Controversy over Jesus' authority led to controversy over His teaching. The Jewish religious leaders attacked Him three times trying to destroy His credibility and popularity. They plied Him with questions about the poll tax (vv. 13-17), the resurrection (vv. 18-27), and the greatest commandment (vv. 28-34). Then Jesus took the initiative and questioned them about Messiah's sonship (vv. 35-37). This ended their attacks. The whole encounter happened on Wednesday following the events just recorded.
12:13 Sanhedrin members took the initiative in sending the Pharisees and Herodians. They united against Jesus, whom they perceived as a common threat, even though they disagreed politically. They asked Jesus about a political issue that divided them.
12:14-15a The critics' preamble was hypocritical flattery, but what they said about Jesus was true. They intended to impale Jesus on the horns of a dilemma.286Since Judea had become a Roman province in 6 A.D. the Romans had required the Jews to pay a yearly head (poll) tax into the emperor's treasury. The Zealots refused to pay it claiming that payment acknowledged Rome's right to rule over them. The Pharisees paid it but objected strongly to it. The Herodians paid it willingly since they supported Roman rule.
Jesus' critics asked Him what was the right or lawful thing to do. In their eyes Messiah would never sanction foreign rule, but if Jesus publicly opposed Rome He would be in a dangerous position. They thought that either answer would hurt Jesus.
12:15b-16 Jesus exposed their question for what it was, malicious entrapment rather than honest inquiry. The small silver denarius was the only coin the Romans accepted in payment for taxes.287The images on the coin showed that Rome had political authority over those who used it.
12:17 Jesus avoided the "either or"problem with a "both and"response. God has authority over those who bear His image. Therefore the Jews should give Him His due, namely complete personal submission. Caesar also had some authority over those who used his image. Therefore the Jews should pay their tax.
"Though the obligation to pay to Caesar some of his own coinage in return for the amenities his rule provided is affirmed, the idolatrous claims expressed on the coins are rejected. God's rights are to be honored. Here Jesus is not saying that there are two quite separate independent spheres, that of Caesar and that of God (for Caesar and all that is his belongs to God); but he is indicating that there are obligations to Caesar which do not infringe the rights of God but are indeed ordained by God."288
This answer amazed (Gr. exethaumazon) Jesus' critics. He had avoided the trap they had laid for Him and had given a profound though simple answer to their question.
This teaching would have been specially helpful to Mark's original Roman readers. It helped them and all subsequent disciples understand that Christianity does not advocate disloyalty to the state (cf. Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Tim. 2:1-6; 1 Pet. 2:13-17). Duty to God does not eliminate duty to government. Nevertheless duty to government does not eliminate one's higher duty to God either.
12:18 The Sadducees were mainly urban, wealthy, and educated Jews. Their numbers were comparatively few, but they occupied important positions including many in the priesthood. Their influence was greater than their size as a party within Judaism. This is the only place Mark mentioned them. They claimed to believe only what the Old Testament taught, and they did not follow the traditions of the elders that the Pharisees observed. They did not believe in the resurrection because they said they could find no clear revelation about it in the Old Testament.
12:19-23 The Sadducees posed their hypothetical case to make any view of the resurrection but their own look absurd.289
12:24-25 The Sadducees did not understand the Scriptural revelation about resurrection. Furthermore they did not realize that God's power was sufficient to raise people and to raise them to a different type of life. Marriage as we know it will not exist when we have immortal bodies. Deathless existence will not require propagation of the human race. The Sadducees denied the existence of the angelic race (Acts 23:8), which belief Jesus also corrected. They considered their views enlightened, but Jesus said they needed enlightening.
12:26-27 In concluding that the Old Testament did not teach the resurrection, the Sadducees had overlooked an important passage in the Torah (Pentateuch). They regarded the Torah as particularly authoritative. Exodus 3:6 taught continued human existence after death. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were still alive in Moses' day. The Sadducees not only rejected the resurrection but also life after death.290The Jews had a more holistic view of man than most modern westerners do (cf. Gen. 2:7). The Sadducees concluded that if the material part of man died, the whole person ceased to exist. Jesus, who held the same unified view of man, argued that if the immaterial part of man lived the whole person would live.
The major error of the Sadducees was their mistaken understanding of scriptural revelation. Jesus' final rebuke (v. 27), unique in the second Gospel, stressed that flaw.
The third attack by Jesus' enemies involved a question about the greatest commandment (cf. Luke 10:25-28).
12:28 The rabbis counted 613 commands in the Mosaic Law, 365 positive and 248 negative. They recognized that all were not equally important or equally foundational. They debated which were the "heavy"commands and which were the "light"ones. They also tried to formulate principles that comprehended the rest of the Law.291These were the concerns of the law teacher who asked Jesus what type (Gr. poia) of command He regarded as first in importance.
"The scribe desired Jesus to indicate a principle of classification."292
Matthew viewed his question as coming from the scribe who spoke as a spokesman for the Pharisees whereas Mark presented it as his personal concern. This difference reflects Mark's interest in individuals.
12:29-30 Mark's account included Deuteronomy 6:4, which Matthew omitted. This verse, the first in the Shema(Deut. 6:4-5; cf. Deut. 11:13-21; Num. 13:37-41) that the Jews repeated twice daily, provides a basis for Deuteronomy 6:5.293Matthew's Jewish readers would have understood this, but Mark's Gentile readers probably would not have. Verse 4 is an affirmation of belief in the unity of God (i.e., in monotheism). Many of Mark's original readers had formerly been polytheists.
"God is to be loved completely and totally (v. 30) because he, and he alone, is God and because he has made a covenant of love with his people. In the covenant God gives himself totally in love to his people; therefore he expects his people to give themselves totally (soul,' mind,' and strength') in love to him."294
"Heart"represents the control center of human personality, "soul"the self-conscious thought life, "mind"the thought capacity, and "strength"all of one's bodily powers.295These are to be the sources out of which love for God should flow. We should love God with all our will (decisions), emotions (desires), minds (thoughts), and bodies (actions).
"A comparison of the order--heart, soul, mind (Matthew); heart, soul, mind, strength (Mark); heart, soul, strength, mind (Luke); heart, soul, strength (the Masoretic Text); and mind, soul, strength (the Septuagint)--among the various lists suggests that Mark and Luke added mind' to the Hebrew/Septuagintal formula whereas Matthew substituted mind' for strength.'"296
12:31 The scribe had requested one commandment, but Jesus gave him two. Love for man in Leviticus 19:18 grows out of love for God in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and is inseparable from it philosophically. The Jews regarded only fellow Jews and full proselytes as their neighbors, but Jesus taught that a neighbor is anyone with whom we have any dealings whatsoever (cf. Luke 10:25-27). "Neighbor"(Gr. plesion, lit. one nearby) is a generic term for fellowman.
We are to love all others as we love ourselves. The Law assumed that every person has a fundamental love for himself or herself. We demonstrate this love by caring for ourselves in many different ways. Loving our neighbors as ourselves does not mean spending the same time or money to meet the needs of others that we do to meet our own needs since this would be impossible. It means treating others as we treat ourselves.
These are the greatest commandments because they summarize the two tables of the Law, our duties toward God and our responsibilities toward other people. These are basic human responsibilities. The termination of the Mosaic Code does not invalidate them. They have been primary since creation and will continue as such forever because of man's relationship to God and because of the unity of the human race.
12:32-33 Mark alone recorded the scribe's response and Jesus' comment (v. 34). These words underscore the importance of Jesus' teaching. The scribe believed Jesus' answer was correct. He, too, viewed love as more important than the observance of religious ritual (cf. 1 Sam. 15:22; Hos. 6:6). This was not typical of the Pharisees who regarded ritual observance as more important than attitude, and ceremony as more important than morality.
". . . the friendly scribe' himself puts his finger on the fundamental difference separating Jesus and the religious authorities in terms of what it is to do the will of God: Whereas the essential matter for Jesus is loving God and neighbor, for the authorities it is strict adherence to law and tradition as they define this.
". . . Mark is in effect using the friendly scribe to identify the two contrasting positions of Jesus and the authorities on doing the will of God."297
12:34 Jesus meant that the scribe was not far from entering the kingdom. His openness to Scriptural revelation and his positive orientation to Jesus, if continued, would bring him to faith in Jesus and ultimately entrance into His kingdom.
Jesus' skillful answers discouraged His critics from trying to trap Him. They stopped asking Him questions.
It was clear that Jesus' derived His authority from God's Word (cf. 11:28). All the answers He gave went back to the Old Testament. Since this is the authority all the Jewish leaders claimed to follow, though they did not, they failed to discredit Jesus.
Until now the religious leaders had questioned Jesus about His teaching. Now He asked them about theirs (Matt. 22:41). Matthew's account of this incident is the longest.
12:35 Jesus responded to the situation before Him. He wanted to know the sense in which the teachers of the law believed that Messiah was David's son. The Old Testament clearly taught that Messiah would be a descendant of David (2 Sam. 7:8-16; et al.). The leaders believed this, but their understanding of Messiah's relationship to David was only that of another victorious Jewish king from David's dynasty.
12:36-37 Mark focused the readers' attention on Jesus' authoritative teaching by omitting the Pharisees' answer, which Matthew included to discredit them (Matt. 22:42). How could Messiah be both less than David (his son) and more than David (his lord) at the same time?
". . . Jesus uses his superior knowledge of the legal and prophetic writings to justify his actions and to defend against criminal accusations."298
Psalm 110:1 showed that the Messiah was not only David's junior in age but also his senior in rank.299He is the Son of God, God as well as man.
"Only through the Virgin Birth does Jesus possess the dual nature that allows Him to be both David's Son and David's Lord."300
Mark's record of the crowd's positive response to Jesus' teaching further stressed its authority. Israel's religious leaders challenged it, but the multitudes acknowledged it.
