Mark 12
12
The Parable of the Tenants in the Vineyard
(Mt 21.33–46; Lk 20.9–19)
1 #
Is 5.1–2
Then Jesus spoke to them in parables: “Once there was a man who planted a vineyard, put a fence round it, dug a hole for the winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he let out the vineyard to tenants and left home on a journey. 2When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent a slave to the tenants to receive from them his share of the harvest. 3The tenants seized the slave, beat him, and sent him back without a thing. 4Then the owner sent another slave; the tenants beat him over the head and treated him shamefully. 5The owner sent another slave, and they killed him; and they treated many others the same way, beating some and killing others. 6The only one left to send was the man's own dear son. Last of all, then, he sent his son to the tenants. ‘I am sure they will respect my son,’ he said. 7But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the owner's son. Come on, let's kill him, and his property will be ours!’ 8So they seized the son and killed him and threw his body out of the vineyard.
9 “What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do?” asked Jesus. “He will come and kill those tenants and hand the vineyard over to others. 10#Ps 118.22–23Surely you have read this scripture:
‘The stone which the builders rejected as worthless
turned out to be the most important of all.
11 This was done by the Lord;
what a wonderful sight it is!’ ”
12The Jewish leaders tried to arrest Jesus, because they knew that he had told this parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.
The Question about Paying Taxes
(Mt 22.15–22; Lk 20.20–26)
13Some Pharisees and some members of Herod's party were sent to Jesus to trap him with questions. 14They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you tell the truth, without worrying about what people think. You pay no attention to anyone's status, but teach the truth about God's will for people. Tell us, is it against our Law to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor? Should we pay them or not?”
15But Jesus saw through their trick and answered, “Why are you trying to trap me? Bring a silver coin, and let me see it.”
16They brought him one, and he asked, “Whose face and name are these?”
“The Emperor's,” they answered.
17So Jesus said, “Well, then, pay the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor, and pay God what belongs to God.”
And they were amazed at Jesus.
The Question about Rising from Death
(Mt 22.23–33; Lk 20.27–40)
18 #
Acts 23.8
Then some Sadducees, who say that people will not rise from death, came to Jesus and said, 19#Deut 25.5“Teacher, Moses wrote this law for us: ‘If a man dies and leaves a wife but no children, that man's brother must marry the widow so that they can have children who will be considered the dead man's children.’ 20Once there were seven brothers; the eldest got married and died without having children. 21Then the second one married the woman, and he also died without having children. The same thing happened to the third brother, 22and then to the rest: all seven brothers married the woman and died without having children. Last of all, the woman died. 23Now, when all the dead rise to life on the day of resurrection, whose wife will she be? All seven of them had married her.”
24Jesus answered them, “How wrong you are! And do you know why? It is because you don't know the Scriptures or God's power. 25For when the dead rise to life, they will be like the angels in heaven and will not marry. 26#Ex 3.6Now, as for the dead being raised: haven't you ever read in the Book of Moses the passage about the burning bush? There it is written that God said to Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ 27He is the God of the living, not of the dead. You are completely wrong!”
The Great Commandment
(Mt 22.34–40; Lk 10.25–28)
28 #
Lk 10.25–28
A teacher of the Law was there who heard the discussion. He saw that Jesus had given the Sadducees a good answer, so he came to him with a question: “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
29 #
Deut 6.4–5
Jesus replied, “The most important one is this: ‘Listen, Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord.#12.29 The Lord our God is the only Lord; or The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31#Lev 19.18The second most important commandment is this: ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment more important than these two.”
32 #
Deut 4.35
The teacher of the Law said to Jesus, “Well done, Teacher! It is true, as you say, that only the Lord is God and that there is no other god but he. 33#Hos 6.6And to love God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, is more important than to offer animals and other sacrifices to God.”
34Jesus noticed how wise his answer was, and so he told him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”
After this nobody dared to ask Jesus any more questions.
The Question about the Messiah
(Mt 22.41–46; Lk 20.41–44)
35As Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he asked the question, “How can the teachers of the Law say that the Messiah will be the descendant of David? 36#Ps 110.1The Holy Spirit inspired David to say:
‘The Lord said to my Lord:
Sit here on my right
until I put your enemies under your feet.’
37 David himself called him ‘Lord’; so how can the Messiah be David's descendant?”
Jesus Warns against the Teachers of the Law
(Mt 23.1–36; Lk 20.45–47)
A large crowd was listening to Jesus gladly. 38As he taught them, he said, “Watch out for the teachers of the Law, who like to walk around in their long robes and be greeted with respect in the market place, 39who choose the reserved seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts. 40They take advantage of widows and rob them of their homes, and then make a show of saying long prayers. Their punishment will be all the worse!”
The Widow's Offering
(Lk 21.1–4)
41As Jesus sat near the temple treasury, he watched the people as they dropped in their money. Many rich men dropped in a lot of money; 42then a poor widow came along and dropped in two little copper coins, worth about a penny. 43He called his disciples together and said to them, “I tell you that this poor widow put more in the offering box than all the others. 44For the others put in what they had to spare of their riches; but she, poor as she is, put in all she had — she gave all she had to live on.”
Currently Selected:
Mark 12: GNBDC
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Mark 12
12
A Story About God’s Son
1Jesus began to use stories to teach the people. He said, “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it and dug a hole for a winepress and built a tower. Then he leased the land to some farmers and left for a trip. 2When it was time for the grapes to be picked, he sent a servant to the farmers to get his share of the grapes. 3But the farmers grabbed the servant and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4Then the man sent another servant. They hit him on the head and showed no respect for him. 5So the man sent another servant, whom they killed. The man sent many other servants; the farmers beat some of them and killed others.
6“The man had one person left to send, his son whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
7“But the farmers said to each other, ‘This son will inherit the vineyard. If we kill him, it will be ours.’ 8So they took the son, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
9“So what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those farmers and will give the vineyard to other farmers. 10Surely you have read this Scripture:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
became the cornerstone.
11The Lord did this,
and it is wonderful to us.’ ”#Psalm 118:22–23
12The Jewish leaders knew that the story was about them. So they wanted to find a way to arrest Jesus, but they were afraid of the people. So the leaders left him and went away.
Is It Right to Pay Taxes or Not?
13Later, the Jewish leaders sent some Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to trap him in saying something wrong. 14They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are an honest man. You are not afraid of what other people think about you, because you pay no attention to who they are. And you teach the truth about God’s way. Tell us: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? 15Should we pay them, or not?”
But knowing what these men were really trying to do, Jesus said to them, “Why are you trying to trap me? Bring me a coin to look at.” 16They gave Jesus a coin, and he asked, “Whose image and name are on the coin?”
They answered, “Caesar’s.”
17Then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and give to God the things that are God’s.” The men were amazed at what Jesus said.
Some Sadducees Try to Trick Jesus
18Then some Sadducees came to Jesus and asked him a question. (Sadducees believed that people would not rise from the dead.) 19They said, “Teacher, Moses wrote that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, then that man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. 20Once there were seven brothers. The first brother married and died, leaving no children. 21So the second brother married the widow, but he also died and had no children. The same thing happened with the third brother. 22All seven brothers married her and died, and none of the brothers had any children. Finally the woman died too. 23Since all seven brothers had married her, when people rise from the dead, whose wife will she be?”
24Jesus answered, “Why don’t you understand? Don’t you know what the Scriptures say, and don’t you know about the power of God? 25When people rise from the dead, they will not marry, nor will they be given to someone to marry. They will be like the angels in heaven. 26Surely you have read what God said about people rising from the dead. In the book in which Moses wrote about the burning bush, it says that God told Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ 27God is the God of the living, not the dead. You Sadducees are wrong!”
The Most Important Command
28One of the teachers of the law came and heard Jesus arguing with the Sadducees. Seeing that Jesus gave good answers to their questions, he asked Jesus, “Which of the commands is most important?”
29Jesus answered, “The most important command is this: ‘Listen, people of Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31The second command is this: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ There are no commands more important than these.”
32The man answered, “That was a good answer, Teacher. You were right when you said God is the only Lord and there is no other God besides him. 33One must love God with all his heart, all his mind, and all his strength. And one must love his neighbor as he loves himself. These commands are more important than all the animals and sacrifices we offer to God.”
34When Jesus saw that the man answered him wisely, Jesus said to him, “You are close to the kingdom of God.” And after that, no one was brave enough to ask Jesus any more questions.
35As Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he asked, “Why do the teachers of the law say that the Christ is the son of David? 36David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, said:
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit by me at my right side,
until I put your enemies under your control.” ’ #Psalm 110:1
37David himself calls the Christ ‘Lord,’ so how can the Christ be his son?” The large crowd listened to Jesus with pleasure.
38Jesus continued teaching and said, “Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around wearing fancy clothes, and they love for people to greet them with respect in the marketplaces. 39They love to have the most important seats in the synagogues and at feasts. 40But they cheat widows and steal their houses and then try to make themselves look good by saying long prayers. They will receive a greater punishment.”
True Giving
41Jesus sat near the Temple money box and watched the people put in their money. Many rich people gave large sums of money. 42Then a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which were only worth a few cents.
43Calling his followers to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow gave more than all those rich people. 44They gave only what they did not need. This woman is very poor, but she gave all she had; she gave all she had to live on.”
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.