewardship to others.

They were so selfishly protective of their positions that they failed to fulfill their Scriptural duties.  They should have been the ones to lead the nation in recognizing and worshiping Jesus as the promised Messiah, as Zechariah, the Temple priest, did in Luke 1:67-79.

2. The political question.  (vv.13-17)
Next, the Pharisees, who were the legalists, along with the Herodians, who were supporters of the Herods, came.  This was a strange alliance between these two groups.  But, if Jesus were not politically correct, then, perhaps, the Romans could arrest Jesus as some rebel, teaching people to disobey the government. 

Jesus responded with a shrewd bit of wisdom that rebuked both groups.  The Pharisees were more interested in their traditions than the Word of God.  The Herodians were more enamored with the ruling political family than God Himself.  Obeying human law is one thing.  Obviously, neither group was giving God His rightful place in their hearts.

3. The theological question. (vv.18-27)
Much like the liberals of today, the Sadducees spent time discussing social issues while dismissing the authority of the Word of God.  This question of marriage reveals the error of their human reasoning.  Jesus rebuked this group stronger than the others.  He twice bluntly said, "you are wrong,"  How did these phony religious leaders get to this erroneous place?  "Because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God."

If they had been students of the Scriptures, instead of following human thought...
If they had surrendered themselves to God, instead of their group...
They would have experienced the power of a changed life and worshiped the great I AM who stood before them.

With that the questions stopped (v.37).