Please turn with me to Mark, chapter 12
Today’s message is really part 2 of last week’s message, as Mark ties together a series of four confrontations between Jesus and the religious authorities. Today, we are seeing the second part of the first confrontation, followed by the second confrontation.
Both of these confrontations have something in common, in them both, Jesus is dealing with the issue of misplaced loyalties.
The Parable
Mark lets us know in chapter 11 verse 27 that Jesus is in the temple, and he is interacting with the “chief priests, the scribes, and the elders” - this is a group known as “the Sanhedrin” and they are the religious authorities of the Jewish people in Jesus’s day. When our passage refers to Jesus speaking with “them”, that is who he is speaking with. Also of interest, one of the primary design motifs of the temple is the grapevine. The image of the vineyard was a national symbol for Israel. Jesus, surrounded by architecture that looked like a vineyard told this parable, let’s read.
Mark 12:1–12 (CSB)
1 He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug out a pit for a winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went away. 2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the farmers to collect some of the fruit of the vineyard from them. 3 But they took him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent another servant to them, and they hit him on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 Then he sent another, and they killed that one. He also sent many others; some they beat, and others they killed. 6 He still had one to send, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenant farmers said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill the farmers and give the vineyard to others. 10 Haven’t you read this Scripture: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 11 This came about from the Lord and is wonderful in our eyes?” 12 They were looking for a way to arrest him but feared the crowd because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. So they left him and went away.
There are some important images in the parable. Let’s dig in to the image of the vineyard, the servants, and this statement about a rejected stone.
The Vineyard, Famers, and Servants
This parable clearly elicits a big response from the Sanhedrin. And for good reason. Jesus is not pulling this parable out of thin air. He is referencing Isaiah 5.
Isaiah 5:1–5 (CSB)
1 …The one I love had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. 2 He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones, and planted it with the finest vines. He built a tower in the middle of it and even dug out a winepress there. He expected it to yield good grapes, but it yielded worthless grapes. 3 So now, residents of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What more could I have done for my vineyard than I did? Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes, did it yield worthless grapes? 5 Now I will tell you what I am about to do to my vineyard: I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled.
Jesus is issuing the same judgement against the Sanhedrin as Isaiah did to the priesthood 700 years prior. Warning of destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of Assyria and Babylon. Jesus is saying “you have the same problem.”Jesus is warning of coming destruction, and laying the blame at the feet of Israel’s religious leaders.
The tenant farmers in the parable refer to the Sanhedrin. The servants refer to all the Old Testament prophets, such as Isaiah, who the people killed when they brought their warnings and message of repentance. Jesus is obviously the son of the master here, and he is saying “and you’re going to kill me too.” Which they are, in just three days. Jesus is warning them that as a result of their rejection of him, God is going to judge them, and do away with their position. And this is what Jesus is talking about in verse 10: “haven’t you read the scripture?” Of course they had! They had it memorized! Its how they would have recognized Isaiah 5.
The Capstone
Jesus references Psalm 118, the same Psalm that the people were shouting three days earlier when he arrived in the temple when they said “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
Psalm 118:22–23 (CSB)
22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
23 This came from the Lord; it is wondrous in our sight.
Jesus is claiming to be the rejected stone. The stone that would have completed the building project God was working on. The whole Old Covenant is about getting people ready for the arrival of The Messiah, and here he is! Jesus has finally arrived! But they reject him. He’s not the Messiah they want. They want a political ruler. One that will do away with Roman rule! One that will affirm their power, positions, and opinions. Not one who will come to teach them and correct wrong understanding! They reject him.
Jesus says, the rejected stone then becomes “the cornerstone.” The cornerstone is the first stone set down for a building and the whole rest of the building flows from that stone. Jesus has come to establish an entirely new system. A new covenant. The old is gone, the new has come. The time of the temple, the priesthood, and the Sanhedrin is over. Jesus is Lord.
They were looking for a way to arrest him, and they think they have something. They’re going to try and trick Jesus into saying something that will either lose him his following, or get him in trouble with the Romans. So they send an unlikely group to trap him.
The Trap
Mark 12:13–17 (CSB)
13 Then they sent some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to Jesus to trap him in his words. 14 When they came, they said to him, “Teacher, we know you are truthful and don’t care what anyone thinks, nor do you show partiality but teach the way of God truthfully. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?” 15 But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at.” 16 They brought a coin. “Whose image and inscription is this?” he asked them. “Caesar’s,” they replied. 17 Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at him.
Pharisees & Herodians
The Pharisees and the Herodians hated each other. They came from entirely different worldviews, and in the eyes of each, the other was disgraceful. The Pharisees were all about religious perfection and national ethnic purity. You might accurately call them Jewish Nationalists, and Religious Fundamentalists. True patriots.
The Herodians on the other hand, had completely compromised with the occupying Roman government. They had gained favor and wealth and political clout with the ruling elite by compromising their Jewishness. Their version of religion was a far cry from the Pharisees (misguided) attempts at Biblical faithfulness. It is not a big stretch to call the Pharisees right wing conservatives, and the Herodians left wing liberals.
But they could agree on one thing: Jesus had to go. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Jesus was a threat to both of their ideologies, both of their cultural clout. They flatter Jesus with fine sounding words, and then ask him to weigh on politics.
The Tax
We know from the Jewish historian Josephus who was alive and writing at the time of Jesus, that the specific tax in question was a radioactive political topic. Understanding it a little better will help us understand the nature of their trap. The tax they were referring to was called the “poll tax” - which was basically a required payment to receive the benefits of being in the Roman Empire. And the people hated it.
It was a new tax for Judea in Jesus’s day. It was first collected in 6 AD, 27 years prior to our passage. A rebellion started against the tax, a movement known as the Zealots. And the first leaders of the Zealots were killed for the rebellion. In fact this tax was the spark plug for the rebellion against the Romans later in 66 AD that caused their invasion and destruction of Jerusalem and the temple!
The Zealots were basically an offshoot of the Pharisees, but also believed that if you caved in and paid the tax to the Romans that you were guilty of fearing the government more than God, bending your knee to the Romans, so to speak. And on the other hand, if you did not pay the tax, you were in trouble with the Roman government. If Jesus were truly the Messiah, they expected he would line up with the revolutionary take.
Which is it Jesus? Should we pay this offensive tax that is being demanded of us, or should we fear God more, and refuse?
The Coin
In response Jesus asks to see a coin. A denarius, bearing Tiberius Ceasar’s likeness on it. The inscription on this coin said: “TI CEASAR DIVI AUG F AUGUSTUS” (Tiberius Caeser, son of the divine Augustus”) and on the other side: “PONTIF MAXIM”(High Priest). The very coin itself was seen as idolatrous by the Zealots. It contained a graven image (an engraved image) of someone claiming to be the divine son of a god, and also the High Priest. You can almost imagine Jesus chuckling at the irony and the hubris.
The Answer
His answer astounded them. “Give it back.” He said. Not “pay it to him”, “give it back to him. It’s his, isn’t it?” The denarius was property of Caesar’s by law. Give it to him. No one could argue with that.
The revolution Jesus brings is not a political one. It was a revolution of the human heart.
Give to Caesar What is Caesar’s
The Bible’s teaching is that Christians are to be good citizens of whatever country they are a part of. And it tells us why. The apostles Paul and Peter both expound on Jesus’s teaching.
Romans 13:1–6 (CSB)
1 Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God. 2 So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the one in authority? Do what is good, and you will have its approval. 4 For it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For it is God’s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong. 5 Therefore, you must submit, not only because of wrath but also because of your conscience. 6 And for this reason you pay taxes, since the authorities are God’s servants, continually attending to these tasks.
1 Peter 2:13–17 (CSB)
13 Submit to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the emperor as the supreme authority 14 or to governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good. 15 For it is God’s will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good. 16 Submit as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but as God’s slaves. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brothers and sisters. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
And Paul and Peter wrote this under Nero’s reign! One of the most anti-christian rulers of all time, in one of the most anti-christian governments of all time. He is famous for burning Christians at the stake in his garden to create light for his parties.
Notice: “there is no authority except from God.” “Submit, as free people.” And “Honor the emperor. But, “fear God”, notice not “fear the emperor.” Honor, submit, but do not fear.
Give to God what is God’s
That isn’t the end of Jesus’s response though. The more mind bending second part of Jesus’s response, give back to Caesar’s what is Caesar’s, and give back to God what is God’s. Which is what? It’s everything.God owns everything. God is the ultimate authority in the world and in the universe. Not any earthly emperor. The apostles also model this for us in Acts. When confronted by the Sanhedrin in Acts, and told to quiet down about Jesus…
Acts 5:29 (CSB)
29 Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than people.”
Two Historic Boundaries
This brings up the historic limits to the Bible’s command to submit to governing authority.And it has nothing to do with whether you agree with the governmental structure, or their policies. We obey the law unless it commands us to break God’s law, either by commanding us to violate it, or commanding us to not do it. For example, Christians cannot obey laws forbidding the worship of God, or evangelizing unbelievers. Those are commands from the Lord, we must obey him and not man. Christians do not obey laws commanding us to teach the Bible in ways that are not true to the Bible. Pretending that it says what it does not say, or leaving out parts, or adding parts in.
But apart from where it would have us violate the commands of God in the scriptures, rightly interpreted, and the good and necessary consequence thereof, we obey earthly authority.
Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, Give to God what is God’s.
Jesus’s teaching is to offer your full allegiance only to God, not to any Caesar, any human ruler. We follow Christ first. We obey Christ first. From that place of eternal safety, where nothing that anyone can do to us on this earth will ultimately destroy us, we are then absolutely free to obey whatever government God puts in place over us, we “submit as free people…” right up to the point where they try to command us to disobey God. At which point we calmly and peacefully, and as respectably as we can, like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we refuse to obey a ruler who believes they have higher authority than God, who commands worship of themselves or forbids worship of The Lord Jesus Christ.
This is what is behind the statement “Jesus is Lord”, by the way. It is a direct rejection of required homage of Caesar in the Roman Empire, where everyone was required to say “Caesar is Lord” - Christians could not acknowledge that.
We are good citizens who obey the law. We oppose lawbreakers. And we obey God rather than man where there is a conflict.
In the United States of America, we have the historically unusual blessing of a system that calls the law the king. “Lex Rex.” And we have public servants whose job it is to uphold the law. And in this system we can work to change the law when it is needed. And we should engage there as God calls us to. But we also recognize that if we did not live under such a system, God would still be in control, and we would still be able to carry out our lives of worship.
Whose image is on you?
Give to God’s what is God’s. This is where the rubber hits the road for our passage today.
How do we know what is God’s? When Jesus was holding the denarius, he asked “whose image and inscription is this?” The answer was Caesar. There is another question implicit in that confrontation that Jesus does not ask outright, but it is there in the statement “give to God what is God’s.” The coin carries Caesar’s image, give it to him. But to the pharisees and the herodians, his disciples, and the crowds who were listening, whose image do you carry?
Friends, we all are created in the image of God. We bear His image. “Give to God what is God’s” is more personal than just “it’s everything.” It’s you specifically. You bear his image. Jesus says: give yourself to him.
There was an irony in the flattery of the Pharisees and Herodians: “Teacher, we know you are truthful and don’t care what anyone thinks, nor do you show partiality but teach the way of God truthfully.” They didn’t mean it and might not have realized it, but they were absolutely correct.
Jesus showed no partiality in his day to conservative or liberal. Religious fundamentalist or secular humanist. All bear God’s image and will be called to account. All must come to Christ in faith. There is only one way to escape the destruction that was coming for the temple, and “the farmers” in the parables. Receive the son. Welcome the son.
Jesus confronts our misplaced allegiances. We are so prone to put our ultimate hope in and give ourselves too wholeheartedly to earthly missions, even good ones, in a way that distracts us from the mission Jesus has for us.
Among Jesus’s disciples that day were a former zealot, and a former tax collector. Both needed Jesus. Neither the fanaticism of the zealots to “take the nation back for God”, nor the attempts to win friends with the world by becoming like them would ultimately accomplish God’s purpose. Jesus mercifully extends his hand to both, offering them the way of the only mission that will ultimately matter.He extends it to the pharisees, the herodians, and the Sanhedrin as well, and we later find some from each of those groups among his disciples as well. And he extends his hand to you.
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