Mark 12:18-44
“THEN COME unto Him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection.” If you are reading this portion of the Bible along with our Bible Talks, you will find that the Sadducees ask an extremely ridiculous question, hoping like those before them to “catch Him in His words.” They tell the story of a woman who had had seven husbands, and then they ask, Whose wife would she be in the resurrection?
The Lord not only tells them that they do not know the Scriptures (or they wouldn’t make such an inquiry), but also points them to Moses’ writings, whom they loved to quote. He exposes their ignorance and disbelief, saying: “And as touching the dead, that they rise; Have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, sang, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.”
Following the Sadducees, there comes one of the scribes, asking: “Which is the first commandment of all?” Jesus answers: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: This is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” Jesus expressed in these two portions of the law the whole force of the commandments applying to His earthly people. If these two are met, then the rest of the law must needs have been kept also, for all points thereof are contained therein.
The scribe replies in full agreement and the Lord comments: “Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.” But while this scribe was intelligent about the law, he failed to truly recognize the Person with whom he was speaking, and thus was not within the kingdom of God—even though near to it.
After these things no man ventured to ask Him any question. But now the time had come for Jesus to advance one of His own: “How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David? David therefore himself calleth Him Lord: and whence is He then his son?” It was true that the scribes acknowledged Jesus as of the lineage of David, but would not acknowledge Him as David’s Lord. Since the scribes were familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures they would recognize this quotation from Psalm 110, but they would not bring themselves to acknowledge the fulfillment of prophecy in the Person of Jesus.
He then rightly warns the common people against the scribes, who “go in long clothing, and love salutations in the market places, and the chief seats in the synagogues,...” Then, seating Himself in the temple, He observes the people casting their money into the treasury—some giving much and some giving little. “And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And He called unto Him His disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.”
We are reminded that the Lord measures us, not by the outward appearance, but by the heart; not by what we give, but by what we hold back. We can be sure this poor widow will be eternally rewarded for her faithfulness in giving her all to God.
ML-02/16/1964