Mark Chapter 12 Verses 13 – 15

• Who are “they?” There in verse 13, “Then they sent to Him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch Him in His words…” The losers! They couldn’t get the upper hand! They were utterly defeated by the wisdom and the superiority of Jesus and so they go stir others up to make a try at him! Be careful that you don’t become the they…or like one of these Pharisees or Herodians! Because that’s so often then case. You had no part in the problem. You had no skin in the game. You were at peace…but now maybe it’s you that has come to try and catch him or her or me or them in their words…think for a minute about what happened to who already came…why are they spreading the anti-love to you…your fate will be the same.
• And understand when you are on the receiving end as well…”Who sent you!” HA!
• Remember this, consider this…it is always easier to get into something than it is to get out of something. Why not choose peace? It is a choice you know…it’s not just a happen-stance. Oh I know why, because most times it involves…submission. (Gasp!) Many times it involves…suffering. (Ugh!) You know there is a biblical word for that…humility. Those are main ingredients man in spiritual growth and spiritual power! In maturity and leadership! In discipleship…true Christianity! How we’ve lost that…
• Those things, submission and suffering wrapped up in bacon and called humility…(wrapped in goodness that is)…love and purpose for the Father…
• Paul exhorts us in Romans 12:16 to “associate with the humble.” Align with them…why? Because Jesus said, “Whoever humbles himself just as this little child,” no doubt this little one just hanging off His every word…loving just being with Jesus, “…is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” And check this out…Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…this world…as fallen as it is, as wretched as it is…was bought by the blood of Jesus…your life and mine…the very kingdom of God…and so the humble, they are the greatest…NOW!

• So before you launch…before you open the dispute, before you seek humility from others…consider this. And if it’s you, if you’re on the receiving end of this type of affront…hey, consider this. Know what the deal is so that you won’t be so hot right off the bat…you’ll have pity, compassion and ultimately patience with them as they come against you…because it’s their trap, they’re the ones stuck in it…not you. Getting into their trap is your choice!

• One more thing before we move on. These two folks hate each other!   The Pharisees as a group were born in Babylon! When the children of Israel were taken captive, a group of men came together and made a vow to preserve the culture…the traditions, the national identity…they came to be known as the Pharisees…you won’t find the word Pharisee in the OT…but the Herodians…these were the traitors! The ones who had adopted the culture of Herod and wanted to drive towards Herod the Great being the ruler of Judea. The enemies of the Pharisees! The Pharisees wanted to drive towards the lineage of King David being the ruler of Judea…
• What on earth are they doing teaming up! Well, they have something in common…their hatred of Jesus!! It’s amazing what will bring folks together…ultimately they will fail. Why? Hate brings them together. Carnality. The flesh. Common offense…but when love is the combining force…and most powerfully, the love of Jesus is the communing force…man its peace and power and proliferation permanently!

Mark Chapter 12 Verse 15

• Notice Jesus Himself didn’t have a penny…Health, wealth and prosperity! The teachers that push that false gospel would call Jesus a faithless failure…Jesus didn’t even have a penny to use in His own illustration…
• Now the Jews were taxed on everything. Their crops, their money, their income, their inheritance, their property…their clothes…they even had to pay a tax to simply exist…they hated taxes! But if Jesus said not to pay, they would run and tell on Him as a traitor of Rome. And if Jesus told them to pay then He would be hated by many…they are on the huntfor Him!

Mark Chapter 12 Verses 16 – 17

• That’s awesome! See this money made in the image of Caesar? It’s his…but you, you are made in the image of God…you’re His.
• And they marveled at Him…when you truly encounter the wisdom and wonder of God…you don’t a-ha, you don’t giggle because it clicks…you marvel…wonder in utter admiration…

Mark Chapter Verses 18 - 23

• The Sadducees were the priests for the most part and the High Priest at this time was a Sadducee. They were materialists. Not really spiritual men at all….they did not believe in spirits, or angels or in the resurrection of the dead.   So this question…total sucker question…they don’t really seek an answer, they seek a debate…Notice the first thing Jesus says….

Mark Chapter 24 Verse 24

• BAM! You’re wrong and you don’t know the Word. WOW! That is pretty blunt, eh? I get sucker questions quite often…Ima try that out! HA!

Mark Chapter 24 Verse 25

• Not to open a can of worms but that statement made by Jesus is a primary scripture that I believe refutes the idea that giants in the days of Noah were half breeds, half angel / half man…Jesus says here that angels aren’t the marrying type if you get my drift…anyway…I’m sure I’ll get plenty of texts and emails on that one…HA!

Mark Chapter 24 Verses 26 – 27

• Jesus meets them right where they’re at. Remember, the Sadducees were the materialists…only accepting the Books of Moses, the first five books of the Old Testament, they didn’t even believe in the resurrection!! And so rather than pulling from the Psalms or the prophets, He takes them right to where they are spiritually…points them to the burning bush (Exodus 3:6) which is found in the only part of scripture that they will accept and with that…He reaches out to them.

• God is the God of the living, not the dead. Wow. Her first husband. He lives. Her second husband. He lives. Third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh…they live on and so does she and therefore in the resurrection…just as they all are now…she’s not really his…he’s not really hers…they are all God’s…

• You see God in Exodus used the present tense giving the implication, revealing the truth, making it obvious that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob…they’re all still alive…they’ve been let loose of their earthly bodies but they themselves…they live on…which utterly verifies the reality of the resurrection! Jesus is saying, “guys, my friends, drop the weapons for just a minute…pause the hunt and listen to Me…that which you know to be true, the small portion that you can and do accept…it speaks of Me…”

• Jesus said that He is the resurrection and the life…not a resurrection and life…He’s it…I wonder are you still hunting…have you given Him a chance…just heard how much He loves you and what He’s done to win you back to the Father…don’t put it off…don’t wait, especially until it’s too late. Robert Frost once said, “The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.”

• All of this, this scene, His Word, His sacrifice, it’s very simple. It’s not complicated. You don’t need to understand everything to drop the weapons and hear the Lord’s call on your heart...the Gettysburg Address was 10 sentences, 3 minutes long and yet it echo’s still today…this one thing you must hear, confirmed by the presence of the Holy Spirit in every life…The Lord God, your Creator, your Father…His love for you is everlasting and He put it on display when He died in your place. Would you marvel today?