Chapter 12 is packed with things I want to write about. It starts out with the heart breaking account of the wicked tenants that refuse to return to the owner what is right. There rebellion leads to insults and murder -- even taking the life of the owners son! This parable serves also to heighten the tension between Jesus and the religious leaders of the day as we head from Palm Sunday towards Good Friday.
I guess the two portions that I will prayerfully wrestle with today are from vss 13 - 17, and vss 28 - 34. For me the issue is similar in these two segments. In the first portion Jesus answers the question on paying taxes with this answer that amazes his listeners, "Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." In the second portion Jesus sums up the law with the most familiar of all Hebrew laws the Shemah, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." and he couples it with "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
So, if I render to God what is God's it requires me to Love God with my whole being, and more, to then love my neighbor (I read that all people) as myself. This seems like an all encompassing call that takes up all that I am and ever will be. I fall so short, and yet I am continually drawn back to offer myself again to God and God's service, to engage again. I wonder if I will ever live in this life a life of complete love for God and neighbor. Lord help me to be yours alone.
There is much more to address here from the questions about life in the resurrection (my Mom would have raised her hand and argued with Jesus on this I think), and more conflict with the scribes. I will end with a quick observation on the widow's offering. I have always been intrigued that Jesus commends her offering and does not stop her and say, "Let the rich carry the load, you keep the little you have." That is what I might have done. I think Jesus has a longer view on our stuff and realizes that this widow had chosen to invest herself in eternity, and that she'd be provided for in this life and the next. I often struggle with shortsightedness - I make decisions constrained by this physical existence. Have a blessed day friends!
About Me
- Pastor Bill
- I am a committed follower of Jesus Christ, a happy husband, father and grandfather!
4 comments:
Haha ;) Last time I preached on this passage (the Widow's Mite section,) Grandma was in attendance, and basically said that my interpretation ruined this story for her ;) I'll have to send you that sermon sometime and see what you think.
I wonder why Jesus' answer about giving to God what is God's was so amazing to them? What do you think? What is God's? Everything, right? Maybe they just didn't like how they'd boxed them in to admitting what they didn't want to again.
Favorite verse here: Jesus saying, "You are quite wrong." I love it!
I guess I put you in good company - Mom argues with Jesus and Beth (and me too)! I think they hadn't consiered Jesus saying taxes were not something worth avoiding - some of the midrash of the day written by scribes and Pharisees said if you could find a way to cheat a tax collector it was NOT a sin because they were so unjust. I think Jesus dodged their temporal concens and directed them and me to the eternal and it baffled them.
I also enjoy Jesus simple "you are quite wrong" statement.
Love you Beth! Bill
It took us 45 years to finally commit to tithing -no matter what our financial circumstances are, our first check is to the Lord. I have to tell you, it makes my wife and I happy and proud to write the check now.
Malachi 3:10 has God telling us to try Him or test Him in His promise to bless us for tithing.
I have already found this to be true - we have been blessed because of this.
I believe the widow was not stopped from giving because it would have blocked her blessing.
Could you imagine trying to give away something precious to someone, only to have them say "we don't need it", or "you need it worse than me"?
The bible doesn't go on to tell what happened to the widow after that, but I know she was blessed, because God promised it in Malachi 3:10.
Hi Mark,
Great testimony - thanks so much for your faithfulness in sharing it. I heard an old farmer say once that not tithing / giving out of love to God is like a farmer that decides not to plant anymore. THis old fellow considered his tithe the same as the seed he kept back each harvest to plant next years crop. To not give was to decide to go out of business!
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