The Lord of the gospel, Mark 12:35-44

One of the titles of God that we are looking at today is the title of Lord.  I think that the true sense of that word is somewhat lost on our culture today.  It would be better understood in a feudal system, where one who was considered Lord of the Manor owned the land, printed money and was served by the people of the land.  Over time, the title extended to various types of nobility, such as a Lord of Parliament, or someone called Lord who held an office of authority. The other historical use of the word was, of course to denote divinity.  Caesars used to claim the title of Lord, and would make their people offer incense once a year and they were forced to proclaim when making the offering that Caesar is Lord. So there were many different possible meanings of the title Lord, ranging from master or owner, to nobility, to that of divinity.

And one of the things that makes it even more confusing to 21st century Christians is that the title of Lord was used in a variety of applications in the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments.  One of my favorite references of this title is found in 1 Peter 3:6, and one which I have tried to remind my wife of, but to little avail, and that is that Peter said that Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.   Now obviously, that is not something that is commonly done in our culture, nor in my house either, for that matter.  

But to understand the full significance of this title, we need to consider it in the context of this passage which covers the Passion Week.  You will remember that in chapter 11 Jesus had come into the city of Jerusalem riding on a donkey, and the crowds were calling out ““Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest!”  So they were saying that He was coming as the Son of David, which was understood to be a title of the Messiah.  

Then later on, Jesus came into the temple and drove out the money changers and the vendors and stopped the commercial enterprise of the priests who were taking advantage of the people.  And Mark tells us that the scribes and Pharisees and high priests came and asked Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?”  

Jesus avoided a direct answer to that question by asking them a question concerning John the Baptist’s authority.  But He gave an illustration in a parable of the vine growers, which is a very similar setting to that of a feudal system, in order to illustrate that Israel was the vine, and He was the owner of the vineyard’s Son whom they would plot to kill.  So by illustration He claimed authority of Lord by virtue of the fact that He was the Son of God. 

Now that infuriated them, so they conjure up three questions to try to entrap Him in something that He might say, so that they might put Him to death.  When He brilliantly answered them all they are rendered speechless.  They don’t know how to respond to His wisdom.  So now, in response to their silence, Jesus asks them a question which speaks once again as to His authority which they had called into question.

And He does so by building upon the cries of the multitude who hailed Him as the Son of David, which was understood to be referring to the coming Messiah.  So in chapter 12 vs 35, Jesus poses the question, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ 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?”

As an important aside, notice that Jesus says Psalm 110 is authored by David.  That is not given to us anywhere else, but we know that David was the author because of this answer.  And then also notice that Jesus establishes the inspiration of scripture in saying that David was moved by the Holy Spirit to make this prophecy concerning the Messiah. Peter would later build on that statement saying in 2Peter 1:21 “for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

Now what was commonly understood by the Jews was that the Messiah would be of the lineage of David, and that He would restore the throne in Jerusalem and Israel would once again be a great nation, receiving the full blessings of God through the reign of the Messiah.  They see this reign as a purely physical, temporal reign.  The Sadducees, remember, didn’t believe in the resurrection so they were only concerned about the present.  And they were also the party of the high priests.  So they thought they would be the administrators of the kingdom under the Messiah.

So the multitudes had shouted the refrain that Jesus was the Son of David as they ushered Jesus into Jerusalem only three days earlier.  And both the multitudes and the scribes and high priests understood this saying to be the concerning the fact that the Messiah would come from the line of David and restore the throne and restore the dominance of Israel as a nation.  

But in Jesus’s answer, He seems to be bringing that doctrine into question saying, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?”  It is clear that Jesus is speaking of Himself as the Christ.  They wanted to show that He could not be the Messiah, but He is taking the approach that the children in the streets calling out “Hosanna to the Son of David” were speaking of Him appropriately.  By the way, Messiah is the Hebrew term for the Greek word Christ.  So Jesus is in a roundabout way confirming what the multitudes have said about Him, but He brings into question this idea that the Messiah is the son of David.  He wants to show that the Messiah is more than just the son of David.

And He does so by quoting from Psalm 110.  Now in the our Bibles it is presented as a quotation from the Greek Septuagint translation.  That was the Greek translation of the Old Testament which was in use at that time.  But in the original Hebrew language, there is more distinction in the Psalm.  And that distinction comes in the usage of the word Lord. In the Hebrew text, the name Jehovah, or Yahweh, was considered so sacred by the scribes as the personal name of God that it could not be spoken, or even written.  So in order to accommodate that idea, they used a tetragrammaton to signify the word Jehovah, which was the word LORD, which was substituted for Jehovah. 

There is another word for Lord in the Old Testament, and that is the word Adonai.  Both words, Yahweh and Adonai  were names denoting God. The first  being His personal name and the other being His title.  In the New Testament, the word for Lord is the Greek word kyrious. And in our Bibles which are translated from the Greek, to show the difference between Adonai, and Jehovah, Adonai is presented as Lord, and Jehovah is presented in all caps, as LORD. 

Jesus is quoting from the Septuagint translation, which is the Greek translation then in use, and it uses small letters for both Lords.  In the Hebrew, however, it would read as, “Jehovah said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet.”

The point that Jesus is making is that though the Messiah was to be a son of David, David by inspiration of God calls the Messiah his Lord. So the question Jesus asks is how can David call the Messiah his Lord if He is his son?  The answer of course is that the Messiah was not only the Son of Man, but the Son of God. This is known in theological terms as the hypostatic union of Christ. He was fully God and fully man.  He was born of the Spirit and born of a virgin.  He was of the lineage of David and yet He is the Son of God.  

What the Lord Jesus wants to illustrate to these unbelieving religious leaders is that the authority He has to cleanse the temple is because it is His Father’s house.  The authority that He has to heal or forgive sins, or to teach the truth concerning the kingdom of God, is because He is the Son of God.  He is One with God, and so His authority is from God. Therefore, the son of David is not only Messiah, but He is Lord God.  

Now we can only imagine how infuriated this made the scribes and high priests.  But Mark records the crowd as enjoying listening to Him.  I doubt most of them understood all that He was saying, but they understood it to be a rebuke of the religious leaders and so they enjoyed seeing them corrected to some extent.  But notice that Mark uses the same turn of  phrase to describe their enjoyment as he used in the passage concerning Herod used to enjoy listening to John the Baptist.  Yet Herod eventually put John to death, and in a few days some of this very crowd would call for the death of Christ as well.  So the fact that the crowd enjoyed listening to Him does not equate with them believing in Him unto salvation.  

Now there is an important connection to an earlier passage that we must make sure we see here.  In vs 28, a lawyer had asked Jesus what was the foremost commandment.  And Jesus answered with the Shema, “HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.”  What the Lord is now saying is, "The Lord our God is one Lord: And you shall worship the Lord with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and I am not only David's son, I am David's Lord." The Lord that we are to worship with our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole mind, is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. 

He is our Sovereign, He is our Master, the owner and provider of every good thing. He is the Creator.  John says in the first chapter of his gospel that nothing was made without Him that was made.  He is God incarnate, God in the flesh.  The Word that was in the beginning with God, who made all that was made, became flesh and dwelt among us.  

Isaiah in the Old Testament should have informed the Jews that the Messiah would be much more than just  human  royalty.  Speaking clearly of the Messiah, Isaiah 9:6 says, “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.  There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”  Isaiah makes it clear that He is a son of David, and will sit on the throne forevermore, but also that He is very God.

So the church is to be the Lord’s vineyard, and we are to be His servants.  Salvation comes not only in faith in Jesus as a person, but in faith and trust in Jesus as Lord.  As our Sovereign Savior, we bow to Him and yield to Him our lives in service for the glory of God and to His kingdom. Jesus' identity is the central issue of spiritual life. What is Jesus to you? Is he Lord? The whole issue of how to enter the kingdom and how to live in the kingdom of God hangs at that point: Is Jesus your Lord?

Is He Lord of your life? Is He the one who governs your life? His lordship is the key to our life in Christ. That is why all through Paul's epistles you find many practical exhortations which are linked always with "as unto the Lord": "Wives, be subject unto your husbands as unto the Lord," (Ephesians 5:22). "Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church," (Ephesians 5:25). "Children obey your parents in the Lord," (Ephesians 6:1). "Stop stealing for the Lord's sake," (Ephesians 4:28). "Masters be kind to your employees for the Lord's sake," (Ephesians 6:5-9). In every aspect of life Jesus Christ must be Lord of your life.

Mark concludes this account with a contrast that indicates how Jesus' lordship will manifest itself. The true expression of a heart submitted to the lordship of Jesus is demonstrated in a contrast between a pompous, proud, religious scribes and a humble, poor, and godly widow. The scribes loved to be seen and admired for their positions and their adherence to certain rituals and ceremonies which they thought made them appear holy and righteous.  The widow, on the other hand, presents a picture of someone who loves the Lord with all their heart. And as we learned concerning David, in our study in 1 Samuel, God judges the hearts, not in outward appearances.

Let’s first consider these scribes.  Jesus lists six things that show their hearts are evil. First He says beware of the scribes because they like to walk around in long robes.  You want to put that into a contemporary context, beware of religious leaders who like to dress up in some religious outfit that they think gives them some sort of official look.  I would add, beware of pointy hats.

Next, He says beware of those who love respectful greetings in the market places.  They love the fawning attention that their positions render them and the titles and so forth that people use when addressing them.  To tell you the truth, I don’t even relish being called “pastor.”  I understand that people are trying to show respect, but I would just as soon be called Roy.  Paul was called simply Paul, and that’s good enough for me.

Third, He says beware of those who like the chief seats in the synagogue.  That is the seats up on the podium facing the congregation. They were the chief seats.  That sort of thing was also done with the parishioners in the early churches in the middle ages.  The rich gave money to support the priest and the church and so they would have the side benches up front with their names inscribed upon them.  And the order of the congregation would follow suit with the wealthiest up front and the poorer people in the rear.  

Fourth, they love the place of honor at banquets. It’s more of the same, using their positions to an advantage, their religion to garner respect and public admiration.  

Fifth, Jesus says they devour widow’s houses.  They took advantage of poor widows by robbing whatever resources may have been left to their estate.  This is the most egregious of all their abuses as far as I’m concerned.  And this is what I see as the sin of a lot of television preachers today.  Paul speaks of those in 2Tim. 3:6 “For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses.”  I see these false teachers on TV as entering into widow’s houses and leading them astray and taking advantage of them, devouring their financial resources as well as devouring them spiritually.  

And then number six, Jesus says beware of those who pray long prayers.  He says that they do not pray to be heard of God, but they do so for appearance sake.  They love to be seen as holy, to be knowledgeable.  So they pray to be heard of men in offering long, laborious prayers.  Beware of praying to be heard of men.  God doesn’t answer those prayers, and furthermore, He is opposed to them.  

So what is the synopsis of those religious hypocrites?  They love to perform their religious ceremonies to be seen of men and to win their approval.  They superficially give praise to the Lord, they superficially love the Lord.  But the Lord sees their hearts and consequently does not regard their service as acceptable.  They have their reward here on earth.  People call them holy, righteous and look up to them, and approve of them.  They have their reward on earth.  But they have not earned any reward in the Kingdom of God.  

Note now the contrast in the last 3 verses as we see Jesus recognize the heart of the widow.  Jesus was seated near the treasury in the temple.  And what they did was they had 13 trumpet shaped repositories made which hung on the walls of the temple in this area.  And the people would file into this area to give their offerings to the Lord.  Mark says that the rich people were dropping large amounts into the coffers.  I read somewhere that the way these were constructed, and the type of coins that were being given as a offering, meant that there was a corresponding loud clatter when a large amount of coins were dropped in.  To make it even more ostentatious, Jesus said elsewhere that some even had actual trumpet players announce their coming into the temple to make an offering to make sure everyone noticed them giving. 

But irregardless, when a rich person came in to give, it probably sounded a lot like hitting triple sevens on the one armed bandit in the casino.  A cascading sound of coins flowing into the trumpet shaped urn which would resonate throughout the temple and draw approving glances from the people in attendance.  

Then Mark says that a poor widow came in and dropped two small coins into the treasury, which amounted to a cent.  Now there is a lot of commentary on exactly how much she gave, but the best sources I can find say that what she gave was probably equivalent to about a dollar in today’s currency.  And it was in the form of two small, thin coins.  To drop such slight coins in the trumpet vase would have barely made a discernible noise.  

But though her offering made little noise and drew little attention by the crowd, or possibly even disdain by the crowd, yet it made a great impact on Jesus. He said, “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.”

Here again we see revealed the divine nature of Christ, in knowing not only what she put in the offering, but also in knowing what she had left to live on.  But there is another lesson here that must be seen.  And it is not a lesson on tithing.  I said the other week that I avoid talking about tithing or giving offerings as much as possible.  Paul said  giving must be not out of compulsion, that God loves a cheerful giver.  I know a lot of preachers have used this text to preach about money.  I’m not going to do that.  You are smart people, you can read into that if you want yourselves.  

What I believe the real point of this is, is that this widow gave the Lord her all.  She didn’t hold anything back for herself.  There were two coins, she could have said I will give the Lord one and I will use the other for myself.  But instead, she gave everything to the Lord.  This woman loved the Lord with all her heart, with all her soul, and with all her strength.  She didn’t hold anything back. She recognized that all that she had was the Lord’s, and so she gave all that she had to the Lord.  She fulfilled the foremost commandment.

And I think that is the point of this whole passage.  If you believe in Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, then you must believe that He also is Lord.  And if He is Lord, then He demands your life, your heart, your all.  He isn’t interested in pretentious, pretend Christianity that parades it’s supposed virtues to be seen of men.  But He demands your all.  That is how we are saved, ladies and gentlemen.  We surrender all. He is Lord of all.  He is worthy of all that we have and all that we can give.  We can never repay all that He has done.  The least we can do is give Him our complete devotion.