Day 308 (Matthew 22, Mark 12) - Year 4
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Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.

Today we open with Jesus telling the parable of the wedding feast. This parable is really similar to the parable of the tenants, which we first read in Matthew 21 and then read again today in Mark 12. Both involve the master and his relationship with his son. Both involve sending multiple rounds of servants to get a response from the people who refuse and even kill them. And both involve the master bringing justice for those who refuse him and showing generosity to others.

In the wedding feast parable, the master orders his servants to go invite both good and bad, according to verse 10. This would certainly have shocked the Pharisees. They would consider themselves good, but they'd be aghast that the bad were invited as well.

The Master's approach to the wedding feast offends the pride of the self-righteous. Everyone who is invited in, both good and bad, gets a wedding garment. But Jesus points out that those who don't belong, who don't have a wedding garment, will be cast out. This wedding garment seems to be a parallel to the robes of righteousness God gives His children when He adopts us into His family. Whether these robes are figurative or literal or some combo doesn't really matter. The point is that they mark us as God's righteous children.

As the Pharisees and other leaders grow more desperate for reasons to accuse Jesus, they send some people to trap him in a conversation about taxes. You may recall that we already dealt with taxes once in Matthew 17 when they asked Peter if Jesus pays the temple tax or not. When that happened, Jesus sent Peter fishing and promised him that he'd catch a coin to use for the tax. He honors the temple tax ordained by God. But will he respond differently when it's the tax imposed by the oppressive ruling government, not by God?

The Jews hate giving their money to the Roman oppressors. It funds the very army that's ruling over them and even killing their family members. But Jesus says it's lawful to pay taxes, to submit to the authorities God has placed over you, even if they're wicked and you're actually in the process of opposing them. It's possible to humbly honor God while keeping the law while rebelling against wicked authorities. And Jesus will continue to demonstrate this perfectly.

That same day, the Sadducees also show up to try to trap him. They present a problem to him to seek his solution, but it's almost certainly a hypothetical situation. The Sadducees don't believe in a resurrection of any kind. They believe that once you die, that's it. There's no afterlife. So they're presenting this question as if they did believe in that because they think it will prove what a ridiculous idea resurrection is.

They say there's a woman who's married a lot of brothers and they've all died, so who is she going to be married to in the kingdom? By the way, they're referencing an Old Testament ordinance called Leveret Marriage, where if a man dies, his brother is responsible for marrying and taking care of his wife so that she's not left destitute. If you weren't with us in the Old Testament when we discussed that, you can check out the short article we've linked in the show notes. After they present this scenario to Jesus, they're like, So, Jesus, who is that woman married to in the afterlife? Haha, gotcha.

But you can't outsmart God. Jesus reigns on their parade by saying, well, look who doesn't know scripture or the power of God. You guys. Here's the deal. In the kingdom, people will be like angels who don't get married. And as far as this resurrection thing goes, remember how Yahweh said he's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Those guys had all died by the time he said that to Moses. And since he's not the God of the dead, then those guys must be alive, but just not in this dimension. So your attempt at a trick question shows your ignorance of God's word.

There are two other important things to note about what Jesus says here. First, we're all the bride of Christ, so technically in the kingdom we're all married to God. Second, the angels don't marry or procreate with each other, possibly because they're all male as far as we know, so that's impossible.

As they're talking, a Pharisee scribe seems to be impressed with how Jesus speaks truth. So he asked Jesus which commandment is the most important. Jesus encapsulates all 613 Old Testament laws into just two. The vertical laws, or man-to-God commands, and the horizontal laws, or man-to-man commands. Jesus isn't eliminating any of the laws. He's just summarizing them. The scribe is impressed, and Jesus tells him, you are not far from the kingdom of God.

Literally, because the king of the kingdom is speaking to him. Jesus continues his Q&A session by answering some people who are perplexed about the idea of how the Messiah can be a descendant of David yet also somehow predate David. This section of Mark 12 is one of the places where scripture gives us a lens on what it means for Jesus, God the Son, to be outside of time, to have always existed. He existed before David, who died a thousand years earlier, even though Jesus was only about 33 years old at the time.

Another important thing to note about this text is that Jesus affirms that the Psalms were written by David via the Holy Spirit. That's huge. God the Son confirms that God the Spirit is the author of Scripture, even through human hands. Finally, Jesus sets out some unconventional ideas for his day, but by now we've come to expect it from him and the way he flips everything on its head.

First, he says to be aware of those who do things for the express purpose of being seen and admired. Long robes and long prayers aren't wrong, but the Pharisees' motives for these things was to be showy. Jesus knows their hearts when they do these things. Then, after condemning those who try to draw attention to themselves, Jesus shines the spotlight on a woman who doesn't have anything at all to show off, but who gives generously from her heart. And this was my God shot for today.

We've already seen that God knows the heart. We already know that he values humility. But what if that just meant the rich and humble? What if he were like, all you humble millionaires, come and bring your tithe. He doesn't just want the hearts of the rich and powerful and beautiful. That may be what the world wants. And for sure, God wants that too. He's always after all the hearts. But while the world ignores those who have nothing to offer it, God says, people who have nothing to offer are my sweet spot.

Because in this relationship, he's the only one who has anything to offer anyway. He already owns all we give back to him. Money and faith and good deeds. Those are all things he gives to us that we return to him. We're at square one. It all starts and ends with him. And our hearts get to feel the blessing of being caught up in the cycle. How incredibly generous of him to invite us into that. He's where the joy is. ♪

Okay, Bible readers, it's time for our weekly check-in. I'm so glad you're here today. If you're behind, don't beat yourself up about it. I believe you're right on time according to where God has you in this moment. And I believe He's speaking to you today what you need to hear today. He's precise like that.

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