Mark 12
Mark 12 | |
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Book | Gospel of Mark |
Category | Gospel |
Christian Bible part | New Testament |
Order in the Christian part | 2 |
Gospel of Mark |
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Mark 12 is the twelfth chapter of the
In the context of Mark's chronology, these events, continuing from the challenge to Jesus' authority in Mark 11:27-33,[1] take place during his third visit to the temple, traditionally identified with Holy Tuesday.[2]
Text
The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 44 verses.
Textual witnesses
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:
- Codex Vaticanus (325-350; complete)
- Codex Sinaiticus (330-360; complete)
- Codex Bezae (~400; complete)
- Codex Alexandrinus (400-440; complete)
- Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450; extant verses 1-29)
Old Testament references
Parable of the wicked husbandmen
Jesus, after his argument with the chief priests of the
- A certain man planted a winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty.
- And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some.
- Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.
- What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? (1-11 KJV)
The scripture mentioned is a quotation from
Mark says that they ("the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders") "realized" that Jesus was speaking about them and wanted to arrest him, but they would not do so for fear of the crowd.
This parable is also found in saying 65-66 of the Gospel of Thomas.[27]
Paying taxes to Caesar
"They" (the chief priests, scribes, and elders,[28] or "the Jewish leaders"[29]) sent some Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus. They offer false praise and hope to entrap him by asking him whether one should pay the taxes to the Romans. These two groups were antagonists, and by showing them working together against Jesus, Mark shows the severity of the opposition to him. Mark has mentioned them working together before in Mark 3:6. The Herodians, supporters of Herod Antipas, would have been in Jerusalem with Herod during his trip there for the Passover.[30] Protestant theologian Heinrich Meyer notes that the Greek: ἀγρεύω (argeuō, "entrap") is a hunting term.[28] Jesus asked them to show him a denarius, a Roman coin, and asks whose image and inscription are on it. The coin was marked with Caesar's image. Jesus then says "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's" (17). Jesus thus avoids the trap, neither endorsing the Herodians and the Romans they supported, nor the Pharisees.
This same incident, with small differences, is also recorded in the Gospels of Matthew (22:15-22)[31] and Luke (20:20-26). Mark's account has been described as "more concise and vivid" than Matthew's.[28] Luke's Gospel makes clear that "They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor." Apparently,[according to whom?] his interrogators anticipated that Jesus would denounce the tax. The charge of advocating non-payment of taxes was later leveled against Jesus before Pilate.
Giving God what is God's might be an admonishment to meet one's obligation to God as one must meet an obligation to the state.[32] It could also be Jesus' way of saying that God, not Rome, controlled Israel, indeed the whole world, and thereby also satisfy the Pharisees. This passage is often used in arguments on the nature of the separation of church and state.[citation needed]
The same saying is found in the Gospel of Thomas as saying 100, with the additional words "...and give me what is mine".[27]
Some writers cite this phrase in support of tax resistance: see, for example, Ned Netterville,[33] Darrell Anderson,[34] and Timmothy Patton.[35]
The resurrection and marriage
Jesus' opponents now switch to the
) states that if a man dies and his wife has not had a son, his brother must marry her. The Sadducees quote an example of a woman has had seven husbands in this manner: [if there were a resurrection], who would she be married to when they all are resurrected from the dead?Jesus says they do not understand "the scriptures and the power of God",[37] and states that after the resurrection no one will be married, "...they will be like the angels in heaven. Now about the dead rising: have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, 'I am (emphasis added) the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly (or greatly) mistaken!" (25-27) The story of the burning bush is found in Exodus 3[38] i.e. within the biblical texts acknowledged by the Sadducees.
The belief in the resurrection of the dead was largely a fairly recent innovation in ancient Jewish thought, and Jesus defends the belief against the Sadducees, who consider it to be a false innovation.[39] He quotes God's statement to Moses on Mount Sinai made in the present tense about the patriarchs to show that God states them to be still in existence after their death, and thus that the doctrine of resurrection is present in the scripture from the beginning. Jesus concludes that the Sadducees "greatly err".[40] Meyer notes that the "short pithy words" of this assertion, Greek: πολὺ πλανᾶσθε (polu planasthe), do not need the additional words in the Textus Receptus, Greek: ὑμεῖς οὖν, humeis oun, "you therefore").[28]
So far in Mark's gospel, Jesus has raised a dead girl
The greatest commandment
A nearby
Jesus here quotes Deuteronomy 6:4-5
The man agrees and says keeping these commandments is better than making sacrifices, to which Jesus replies that the man is "not far from the
Teaching the crowd
Jesus continues to teaches in the Temple. This probably took place along the Temple's eastern wall.[56]
After overcoming his opponents' traps, Jesus poses a question of his own. He asks the crowd "How is it that the teachers of the law say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: 'The Lord [יְהֹוָה Yĕhovah] said to my Lord [אָדוֹן 'adon]: Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.' David himself calls him 'Lord.' How then can he be his son?" [57] This is a quote from Psalm 110:1,[58][59] which was traditionally believed to have been written by David himself. This Psalm was used during the coronation of the ancient Kings of Israel and Judea.[60]
This passage has caused much debate. It is a promise made to David by God. The first Lord mentioned is God and the second Lord was believed by Jews and then later Christians to refer to the messiah. Since David is here calling the messiah Lord the messiah must be superior to David. "Son" was a term of submission as "father" was a term of authority, so one can not say that the messiah will be inferior to David by using the term son.[56]
Is Jesus saying that the messiah is not David's biological heir, or that he is greater than only David's heir, that the Messiah's kingdom is far greater than merely an earthly successor to David's political kingdom? The messiah was to be from the house of David, as both
Both Matthew and Luke use the same story, showing they did not think it contradicted their claim of descent from King David in Matthew 1[64] and Luke 3.[65] Acts of the Apostles 2:34-35[66] has Peter use the same quote in reference to Jesus. Paul alludes to it in 1 Corinthians 15:25. Paul might also reference it as well in Colossians 3:1[67] and Romans 8:34[68] where he mentions "Christ" at the right hand of God. It is also found in Hebrews 1:13.[69]
Jesus condemns the teachers of the law because of their wealth, fancy clothes, and self-importance. "They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely".[70] Mark 12:39[71] refers to "the important seats in the synagogue", although the setting for Jesus' teaching is in the temple. Some writers [who?] have used this passage to justify antisemitism over the ages but Jesus is obviously criticizing their actions, not religion. The teachers would be analogous to lawyers today, as the Jewish religious code largely was the Jewish law. The scribes interpreted, as judges do today, the meaning of the laws. Often they might feign piety to gain access to trusteeship of a widow's estate and therefore its assets, like law firms today seek good reputations for the sole purpose of obtaining rich clients. The fact that Jesus states that they will be "punished", something which they have done to others, could show how the judges will be judged.[51]
Widow's mite
Jesus goes to where people make offerings, throwing donations of money into the Temple treasury,[72] and praises a widow's donation, "...two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny",[73] in preference to the larger donations made by the rich. "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on."[74] She gives two lepta or mites, copper coins, the smallest denomination around. Jesus contrasts her offering as the greater sacrifice because it is all she had, as opposed to the offerings of the rich, who only gave what was convenient. Her total sacrifice might foreshadow Jesus' total sacrifice of his life.[51]
Mark uses the term kodrantēs, a Greek form of the
Comparison with other canonical gospels
Matthew's gospel records most of the same content in 21:28-22:46
Luke keeps the same sequence as Mark in 20:9-21:4[77] but also has slight differences. Jesus tells the parable of the husbandmen to all the people, not just the priests. Unnamed spies from the priests challenge Jesus about the taxes and there is a longer discourse on marriage. Luke does not have Jesus telling the teacher the greatest commandment. John's narrative moves from Jesus' teaching after his arrival in Jerusalem in John 12[78] to the Last Supper in chapter 13.[79]
See also
References
- ^ Mark 11:27–33
- Maclear, G. F., Cambridge Bible for Schools and Collegeson Mark 11, accessed 1 July 2021
- ^ Mark 12:36
- ^ 110:1
- ^ Kirkpatrick, A. F. (1901). The Book of Psalms: with Introduction and Notes. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. Vol. Book IV and V: Psalms XC-CL. Cambridge: At the University Press. p. 839. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
- ^ Mark 11:27–33
- ^ Mark 11:27
- ^ Maclear, G. F., Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on Mark 12, accessed 1 July 2021
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=118&version=31
- ^ Mark 11:9–10
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=52&chapter=9&version=31
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=29&chapter=8&version=31
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=29&chapter=28&version=31
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=51&chapter=4&version=31
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=67&chapter=2&version=31
- ^ Mark 4:1-20)
- ^ Wright, T., (2001) Mark for Everyone, p. 158
- ^ Mark 12:12: New Revised Standard Version
- ^ a b c Tuckett, C. M., 57. Mark, in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), The Oxford Bible Commentary, p. 910
- ^ Brown 1997, p. 143.
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=1&version=31
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%209%20;&version=31
- ^ Brown, Fitzmyer & Murphy 1990, p. 621.
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=2&version=31
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=2&version=31
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=4&version=31
- ^ a b Gospel of Thomas, accessed 20 March 2023
- ^ a b c d Meyer, H. A. W. (1880), Meyer's NT Commentary on Mark 12, translated from the German sixth edition, accessed 3 April 2020
- ^ Mark 12:13: New Century Version
- ^ Kilgallen 1989, p. 228.
- ^ "Matthew 22:15-22 NIV - Bible Gateway".
- ^ a b Brown, Fitzmyer & Murphy 1990, p. 622.
- ^ Ned Netterville. "Jesus of Nazareth: Illegal-tax protester" (PDF). www.jesus-on-taxes.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 December 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- ^ "God is an Anarchist - Render Unto Caesar".
- ^ "Romans II". Retrieved 2018-12-15. [permanent dead link]
- Deuteronomy 25:5
- ^ Mark 12:24
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=2&chapter=3&version=31
- ^ Miller, 42
- ^ Mark 12:27
- Daughter of Jairus
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=8&version=31
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=53&chapter=15&version=31
- ^ Gospel of Thomas, Saying 11, accessed 5 December 2017
- ^ Or, "came up and heard them disputing". Interpretations differ as to whether the scribe heard the debate and came over, or came over and heard the debate.
- ^ 29-31 KJV
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=5&chapter=6&version=31
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=3&chapter=19&version=31
- ^ http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=254&letter=J&search=Jesus
- ^ Brown 1997, p. 144.
- ^ a b c Brown, Fitzmyer & Murphy 1990, p. 623.
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=55&chapter=5&version=31
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=52&chapter=13&version=31
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2012:34;&version=31
- ^ Kilgallen 1989, p. 237.
- ^ a b Kilgallen 1989, p. 238.
- ^ 35-37
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=110&version=31
- ^ Original Hebrew
- ^ Miller 43
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=10&version=31
- ^ 14:61–62
- ^ 15:2
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=1&version=31
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=3&version=31
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=51&chapter=2&version=31
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=58&chapter=3&version=31
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=52&chapter=8&version=31
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=65&chapter=1&version=31
- ^ Mark 12:40
- ^ Mark 12:39
- ^ Mark 12:41: Disciples' Literal New Testament
- ^ 42
- ^ 43-44
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2021:28-22:46;&version=31
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=23&version=31
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2020:9-21:4%20;&version=31
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=12&version=31
- ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=13&version=31
Sources
- Brown, Raymond Edward (1997). An introduction to the New Testament. Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-24767-2.
- Brown, Raymond Edward; Fitzmyer, Joseph A.; Murphy, Roland Edmund (1990). The New Jerome Biblical commentary. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-614934-0.
- Kilgallen, John J. (1989). A brief commentary on the Gospel of Mark. Paulist Press. ISBN 0-8091-3059-9.
- Miller, Robert J., editor, The Complete Gospels Polebridge Press 1994 ISBN 0-06-065587-9
External links
- Mark 12 King James Bible - Wikisource
- English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate
- Online Bible at GospelHall.org (ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
- Multiple bible versions at Bible Gateway (NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.)
Preceded by Mark 11 |
Chapters of the Bible Gospel of Mark |
Succeeded by Mark 13 |