Christ Church Washington D.C.

The sermon text this morning comes from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 12, the whole chapter. These are the words of the living God. Then he began to speak to them in parables. A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower. And he leased it to vine dressers and went into a far country. Now at vintage time he sent a servant to the vine dressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vine dressers.
And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty handed. Again he sent them another servant and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head and sent him away shamefully treated. And again he sent another and him they killed and many others beating some and killing some. Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them at last saying, they will respect my son.
This is the heir. Come let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours. So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine dressers and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this scripture? The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.
They knew he had spoken the parable against them. So they left him and went away. Then they sent him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to catch him in his words. When they had come, they said to him, Teacher, we know that you are true and care about no one. For you do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Shall we pay or shall we not pay? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, Why do you test me?
And he said to them, Whose image and inscription is this? And they said to him, Caesar’s. And Jesus answered and said to them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they marveled at him. Then some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him. And they asked him, saying,
And so the seven had her and left no offspring. Last of all, the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be? For all seven had her as a wife. Jesus answered and said to them,
Do not know the scriptures nor the power of God. For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken. Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together,
he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. And so the scribes said to him,
Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God. But after that, no one dared question him. Then Jesus answered and said,
Then he said to them in his teaching, beware of the scribes who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.
Let’s pray.
We ask that you would search our hearts now and reveal to us any areas of our lives where we are failing to submit to your authority. And we ask this all in Jesus’ name, and amen. You may be seated.
Well, well, greetings to you all from King’s Cross Church in Moscow, Idaho. My name is Zach Wilkie. I’m an associate pastor at King’s Cross. I was here back in the fall. I feel like I met a number of you, but it’s good to see that you’ve changed rooms, a much nicer room since then. And it’s good to see a lot of new faces as well. I mean, what a blessing it is to see what the Lord is doing here in D.C. We’re thankful.
We’re always praying for you guys over in Moscow. We’re happy, enthusiastic to be supporting you. And it is a real joy to be with you all this morning. Well, for any preacher, it’s really quite the task to preach an entire chapter of Scripture. So I appreciate your patience. First of all, as each of the men who have gathered here, or each of the men who have preached for you has read almost an entire chapter of the Bible, that takes a lot.
I’m proud of you. And there’s also the task of trying to cover an entire chapter in a sermon, which can be a rather challenging thing as well. So I hope that you all bear with me. Well, throughout Mark’s gospel, Mark has been progressively revealing more and more about who Jesus is. He is slowly pulling the veil back to reveal his true identity.
He identifies him as Jesus of Nazareth in chapter 1. You know, that guy, the carpenter’s son, the average Joe. And this Jesus is then baptized by John the Baptist, just like many other people were at the time. And he starts an itinerant preaching ministry, just like a lot of other people did in the first century as well. And throughout the narrative, Mark gives us piece after piece of the puzzle
so that we might come to see who Jesus truly and entirely is. And one could easily argue that the culminating point of Mark’s whole gospel comes in chapter 15. After his preaching ministry, after all of his healings, after his teaching his disciples about who he is, finally someone gets it. A Roman centurion, seeing that Jesus of Nazareth,
hanging bloodied on a cross, confesses the words, truly, this man was the Son of God. That’s who Jesus is. That’s who Mark is progressively revealing him to be. Now in our passage, chapter 12, we’re not quite there, but it’s where we’re headed. The puzzle is about three quarters of the way done or so, and Mark is filling in some of the final pieces for us.
Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem when He reveals that He is the true Son of David, the true King of the Jews, coming to restore the kingdom and the glory of Israel. But it’s not just political glory that He’s after. As the coming King, Jesus is also a judge, bringing wrath and punishment on Israel’s religious leaders for their covenant unfaithfulness to God. Now, as to be expected,
when someone comes to town claiming to be a king and a judge, those in power want to know, where does this authority come from? Who made you king? Who are you to judge us? Who do you think you are? Which is exactly what the chief priests and scribes and elders ask right before our passage in chapter 11, verses 27 to 28. Authority. That is what they’re concerned with. And that is what will remain,
the topic amid this onslaught of questions and challenges from the rivals of Christ’s authority in chapter 12. Mark presents us with four episodes or four snapshots regarding four sets of rivals that Christ encounters and that he overcomes. First, we see the chief priests and scribes and elders. They’re introduced in chapter 11,
verse 12. Then we see in verse 13 to 17, the Pharisees and the Herodians. Verses 18 to 27, we see the Sadducees enter in. And finally, we see this single scribe coming after Jesus in verses 28 to 37. Now, if there’s one thing we need to learn from how Jesus handles these rivals, it is that we do not want to be like them.
Who deceive themselves by means of their false religiosity and piety. Cowards who lack the nerve and manly fortitude to bring their accusations directly for fear of the people and instead seek to plot and scheme and manipulate. And finally, the chief reason why we must not be like these rivals to Christ is that in their pride and arrogance, they reject His authority.
How does Christ handle such people? He utterly humiliates them. He brings immediate judgment upon them, even as they are building up iniquity, awaiting their greater judgment to come for rejecting Him. We must learn a thing or two from these rivals, lest we too become hypocrites and cowards,
and we must instead humble ourselves before our great King and Judge, acknowledging and receiving His authority with gratitude in our hearts. And so with the rest of our time, we’re going to be working through this passage, each of these episodes, observing how each of these rivals comes after Jesus and how each of them rejects Jesus’ authority. And we’ll finish with some application points. So, let’s dive in.
We learn from chapter 11. Feel free to open a Bible if you’ve got it as well. We’re going to be following pretty close to the text this morning. We learn from chapter 11 that Jesus is in the temple again shortly after cleansing it. And the rivals we encounter here are the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. That’s verse 27. Now, they initiate this conversation with him by asking, by what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority to do these things?
Immediately in their minds is likely the temple cleansing. I mean, that’s a pretty big deal. But we can assume that there’s much more to this. I mean, Jesus has been making a ruckus for some time in Jerusalem. In direct response to their question, Jesus brings up the baptism of John, whether it was from heaven or whether it is from men. Now, the reason that this is relevant to their question is that Jesus himself received John.
John’s baptism, which served as a divine ordination for his ministry. It essentially established Jesus’ authority as he began his public ministry. And so if John’s baptism was from men and not from God, then Jesus actually doesn’t have the authority to do what he does. But if John’s baptism was actually from God, then Jesus’ authority stands firm.
Because the priests give a non-answer, well Mark says it’s because they feared the people. Now we’re going to come back to that in a bit. Jesus refuses to give them a straight answer to their question since they won’t answer his. And instead he chooses to tell the parable of the vine dressers. Which means that this parable really is his more complete answer to that question.
Well, he is the vineyard owner’s son sent to receive some of the vineyard’s fruit. Jesus’ authority comes from his father. Now Jesus tells us back in chapter 4 why he speaks in parables. He says,
So Jesus is saying that the reason he speaks in parables is to make sure that some people do not understand what he’s talking about. Talk about being seeker sensitive, right?
Now, curiously, Mark notes in verse 12 that the priests and the scribes and the elders know that Jesus speaks this parable against them. It’s not hidden for them. Now, how is it so obvious?
It describes God bringing Israel out like a vine out of Egypt that He plants in this new land, expecting it to bear fruit for Him.
It describes God planting a vineyard on a fruitful hill. And when He comes to check that vineyard, to check to see if it’s produced good fruit, He only finds wild grapes. And He’s pretty upset about this. And as a result, He plans to burn the vineyard down and start over. This is a judgment on Israel in the Old Testament. And Jesus really picks up on this here in this parable.
Jesus is taking up the mantle of Isaiah, pronouncing coming judgment on them for their wickedness. And the irony of this, the irony of this, is that the leaders of Israel think that they are the sons of Isaiah. They think that they are the sons of the prophets. That they’re the ones carrying on this legacy of faithfulness.
It says in Matthew 23, verses 29 to 30,
is found in Jeremiah 7, verses 25 to 26. That’s what’s happening in this parable.
But again and again and again, Israel rejects the Lord’s servants, killing them even, punishing them, throwing them outside of the camp.
So in this parable, Jesus shows them where His authority comes from and who He really is. He’s the son of the vineyard owner, and He shows them who they really are, the wicked tenants of the vineyard who murdered the prophets. And as Jesus already knows, and everyone will see in the coming week, they are also the murderers of God’s beloved Son.
That’s the question. Because they have rejected the Son and put Him to death. What do you think God is going to do? He will destroy the vine dressers and give the vineyard to others, which is exactly what happens. In the next chapter, chapter 13, Jesus is going to predict the destruction of the temple, which would happen 40 years later when God sends the Romans as His vessel.
The apostles of judgment because of Israel’s rejection of His Son. And the covenant that God made with Abraham and his descendants would then go to the Gentiles. The Apostle Paul makes this point in Romans 11, that through the fall of the Jews, salvation has come to the Gentiles. What was meant for them has now been given to another. Why? Because they rejected Christ.
Mark then introduces a new pair of rivals, the Pharisees and the Herodians. They’re seeking to catch Jesus in his words, and their concern again is this question of authority. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Shall we pay or shall we not pay? In other words, whose authority should we recognize?
Now, if Jesus says to pay the tax, he would be siding with them against the common people who despised Roman occupation and resented paying taxes to Caesar. But if he says not to pay taxes to Caesar, then surely the Romans would be after him.
And so he answers, why do you test me? Jesus sees the play. He sees what’s going on. And he refuses to let them frame the conversation in their favor. He flips it on them. He establishes a new frame for this conversation. This isn’t a dichotomy. There’s more than one authority in the world.
One supreme authority. Whose image is on the denarius? Caesar’s. Well, then give it to Caesar. Caesar is a legitimate authority ordained by God in his service to bring about the flourishing of civil society. And so give to Caesar that which is due to him, given his earthly authority. Give him that which bears his image. But give to God that which bears God’s image. Namely,
your whole selves. And implied here is that you may not render to Caesar that which bears God’s image. You may not offer your whole selves to Caesar. Everything you are and possess belongs to God. Caesar does not possess the authority to require such things of you. God alone possesses that authority. God alone can require that of you.
And how do they respond? Mark says they marveled at him. Now don’t take this to mean that they were inspired by his boldness. They marvel because their manipulations didn’t work. They reject his authority. Yet another rival comes, continues the onslaught of challenges. The Sadducees. Now there’s some background context for the Sadducees.
The Sadducees are a sect of Judaism, much like the Pharisees, but they have some key beliefs that differ from the majority of Jewish teaching. They believe that only the Pentateuch, the first five books of Moses, are actually inspired by God. They reject the authority of the rest of the Old Testament. They also deny the existence of angels and spirits, and concerning our text here, they deny the resurrection of the dead.
Which is what their question is about. They too try to play games with Jesus by posing a ridiculous hypothetical situation based on the Leverett marriage law from Deuteronomy 25 verses 5 and 6.
The Sadducees stretch this out to an absurd degree that the woman would marry seven brothers in her lifetime. Their question is then which brother will have her as his wife in the resurrection? The point that they’re getting at is the idea that the resurrection must be false because all seven brothers cannot possibly be married to the same woman at one time.
But notice Jesus’ response. There’s no games. There’s no manipulative tactics like the tactics of his rivals here. You’re wrong. You do not know the scriptures nor the power of God. Notice how he frames this. You do not know the scriptures nor the power of God. The Sadducees think that they’re rather clasper
and can outsmart Jesus. But who is the true authority of the scriptures? The Word, the eternal Logos, is standing before them and they have the audacity, the arrogance, to think that they are the true interpreters of scripture. What’s more, he says, that they know not the power of God. To deny the resurrection is to reject God’s authority over death.
They believe God is powerless over it or that death is somehow outside of his jurisdiction. In his response, Jesus first simply points out that there is no marriage in the resurrection. As Paul says in Ephesians 5, every marriage on earth is pointing to the greater marriage of Christ and the church.
It was a temporary signpost. But second, one reason they likely denied the resurrection is that while other Old Testament books might argue for it, you can make a case from the Psalms, for instance, or from Job, they didn’t believe that the Pentateuch itself, their sole authority, taught the resurrection.
He references Exodus 3, when God speaks to Moses at the burning bush, claiming to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And this reference might appear to be a bit cryptic. What does this have to do with the resurrection? Well, there’s a few things going on.
God says to Moses, I am the God of Abraham. He does not say, I was the God of Abraham. This implies that though Abraham’s body has died, Abraham was still very much alive in some sense in Moses’ lifetime. And if Abraham’s soul lived on, then there must be a resurrection because the soul is not meant,
to dwell outside of the body as seen in the creation account when God made man an embodied soul. The separation of soul and body that occurs in death is unnatural as it is a result of the fall. But another angle is present here as well. Hebrews 11 verses 17 to 19 points out that when Abraham was tested to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice,
Abraham himself concluded that God was going to immediately raise Isaac from the dead. Abraham himself believed in the resurrection and Abraham’s God is the God of that resurrection life. He is not the God of the dead, but he is the God over death. God’s authority, his jurisdiction extends over death as well.
The Sadducees deny Christ’s authority because his resurrection would later testify to the fact that he is given all authority in heaven and on earth, Matthew 28. Well, Jesus recognizes that the final rival, the single scribe, is not far from the kingdom. This is verses 28 to 40.
The scribe approaches Jesus because he is impressed by what he hears. And his question appears to be genuine and in good faith. Which is the first commandment of all? Now, Jesus answers with the Shema of Deuteronomy 6. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second command is from Leviticus 19.
The scribe agrees to this and adds that these things are more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices, which is an answer that Jesus is pleased with. You are not far from the kingdom of God. If Jesus is so pleased with his answer, then why is he only not far and not fully in?
The answer lies in the fact that this encounter prompts Jesus to ask a question about his own identity from Psalm 110. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. How can Christ be both David’s son and yet David’s Lord?
Now there’s a great deal of similarity between this episode and Jesus’ encounter with the rich young ruler back in Mark 10. Now that young man similarly had a genuine question for Jesus. What must I do to inherit eternal life?
Jesus tells him to consider the commandments, to which the young man says that he’s kept them all from his childhood. But Jesus knows what’s going on in his heart and tells him that he lacks something and must give up everything he has to follow Jesus. The thing that this young rich man lacked was loyalty to Jesus himself.
And this is exactly what this scribe is doing here. He wants to obey the commandments to love God with everything he is and to love his neighbor. But he lacks loyalty to Jesus as David’s son and David’s Lord. He is close to the kingdom because he knows the right answers, but he lacks a change of heart.
That receives Jesus’ authority with gladness, as Mark notes, the common people listening to the exchange did. Verses 38 to 44, Jesus then issues a final warning to beware the scribes. Though he could easily fit the rest of these rivals in the same category. These rivals are hypocrites who weaponize their positions of religious authority to garner the praise of men.
And to devour widows’ houses. And we see an example of this oppression in the final verses. When one poor widow who could only throw two mites into the treasury while others were putting in their riches. While recognizing her oppression, Christ still praises her for her simple faith and simple obedience to offer all that she has to God. Thereby fulfilling the greatest commandment.
So what are we to make of all of this? Through His death, His resurrection, and His ascension to the Father’s right hand, Jesus Christ now possesses all authority in heaven and on earth. He is the true King, the Son of David and David’s Lord who calls us to swear allegiance. And so the question comes to you today.
For most of us, rejecting Christ’s authority isn’t going to be explicit or outright like it is for these rivals in the text. We are Christians after all. We claim to love Jesus. But boy, our sin really wants to hang on to some authority for ourselves.
Christianity describes our hearts like a house that God comes to dwell in. And when God first moves into our shabby little cottage, we start to think things like, well, this is great. I mean, this place could really use a fresh coat of paint, maybe some new carpet or furniture. But then as soon as he gets in, he starts knocking down walls and tearing the roof off.
And pouring a new foundation. And we think, what are you doing? What are you doing? We thought that this was going to be a mere freshen up of this place. But God’s intent is actually to turn our little cottage into a mansion. You see, our sin doesn’t want to see that happen. We don’t want him to see what we’ve got crawling in the crawl space or the attic. We want to hold on to those things.
We don’t want to relinquish total power or control of our lives to God. But this is exactly what must happen if we are to end up, if we are to not end up like these temple leaders. If Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth, and those who reject his authority are going to receive his righteous judgment, then we must bow the knee in everything.
We must give him the keys to everything. We must relinquish our whole lives to God. Now, as I said, your rejection of Christ’s authority might not look exactly like that of his rivals in this passage, but you may very well be holding on to the very same sins that they do in your hearts. What are they? Well, first is hypocrisy.
Mark points out in verse 15 that Jesus could sense the hypocrisy of the Pharisees’ false flattery. Because they feared the people who think highly of Jesus at this point, they didn’t want to come across as too aggressive or too direct. And so they flatter Jesus in front of everyone to save face and not spoil their reputations.
Satan says that hypocrisy is when your pretense is a substitute for reality. When your pretense is a substitute for reality. Simply, you’re pretending to be something you’re not. Like the Pharisees, maybe you’re pretending to be kind when you’re actually harboring hatred in your heart. Or maybe you’re pretending to be in fellowship with your spouse at a dinner party.
Even though you just had a knock-down, drag-out fight on the way there. Hypocrisy is the sin of creating a fantasy world in our heads that we then act out while convincing ourselves that it’s true. And this is wicked sin because Jesus is the truth. John 14, 6.
Hypocrisy is an affront to Jesus’ authority over our whole lives. We do not have the right to create a substitute for reality. We must conform our thinking and behavior to reality, not the other way around. And this is what Lewis calls good pretending. So bad pretending, hypocrisy, is when our pretense is a substitute for reality.
But Lewis commends to us good pretending. Good pretending is where our pretense, rather than being a substitute for reality, leads up to the real thing. An example of this would be a young child pretending to be an adult firefighter. We’re not going to tell that kid to knock it off because he’s not a real firefighter. No, he’s practicing for the future.
Romans 13, 14 says that you are to put on Christ. Does this mean that when you do this, you’ll instantly reflect Christ in all of his holiness and righteousness? Well, not at all. But he is your new uniform. Yes, that uniform is way too big for you, but you’ll grow into it.
You’ll become like Christ. And when you do this, you are conforming yourself to reality rather than trying to conform reality to your own imaginations. Jesus is Lord over this world. And so do not escape, do not try to escape his authority by pretending to be something you’re not, as the Pharisees did.
That second sin comes in verse 12. The priests and scribes and elders sought to lay hands on Jesus to arrest him, but they couldn’t because they feared the multitude. And so they walk away with their tail between their legs. This is the sin of cowardice or fear of man. The Pharisees and Herodians apparently felt this same fear.
Now they’re right. Jesus really does not fear the opinions of men, but they do.
Jesus has a higher priority, the fear of God, so that He might teach the way of God in all truth. The Pharisees can’t bring themselves to do that. They fear the people too much. They love the opinions of men more than God. Jesus says this directly about the scribes in verse 38,
Is that one you? Christ, do you, in Christ, do you love the praise of God more than the praise of men? Or do you fear men more than you fear God? You see, Christ requires us,
to fear God, even to the point of death. Remember Matthew 10, 28. Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. This fear of God is what allowed the martyrs of old to go to their deaths with steel in their spines and laughter in their bellies.
There is nothing more crippling to the advance of the gospel than a church plagued with cowards and man-pleasers. Now, of course, God will have His way. The gospel will go forth in power. You can be assured of that. But God uses means to bring about His purposes. And the means that He uses are men, women, and children who do not fear man, who do not fear death,
knowing that God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. Man does not have the final say. Death does not have the final say. God does. And so we have no need of the manipulations and effeminate games of the scribes and Pharisees. The fear of God frees us to speak clearly and directly into the microphone.
Social and cultural issues. Men cannot be women. Two men cannot be married. A baby in the womb is made in the image and glory of God, deserving of life. We do not back down from the clear teaching of Scripture on such things. Why? Because Jesus Christ has all authority in heaven and on earth. What about your personal life?
Why do you correct your wife’s sin because of how you think she’ll respond? Are you afraid to call out gossip in your friend group because of the potential backlash? What would King Jesus say to those things? Does His authority extend there also? Absolutely. When you reject His authority in such things, you are setting yourself up as His rival.
Just like these rivals in the text. May we learn our lesson from this passage. And like the common people who heard Him gladly, may we recognize and submit to and celebrate Christ’s authority over us with gladness in our hearts. And now, let us pray together. Our Father in God, we thank You for Your authority over us.
Jesus Christ spans over every square inch of all of our human existence. We thank You that Your authority is a blessing authority. It is an authority that goes forth in power to further Your gospel, to bring Your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
We do not want to be like these rivals in this passage. We do not want to be like those who set ourselves up against You. And so, Lord, we ask that You’d have Your way with us.