Implications of Ownership

Mark 12:1-17 · 2025-02-02 · Jason Wolin · Gospel of Mark | Cross and Crown

Mark 12:1-17 · God's Mercy. Implications of Ownership — sermon from Cypress Bible Church on BibleSlides.

Implications of Ownership Slideshow for this message PDF Message Download Introduction Well we in the book of Mark and we are into the last week of Jesus life. Here’s a visual to keep everything together in your head. Timeline for the week. Sunday was the Triumphal entry into Jerusalem where Jesus was welcomed into the city with the words of Ps 118 on the lips of the people, “Hossana.” Save us! We asked the question given Sunday why Friday? In other words, given the shouts of Hosanna and welcoming Jesus as king on Sunday why are some from that same crowd crying out on Friday, “crucify him.” The answer is Monday and Tuesday. So what happened on Monday and Tuesday? That’s where we are in the narrative. Monday is the cleansing of the Temple and the cursing of the fig tree. And we spent a bit of time last week on the implications of that cleansing. The second cleansing of the temple, from a human point of view, is Jesus signing his own death warrant. In cleansing the temple Jesus galvanizes the hatred of the Pharisees and Sadducees and they are just absolutely resolved to put him on a cross. That’s Monday. Tuesday begins a series of interchanges between Jesus and the religious leaders. Last week we looked at this question they bring to Jesus, “By what authority do you do these THINGS?” The THINGS being referenced of course is controlling of the temple. And so Jesus, so shrewdly says, “I’ll ask you a question. You answer my question, I’ll answer your question.” The baptism of John was it from heaven or men. *And the religious leaders see a lose-lose. Because if they say from heaven, then Jesus will say, “Why did you not believe in him. But if they save from man, then they feared the crowds for the crowds held him to be a prophet.* The religious leaders choose the unimaginable option of saying,”We don’t know.” They walk away shamed. It’s so embarrassing for them. And remember we talked about the fact that in a Jewish culture one of the ultimate displays of being alpha and dominant was the ability to best your opponent in open debate. So here the Pharisees and Sadducees are just humiliated. And then to rub salt into that wound Jesus tells a parable that just excoriates them. That’s where we find ourselves this morning. It’s still Tuesday and there are two interchanges between Jesus and the rulers. And in both of these interchanges Jesus is able to PARSE the truth out of very convoluted concepts. In this first interchange Jesus displays patience without the passivity. Mark 12:1 And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country.” This metaphor would have been obvious to those who heard it but this metaphor is a…

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