|
This is
the last week of the earthly life of most important
human who ever lived. The One who will be the
Final Passover Lamb has gone up to Jerusalem,
along with the majority of the Jewish people,
to celebrate the wonderful holiday of Passover.
He entered Jerusalem that most important week
in human history on the first day of the week,
which is the tenth day of Nisan. Just as the original
Passover lambs were to be inspected beginning
four days prior to Passover, starting on the tenth
day of Nisan (see Exodus 12:3-6), so for the same
four days, from the tenth to the fourteenth of
Nisan, Messiah our Passover Lamb was being inspected
by the various groups that comprised the household
of Israel. He was with the multitudes, most of
whom loved Him; He has been answering the difficult
questions of the chief priests, Torah-teachers,
elders, Pharisees, Sadducees and Herodians, questions
that often were designed to trap Him.
Rabbi
Yeshua had been asked questions about the source
of His authority to cleanse the temple (the temple
that was under the authority of the religious
leaders, and yet Yeshua superseded their authority
when He cleansed the temple); questions about
whether it was right to pay taxes to the Romans;
questions about the resurrection; questions about
the greatest commandment of them all (the Shema,
and loving God with the totality of one’s being).
As He answered their questions, He demonstrated
His vastly superior wisdom (the wisdom of God)
and also taught all of us important truths.
The
Need to Believe Good Doctrine
Now He
asks some questions of His own, questions that
will demonstrate to the multitudes of Israel that
He is wiser than the rest of Israel’s leaders,
and also clarify to the Jewish people, and to
humanity, the truth of the Trinity, and the divinity
of the man, Messiah Yeshua.
There
were hints given to the Prophets that Messiah
would be a man, and yet somehow also God (Isaiah
9:6-7, Jeremiah 23:5-6, Proverbs 30:4). Yet, in
spite of this, few, if any, understood that the
Messiah would be fully God and fully man. During
the last week of His life, Yeshua want all of
Israel, and all of humanity, to clearly understood
these truths about His dual nature as both God
and man, and the Three-In-One nature of God. These
are very important truths that Messiah Yeshua
wants us to understand and believe.
12:35
And Yeshua began to say, as He taught in the
temple, “How is it that the scribes say
that the Messiah is the son of David? “David himself
said in the Holy Spirit, ‘the Lord said to my
Lord, “sit at My right hand, until I put Your
enemies beneath Your feet.”’ “David himself calls
Him ‘Lord’; so in what sense is He His son?”
Let’s
start with the first question that Yeshua asks:
“How is it that the scribes (the Torah-teachers,
the experts in Scripture) say that the Messiah
is the son of David? These experts in Scripture
correctly taught that the Messiah must be a descendant
of David (based on passages in the Word of God
like 2 Samuel 7, Isaiah 9:6-7 and Psalm 89). They
understood that the Messiah would be born into
the royal family of king David. He will be the
heir to David’s kingdom. The scribes said this,
and the Scriptures teach this, and Yeshua concurs
with this. But Yeshua goes further, and adds more
truth that was not clearly understood by the rest
of Israel’s experts in Scripture, because He knew
more about the nature of the Messiah than anyone
else. He knew that the Son of David would not
only be fully man, but also fully God!
Let’s
consider the second question Yeshua asks: “David
himself said in the Holy Spirit (so this is
a divinely inspired prophecy, received while David
was enlightened by the Spirit of God, and therefore
it is true and reliable and important, and must
be believed by the faithful. And, the Holy Spirit
is not an impersonal force, but a Person, who,
although without a body, is present everywhere
throughout the universe, and who comes upon and
lives in specially chosen human beings in a special
way. The Holy Spirit has intelligence and wisdom,
and is able to inspire and teach), ‘the Lord
(Adonai - the eternal, self-existent God -
in this case, referring to God the Father) said
to my Lord (Adonee - David’s Lord, David’s
Superior, the One who David, the great king of
Israel, is obligated to obey. Who was superior
to David? No one on Earth. Then who is left? The
angels. But no angel is David’s Lord. The angels
are servants to humanity, not our masters. So
who is left? The Messiah. He is David’s Lord),
“sit at My right hand, until I put Your enemies
beneath Your feet.”’ “David himself calls Him
‘Lord’; so in what sense is He His son?”
David’s
Lord is also David’s son. As David’s son, He comes
after David in time, and yet comes before David
in authority.
As David’s
son, the Messiah is fully man.
David’s
son is fully human, but David’s Lord is also fully
divine. He is completely God. Messiah Yeshua is
not a mere created being. He has all the essential
attributes of God. He is divine, eternal, self-existent
and has eternal life in Himself. He shares the
Father’s nature, deity and essence, mind and Spirit,
and yet the Son is distinct from God the Father
as to His person.
David’s
Lord is in close proximity to God the Father in
Heaven.
David’s
Lord is in the presence of God.
God the
Father honors God the Son by having Him sit at
His right hand. David’s Lord is in the place of
greatest honor in the universe - at the right
hand of God.
David’s
Lord is a Person, and yet distinct from the Person
of God the Father.
God the
Father is distinct from God the Son.
God the
Father speaks to God the Son.
God the
Father commands God the Son. The Father orders
the Son to sit at His right hand. God the Father
is superior to the Son in position and authority,
and yet equal to Him in nature.
David’s
Lord has been to Earth, and ascended and returned
victorious to the presence of God in Heaven.
David’s
Lord is seated at the right hand of God the Father.
The Son is not standing and working, but seated
and resting, because the first phase of His work
on Earth finished - His work of atonement. As
the Perfect Man, Messiah able to identify with
the fallen human race. He is one of us. He is
our brother and friend, our Kinsman Redeemer,
and therefore qualified to be our great Substitute.
As One who is fully God, He is greater than mankind
and able to redeem all of mankind.
As One
who is fully God and fully man, He is able to
be our perfect Priest, our one and only Mediator,
and bridge the gap between God and man, and reconcile
God and man. His one sacrifice of Himself on the
cross, along with His resurrection from the dead,
and His ascension back to Heaven, is the basis
for His rest. His work of atonement is full and
complete.
Even though
His work of atonement is completed, David’s Lord
has enemies. His enemies are human beings who
are in rebellion to God the Father, who deny that
Yeshua is David’s Lord.
David’s
Lord will be completely victorious.
The enemies
of David’s Son will be defeated by God the
Father.
David’s
Lord will be completely victorious over rebellious
humanity.
So, Prophet
Yeshua claims that the Messiah will be a Jewish
man, and a descendant of king David, and that
Messiah will also be fully God and fully man.
He has claimed to be the Messiah, and also claimed
to be God. He believes that Psalm 110 refers to
Himself. By bringing this prophecy to the attention
of Israel, and by believing that it applies to
Himself, He is also predicting that He will die,
and ascend back to God the Father in Heaven, and
be victorious over all those who oppose Him.
So, during
the last and most important week of His most important
life, in the most importance place, in front of
the Chosen People, Messiah Yeshua is clarifying
to Israel, and teaching all of us the very important
truths about the humanity and the divinity of
the Son of God, and the reality of the Trinity.
These are essential doctrines taught to us by
the Savior that must be believed. These are centrals
truth of the Faith. Those who do not believe them
reject the Messiah’s teachings, and are heretics
who have gone astray.
And
the large crowd (again, there was a large
crowd. Yeshua was very popular among many of the
people) enjoyed listening to Him. Not everyone
enjoyed listening to Him. I’m sure most of the
leaders of these various groups who were hostile
to Yeshua didn’t. But the crowds of ordinary Jewish
people, did. And I hope all of us will now, and
forever and ever, enjoy listening to Him, and
learning from Him!
The
Need To Practice Good Behavior
True religion
isn’t only about the need to believe good doctrine.
We must believe good doctrine, but true religion
also involves good behavior. Mark moves us along
from the need to have good theology and believe
good doctrine about God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit, to the need to act in
a way that befits those who claim to be part of
the religion that pleases God.
12:38
In His teaching He was saying: “Beware of the
scribes (the experts in the laws of the Torah.
These are religious people - like us) who like
to walk around in long robes (long robes and
nice clothes are designed to make an impression
on others), and like respectful greetings in
the market places (they want to be acknowledged
as important by others), and chief seats in
the synagogues and places of honor at banquets
(these religious people want to receive public
acclaim. They want to be honored by other human
beings), but at the same time they are not practicing
true religion in regards to others - who devour
widows’ houses (and I suggest that they want
to take the homes of widows not just to get wealthier
and lead more comfortable lives, but to impress
others with their wealth), and for appearance’s
sake offer long prayers (their motivation
to pray was not to really talk to God, and draw
closer to the Almighty, and hear from the Creator,
but to impress other human beings with the level
of their religious dedication. They engaged in
this religious activity to gain a higher status
from human beings); Yeshua teaches us that
these religious hypocrites will receive
greater condemnation.”
Ya’akov
(James), the brother of the Lord, tells us that
pure and undefiled religion involves helping orphans
and widows in their distress, and being morally
pure. A genuinely religious person will help the
disadvantaged, the weak and the poor. He will
not take advantage of them and enrich himself
at their expense.
But these
religious experts, using various methods, elevated
themselves above others. They tried to gain a
higher status for themselves by using power and
religion. They used God and religion for the wrong
ends, which, on the Day of Judgment, will be found
to be worthy of great condemnation.
God and
greed do not go together.
God and
seeking status over others do not go together.
God and
selfishness do not go together.
Fallen
human beings are by nature, selfish. We are by
nature, takers, not givers. By nature we want
to elevate ourselves over others. But God wants
to transform us. He wants to make us into givers,
not takers; He want to make us selfless, not selfish;
to be concerned for others as much, or more than
we are concerned for ourselves.
How can
we become givers rather than takers? Those who
love like God loves? We must acquire a new nature.
Most human beings feel insecure about themselves.
Sin has made us feel inadequate. When Adam and
Eve sinned, they immediately felt naked, ashamed
and inadequate, and tried to cover their new sense
of inadequacy with fig leaves. And, the sons and
daughters of Adam and Eve truly are inadequate!
Most of
us sense that there are quite a few things wrong
with us. Many of us feel like failures. We try
to cover our inadequacies various fig leaves of
human efforts, including religion. One of the
ways we try to compensate for this sense of inadequacy
is by elevating ourselves above others. If we
can make ourselves seem superior, more respected
or wealthier than others, then we must be O.K.,
right?
Wrong.
The way to being adequate and feeling adequate
is by being secure in our relationship with the
Living God. If we know that we are close to the
Almighty, and we have been reconciled to Him because
of our faith in David’s Son, we won’t need to
strive for having greater wealth or status than
others, to feel good about ourselves. We can be
free to be the loving, giving, generous, selfless
sons and daughters of God that His love wants
us to be!
The last
teaching that Mark gives us in this chapter is
related to the issue of generosity. Religious
people must be generous people. 12:41 And He
sat down opposite the treasury. Yeshua is
still in the temple. The treasury was a place
in the temple where money was collected and kept.
The money supported the temple and priests and
I’m sure was used for other matters as well),
and began observing how the people were putting
money into the treasury; and many rich people
were putting in large sums.
It’s nice
to have wealthy donors who are capable of giving
large amounts. It was natural for the people in
charge of the ministry at the temple, and the
wealthy who gave large sums, to think that they
were the most generous. But, the Lord has a different
perspective, a different way of evaluating and
rewarding us, which is not based on just the amount
that we give. When considering the praiseworthiness
of our generosity, the all-wise and just Judge
takes into account factors that our fellow human
beings don’t fully understand: our financial circumstances,
our gifts, our talents, our ability to generate
money, our opportunities, our resources. A
poor widow came and put in two small copper coins,
which amount to a cent. Her gift was tiny.
It was insignificant compared to the big amounts
donated by the wealthy. But it was very significant
to the Lord. Calling His disciples to Him,
He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor
widow put in more than all the contributors to
the treasury; for they all put in out of their
surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all
she owned, all she had to live on.”
It’s easier
to give out of a surplus - you don’t feel it.
It’s much harder, and more praiseworthy, to give
when you yourself need, because then you really
feel it. And, to give sacrificially in this way
is more worthy of a reward.
What would
motivate a person to give so generously, so extravagantly,
so sacrificially? Genuine love for God. This woman
gave so much because she loved God so much. She
knew the Creator in a personal way, and was grateful
to Him for the blessings of life, and being made
in His magnificent image, and His constant providential
care, and for the great blessings of atonement
and salvation, and the hope of experiencing eternal
life. And, when we know the Lord and His goodness,
it becomes easy and natural to give generously.
It’s impossible
for human beings to judge who is worthy of the
biggest reward - not just regarding money, but
also in all of our service to the Lord. Some of
us are capable of much, yet we accomplish less
than we could. Some of us are capable of less,
and yet we use our less to the most! One day we
will find out those with less talents, less abilities,
less gifts, less opportunities, but who, out of
genuine love for God, used the less that they
had in an extravagant way, will be rewarded the
most.
May the
Lord enable all of us to truly love the Lord will
all of our being, and know His Word and sound
doctrine, and be renewed and set free to practice
true religion and be the truly generous, selfless
humble human beings He wants us to be!
|
