Mark 12:13-27
Q.1. What leaders tried to trap Jesus? Were they respectful? What trap did they lay? How did Jesus answer them? – (Mk.12:13-17)
The Herodians were supporters of Herod and in favour of paying tribute to Caesar. It is amazing that the Pharisees who hated Caesar’s authority over the nation would join with the Herodians (Mk.12:13). Consider the pretence in their greeting, when they were only intent on trapping Him – Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay poll-tax to Caesar or not? (Mk.12:14) Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and asked for them to bring Him a denarius. He asked them – Whose likeness and inscription is this? And they said to Him, Caesar’s! (Mk.12:16). Jesus replied – Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s (Mk.12:17). Even His enemies were in awe of Him.
Q.2. Was the question of the Sadducees sincere? Why were they mistaken? What was the message of the burning bush? – (Mk.12:18-27)
The Sadducees likewise were insincere in asking for an answer regarding the resurrection, when they themselves claimed that there was no resurrection (Mk.12:18). They posed an unlikely and hypothetical story in which a woman remained childless after marrying seven brothers, each marriage in accordance with the Levirate laws of Israel (Mk.12:19-22 c.f. Deut.25:5-10). Their story ridiculed the idea of a resurrection, with the conclusion – when they rise again, which wife will she be? For all seven had married her (Mk.12:23). Jesus dismantled their insinuations with His reply – 24 … Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God? (Mk.12:24). He explained – when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven (Mk.12:25). They had also overlooked the Scriptures which asserted the power of God – 26 But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning 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 are greatly mistaken (Mk.12:26-27). As the living Word of God, Jesus knew the written Word of God and exposed their groundless arguments. It pays to know the Bible.