Sunday, we will return to Mark and the final week of Jesus’ earthly life. Mark 12:13-17 continues the confrontations between Jesus and religious leaders. He entered Jerusalem amid cries of Hosanna and cleansed the temple of money changers. He also rebuked the scribes and elders with the parable of the wicked tenants. At this point, the leaders of Judaism want Him out of the way, but three times, Mark tells us they feared the crowds. In the next sections, groups of high-ranking religious leaders will try to trap Jesus with questions so the crowd will turn against Him, or perhaps He will say something that could offend Rome. Mark 12:13-17 presents a political question about taxes with no good answer. Yet, Jesus recognizes and reveals the hypocrisy of those asking questions and offers one of His most famous sayings, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (v. 17). In this simple statement, Jesus shows us how authority should be properly ordered. He does not mean that some things belong to Caesar and others belong to God, and that each should be kept separate. Jesus exposes their trap and hypocrisy by illustrating the hierarchy of authority. Caesar does have legitimate, God-ordained authority (Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Pt. 2:13-17), but Caesar’s authority is also limited. There is only one Lord of all, not two, and just as Caesar’s image appears on the coin that belongs to him, you are made in God’s image, and therefore, all you are belongs to Him. Christians are to submit to earthly authorities God has ordained, but no authority except God commands our highest allegiance and total obedience. Sunday, we will explore this passage in detail and ask, "Since we bear God’s image, what are we to render to Him?"
I. Jesus Faces A Political Trap (v. 13-14)
II. Jesus Exposes The Questioner’s Hypocrisy (v. 15-16a)
III. Jesus Explains Proper Authority (v. 16-17)
All content for Sermon Audio is the property of Jason Velotta and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Sunday, we will return to Mark and the final week of Jesus’ earthly life. Mark 12:13-17 continues the confrontations between Jesus and religious leaders. He entered Jerusalem amid cries of Hosanna and cleansed the temple of money changers. He also rebuked the scribes and elders with the parable of the wicked tenants. At this point, the leaders of Judaism want Him out of the way, but three times, Mark tells us they feared the crowds. In the next sections, groups of high-ranking religious leaders will try to trap Jesus with questions so the crowd will turn against Him, or perhaps He will say something that could offend Rome. Mark 12:13-17 presents a political question about taxes with no good answer. Yet, Jesus recognizes and reveals the hypocrisy of those asking questions and offers one of His most famous sayings, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (v. 17). In this simple statement, Jesus shows us how authority should be properly ordered. He does not mean that some things belong to Caesar and others belong to God, and that each should be kept separate. Jesus exposes their trap and hypocrisy by illustrating the hierarchy of authority. Caesar does have legitimate, God-ordained authority (Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Pt. 2:13-17), but Caesar’s authority is also limited. There is only one Lord of all, not two, and just as Caesar’s image appears on the coin that belongs to him, you are made in God’s image, and therefore, all you are belongs to Him. Christians are to submit to earthly authorities God has ordained, but no authority except God commands our highest allegiance and total obedience. Sunday, we will explore this passage in detail and ask, "Since we bear God’s image, what are we to render to Him?"
I. Jesus Faces A Political Trap (v. 13-14)
II. Jesus Exposes The Questioner’s Hypocrisy (v. 15-16a)
III. Jesus Explains Proper Authority (v. 16-17)
On Sunday, we will examine Mark 12:1-12. As chapter 11 concluded, Jewish leaders confronted Jesus, demanding to know by what authority He disrupted the temple operations by overturning the money changers’ tables. Jesus exposed their self-centered authority and refused to answer their question. Mark 12:1-12 continues that conversation. Jesus responds to the religious leaders with a parable. Often called the Parable of the Wicked Tenants, Jesus uses a story to reveal the wickedness of these leaders’ sin and God’s plan of salvation. A vineyard owner carefully plants, protects, and tends to his vineyard (echoing Isaiah 5:1-2, where Israel is the Lord’s beloved vineyard), then leases it to tenant farmers. At harvest, he rightly sends servants to collect his share of the fruit, but the tenants beat one, shame another, and kill a third—rejecting every messenger. These "servants" represent the Old Testament prophets whom Israel repeatedly persecuted (Jeremiah 7:25-26; 2 Chronicles 36:15-16). Yet the owner shows great patience and longsuffering as he continues to send servants to call for the fruit owed to him. He even sends his beloved son, thinking, “Surely they will respect him.” Instead, the tenants murder the heir, plotting to seize the inheritance for themselves. In this parable, the vineyard symbolizes God’s people, God is the vineyard’s owner, the prophets are the servants sent by the owner, Jesus is the Son who is killed, and Israel’s leaders are the tenants who want ownership of the vineyard. Jesus’ parable ends with God bringing justice by destroying the tenants—not the vineyard itself—and entrusting it to “others” (v. 9). These "others" are the Apostles, through whose preaching many will come to faith in Jesus and receive the Spirit, who produces the fruit God commands. This interpretation is confirmed as Jesus concludes the conversation with the religious leaders by quoting Psalm 118:22-23 (the same Psalm the crowd quoted as He entered the city). Jesus says that the stone the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. Jesus is the cornerstone of the Temple in which we are built (See Eph. 2:19-22). God owns the vineyard of His people and our lives; He deserves the fruit of worship, repentance, and obedience, and His long-suffering kindness is meant to lead us to repentance. We are called to entrust our lives to Jesus so we might bear fruit in His name.
I. God is Owed The Vineyard’s Fruit (v. 1-2)
II. God Is Gracefully Patient In Calling For Fruit (3-6)
III. God Will Judge & Restore His Vineyard (v. 7-9)
IV. God Will Build His Temple Upon His Son (10-11)
Sermon Audio
Sunday, we will return to Mark and the final week of Jesus’ earthly life. Mark 12:13-17 continues the confrontations between Jesus and religious leaders. He entered Jerusalem amid cries of Hosanna and cleansed the temple of money changers. He also rebuked the scribes and elders with the parable of the wicked tenants. At this point, the leaders of Judaism want Him out of the way, but three times, Mark tells us they feared the crowds. In the next sections, groups of high-ranking religious leaders will try to trap Jesus with questions so the crowd will turn against Him, or perhaps He will say something that could offend Rome. Mark 12:13-17 presents a political question about taxes with no good answer. Yet, Jesus recognizes and reveals the hypocrisy of those asking questions and offers one of His most famous sayings, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (v. 17). In this simple statement, Jesus shows us how authority should be properly ordered. He does not mean that some things belong to Caesar and others belong to God, and that each should be kept separate. Jesus exposes their trap and hypocrisy by illustrating the hierarchy of authority. Caesar does have legitimate, God-ordained authority (Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Pt. 2:13-17), but Caesar’s authority is also limited. There is only one Lord of all, not two, and just as Caesar’s image appears on the coin that belongs to him, you are made in God’s image, and therefore, all you are belongs to Him. Christians are to submit to earthly authorities God has ordained, but no authority except God commands our highest allegiance and total obedience. Sunday, we will explore this passage in detail and ask, "Since we bear God’s image, what are we to render to Him?"
I. Jesus Faces A Political Trap (v. 13-14)
II. Jesus Exposes The Questioner’s Hypocrisy (v. 15-16a)
III. Jesus Explains Proper Authority (v. 16-17)
