Mark 12:35-44

[snapstur]

@Shield> let’s get going with our time together
@Shield> how ya'll be?
seekHm1st> Fine here :)
nova> << tired
GentleDove> good
Tink> ok, but you ate some of my chocolate I heard...
@Shield> pfft
@Shield> well I’m really glad you all made it
carol> :)
KS> Indeed. :P
@Shield> I want to take a moment and thank you for your faithfulness in coming each and every week
@Shield> I don't have a lot of announcements to share, but
@Shield unleashes the scroll, watching it roll down the center aisle for one hundred feet.....
@Shield> I have just a small list....
@Shield> :D
@Shield> We just sent out an email to our user list.
@Shield> If you are a registered user you probably received it in your inbox
@Shield> We are planning two very special panel discussion chats in the near future.
@Shield> One of them will be on the topic of Marriage and Family.
@Shield> Here is where YOU come in.
@Shield> Send us your questions.
@Shield> Do you have a topic you would like to see addressed?
@Shield> Send the question to shield@christian-chat.net.
@Shield> Our panel will review the questions and prepare in advance some answers based on their background and the Bible
@Shield> The second chat will be on Bible and Apologetics.
@Shield> Same deal...
@Shield> send your questions...
@Shield> what Scripture has been a tough one for you to grapple with?
@Shield> What has made you curious?
@Shield> Have you ever wondered why the text says a certain thing or why Jesus acted a certain way in a specific situation?
@Shield> Ask away
@Shield> shield@christian-chat.net
@Shield> We might not know the answer
@Shield> but we will do our best with those questions where we feel we have something to say.
@Shield> At this time I would like to open it up with prayer.
@Shield> Who would like to lead out in prayer, anyone?
@Shield> Let's pray...
@Shield> Father I thank you for each person here.
@Shield> Thanks Lord for being with us on this quite ordinary evening.
@Shield> Yet something extraordinary is afoot....
@Shield> You are present with us.
@Shield> Immanuel, God with us.
@Shield> And we thank you for that.
@Shield> May we listen to the text as we look in on Jesus' interaction with the crowds in Mark 12:35
@Shield> and may we gain greater appreciation regarding why he did what he did.
@Shield> why he said what he said
@Shield> in Jesus precious name amen
seekHm1st> Amen
@Shield> We quickly dive into the narrative of Mark 12:35 and following....
@Shield> Tonight I will be allowing for some interaction.
@Shield> So when I invite your parti****tion, feel free to raise your hand 0/ to get my attention and I will call on you.
@Shield> Let's read the text...
@Shield> 35 While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts,
@Shield> I post only that phrase for a reason....
@Shield> because it is too easily overlooked with what is about to follow
@Shield> but it deserves our attention.
@Shield> What is the significance of the temple courts?
@Shield> anyone?
@Shield> remember, he had been teaching in the presence of the teachers of the law
@Shield> he was in the public square
@Shield> outside the place of ritual worship and sacrifice
@Shield> it was a place of focus
@Shield> so, not only were the laity present, the commoners like myself, but also the religious elite
@Shield> the movers and shakers of that day
@Shield> those who wrote the interpretations of the law, the Pharisees
@Shield> those who were charged with teaching the law, the Rabbis
@Shield> those who transcribed the textual tradition and the interpretations, the scribes
@Shield> and so on
@Shield> so it is notable that Jesus made this statement in that venue to that crowd.
@Shield> a very different and unique crowd than some of the others previously addressed in the third gospel
@Shield> so we pick it up again....
@Shield> be ready to make observations
@Shield> 35 While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, "How is it that the teachers of the law say that the Christ is the son of David?
@Shield> question one: Who asked the question?
@Shield> anyone?
@Shield> it isn’t a trick question:) It is in the text.
seekHm1st> o/
@Shield> yes seekHm1st?
seekHm1st> Jesus
@Shield> exactly
@Shield> and whom did Jesus claim said something?
Tink> o/
@Shield> yes Tink?
Tink> the teachers of the law
GentleDove> 0/
@Shield> exactly
@Shield> yes GentleDove?
GentleDove> I was going to say the scribes
@Shield> oh ok, well that might be inferred indirectly, but the text indicates the teachers of the law
@Shield> and what did Jesus claim they said?
@Shield> someone new....
@Shield> someone who hasn’t answered yet...
@Shield> anyone?
@Shield gets ready to call on people
@Shield> okay seekHm1st, you look like you are about to burst
GentleDove> I have KjV
@Shield> we are using NIV here
GentleDove> That is the difference then
seekHm1st> That the Christ is the son of David
@Shield> ok
@Shield> let’s move on in the text....
@Shield> also, keep in mind,
@Shield> that although the elite were present, I want to emphasize that so were the commoners, the typical people of the day
@Shield> Jesus goes on saying....
@Shield> 36 David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: "'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet."'
@Shield> 37 David himself calls him 'Lord.' How then can he be his son?" The large crowd listened to him with delight.
@Shield> Ben Witherington III does a fine job in his commentary of addressing this passage far more eloquently than I can.
@Shield> He helped me to grapple with the core issue at play
@Shield> Jesus is NOT here repudiating the Davidic origins of Messiah.
@Shield> as some claim.
@Shield> However, Witherington, in page 333 of his commentary on Mark says,
@Shield> Jesus is repudiating the adequacy, not the accuracy, of assessing Messiah by means of his Davidic descent."
@Shield> Now, what does that mean exactly?
@Shield> It means basically that in Jesus' view, the Messiah, the Christ, is more than, not other than, the Son of David.
@Shield> So Jesus the Christ, is Messiah by virtue of being Christ, and he is the Son of David by virtue of his human descent, but the fact that he is descended from David in no way brings his Christological import into question.
@Shield> Here is the crux of the matter.
@Shield> Jesus is fully human, the Son of David, the Son of Man.
@Shield> Jesus is fully God, the Son of God.
@Shield> the fact that he brought this riddle to their attention without solving it directly, was a delight to the crowd because they understood that he had continued to poke holes into the ideological balloons (Witherington's words) of the teachers of the law, of the scribes and others.
@Shield> Frankly the commoners among them enjoyed seeing the arrogant religious elite brought down to size by the clever and incisively pointed statements of Jesus.
@Shield> Make no mistake, Jesus understood how to turn a phrase and use the oral argumentation of his adversaries against them.
@Shield> Just because he was from Nazareth did not mean he was ignorant of the traditions.
@Shield> 38 As he taught, Jesus said, "Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces,
@Shield> 39 and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.
@Shield> 40 They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely."
@Shield> houses=households, estates, the entirety of their earthly possessions, all that they own in the natural
@Shield> These same religious leaders whom Jesus had just cleverly exposed in their faulty argumentation were now open exposed on their own turf for the wickedness they piously espoused.
@Shield> By this I mean the way they treated widows while getting preferential treatment for themselves.
@Shield> And to be fair, this was not simply a leadership issue among the religious elite, it had become a cultural issue among the people of that day.
@Shield> but it was most prominently seen among the elite.
@Shield> remember,
@Shield> all of this is in juxtaposition to what we studied last week
@Shield> the teacher of the law who was so close to the kingdom by virtue of his wise answers
@Shield> here we see Jesus contrasting the two markedly
@Shield> 41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts.
@Shield> Reminds me of a lot of churches.
@Shield> But I won't go there tonight:)
@Shield mumbles something about why don't we just mail our support in rather than waiting to be seen in passing the offering in service.
@Shield> :)
@Shield> 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.
@Shield> a fraction
@Shield> 43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.
@Shield> 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything-- all she had to live on."
@Shield> She had no government assistance.
@Shield> She was a social outcast simply because she was widowed.
@Shield> Thus no one cared for her as far as we know.
@Shield> Yet Jesus paused and referred to her to make the climax of his argument
@Shield> You want to be great in God's eyes?
@Shield> Be like the widow of whom nobody knows, who gives freely all she has to support her out of her love for God
@Shield> rather than like the religious elite who make elaborate claims to greatness, demanding special treatment, coming off like the most pious, where in fact their hearts were often filled with wickedness...
@Shield> even to the point of CRUSHing the widows.
@Shield> Jesus exposed the religious leaders for who they were.
@Shield> It is no small wonder that some in the crowd were pleased.
@Shield> Finally, someone had the nerve to stand up to them.
@Shield> But don't forget...
@Shield> the plot continues behind the scenes to kill Jesus, as we saw in earlier chapters.
@Shield> any questions or comments?
@Shield> I have a question for you to consider in the privacy of your own homes and your own thoughts.
@Shield> What would Jesus have to say about you?
@Shield> Are you more like the widow?
@Shield> Or more like the teachers of the law?
@Shield> I have to ask the same of myself.
@Shield> It is sobering to realize that I do not know the slightest thing about giving out of poverty when I compare my life situation over the years with that of the widow Jesus observed in the temple courts.
@Shield> It is more sobering to realize that I probably have more in common with the religious elite whom Jesus despised for their wickedness, than I do with the widow who lived in obscurity, shunned by many in her own society, yet faithfully served God nonetheless.
@Shield> So for me, this is a sobering study as I reflect on what God is wanting to do in my heart in the days to come.
@Shield> I will let you work out with the Lord what he is teaching you for your situation.
@Shield> let's pray
@Shield> Father thank you for your love for us.
@Shield> Thank you for teaching us from the Scriptures.
@Shield> May we seek to apply the text to our lives daily as you illumine it to us by your Holy Spirit.
@Shield> thank you Lord
@Shield> amen
martha> amen
@Shield> thanks for coming folks
GentleDove> amen
@Shield> have a good night
martha> :)
seekHm1st> Amen
Guest8755> amen
seekHm1st> Thanks Shield
GentleDove> you too and GBU
martha> u 2 Shield thanks u guys for the study