Mark 12
Encyclopedia
Mark 12 is the twelfth chapter of the Gospel of Mark
in the New Testament
of the Christian
Bible
. Continuing Jesus
' teaching in Jerusalem
on what is traditionally celebrated as Holy Tuesday
, it contains the parable
of The Wicked Husbandmen
, Jesus' argument with the Pharisees
and Herodians
over paying taxes to Caesar
, and the debate with the Sadducees about the nature of people who will be resurrected at the end of time
. It also contains Jesus' greatest commandment, his discussion of the messiah
's relationship to King David, condemnation of the teachers of the law
, and his praise of a poor widow's offering.
over his authority in Mark 11, tells them some parables, but Mark then relates only one:
The scripture mentioned is a quote from Psalm 118:22-23, a Psalm that is a general praising of the power of God. Is Jesus the stone that was rejected on which the new Christian community was built? Skeptics
tend to doubt whether Jesus really said this, at least in its written form, rejecting all predictions, real and metaphor
ical, as actually made by the real Jesus. The quote about the stone is from the Septuagint version of the Psalms, a version Jesus and Jews in Israel
would probably not have used. Mark however, who clearly has the Septuagint as his Old Testament
reference, may have simply used it for his audience, as they spoke Greek
, or to clarify his sources, oral and/or written. For those who believe the accuracy of Mark these predictions serve to demonstrate the power of Jesus' knowledge. Paul
also refers to Jesus as a "stone" in Romans
9:33 but references this with quotes from Isaiah
8:14 and 28:16. Acts of the Apostles
4:11 records Peter
as using the same Psalm to describe Jesus. 1 Peter
references both Isaiah and the Psalm in 2:6-8, although most scholars, though not all, do not accept this letter as actually written by the Apostle Peter.
Mark says the priests realized Jesus was speaking about them and wanted to arrest him but would not because of the people around. Mark therefore explicitly states the husbandmen to be the priests and teachers, and perhaps the Judean
authorities in general. It could also be a metaphor for all of human
ity. Most modern translations use the term "tenants", renters, instead of husbandmen. The owner is God. A common interpretation of the servants is that of the prophet
s or all of God's proceeding messengers, while the gentile
s, or Christians, are the "others" who will be given the vineyard. (Brown 143) The vineyard is Israel or more abstractly the promise made to Abraham
by God. The "son" is Jesus. "Beloved" is what God has called Jesus in Mark 1 and 9 during his baptism
and the Transfiguration
.
Isaiah
5 uses similar language regarding God's vineyard. Workers working the estates of absentee landlords happened frequently in the Roman Empire
, making the story relevant to the listeners of the time. (Brown et al. 621) Vineyards were the source of grape
s and wine
, a common symbol of good in the Gospels. There is Jesus turning
water into wine in John
2 and the saying about new wineskins in Mark 2:22. Natural growth, like Jesus' parables of The Mustard Seed
and Seed Growing Secretly in Mark 4, was probably a naturally understood metaphor for Mark's audience as the ancient world
was largely an agricultural
world. The parable is also found in the Gospel of Thomas
saying 65-66.
and Herodians
to talk to Jesus and they give him false praise but hope to trap him by asking him whether one should pay their taxes demanded by Caesar, meaning the Roman government. These two groups were antagonists, and by showing them working together against Jesus Mark shows the severity of the opposition to him. Mark has mentioned them working together before in 3:6. The Herodians, followers of Herod Antipas
, would have been in Jerusalem with Herod during his trip there for the Passover
. (Kilgallen 228) Jesus states he has not fallen for their trap and asks them to bring him a denarius
, a Roman coin, and asks whose image and inscription are on it. The coin was marked with Caesar's, or the Emperor's image to signify ownership, image signifying ownership on many things then and now. Today's currency
is often marked with President
's, Monarch
's or Prime Minister
's images. Which Caesar is not stated but it was probably Tiberius
as this occurred during his reign.
Jesus goes on to utter the famous phrase "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." (17) Jesus once again avoids two traps, the one of not paying taxes and offending the Herodians and the Romans they supported, and therefore being a criminal to Rome, and the other of paying them, opposed by the Pharisees (or at least the Zealots), and thereby assisting in oppression
. It is plain to see that the coin is the Emperor's so giving it back to him changes nothing but Jesus could be referring to the people who belong to Caesar and the people who belong to God. In this case, Jesus is going beyond avoiding a trap but further exposing the hypocrisy of the religious system he was critiquing.
The same argument applies to government-issued money today. Giving God what is God's might be an admonishment to meet one's obligation to God as one must meet them to the state
. (Brown et al. 622) It could also be Jesus' way of saying that God, not Rome, controlled Israel, indeed the whole world, and thereby also satisfy the Pharisees. This passage is often used in arguments on the nature of Separation of church and state
.
The same saying is found in the Gospel of Thomas as saying 100, except Jesus adds the final statement "...and give me what is mine." Paul teaches about government authority, taxes and debts, and God's will in Romans 13:1-7.
Jesus' opponents now switch to the Sadducees
, who mock the idea of the resurrection of the dead
. The Sadducees only accepted the Pentateuch as divinely
inspired. Deuteronomy
25:5 says that if a man dies and his wife has not had a son his brother must marry her. They then take this to its logical conclusion and ask if a woman has had seven husbands in this manner who will she be married to when they all are resurrected from the dead, showing Jesus' doctrine without biblical or logical foundation.
Jesus says they do not understand the scriptures and the power of God and says that after the resurrection no one will be married, "...they will be like the angel
s in heaven
. Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the book of Moses
, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, 'I am (emphasis added) the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac
, and the God of Jacob
'? He is not the God of the dead
, but of the living
. You are badly mistaken!" (25-27) The story of the burning bush
is found in Exodus 3.
The belief in the resurrection of the dead was largely a fairly recent innovation in ancient Jewish thought, and Jesus defends the belief against the Sadducees, who find it to be a false innovation. (Miller 42) He quotes God's statement to Moses on Mount Sinai
made in the present tense
about the patriarchs
to show that God states them to be still in existence
after their death , and thus that the doctrine of resurrection is present in the scripture from the beginning.
So far in Mark Jesus has possibly resurrected a dead girl in Mark 5:41-42 and has predicted his own resurrection in 8:31 for instance, but has not discussed the nature of resurrection in depth. Jesus largely defends the belief here, perhaps indicating Mark's intended audience already knows it. Paul also describes bodily resurrection in 1 Corinthians
15, that it will be of a fundamentally different nature than people's current physical nature. Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas uses an argument for eternal life based on the fact that the nonliving matter of dead food becomes the living matter of your body after you eat it in saying 11. Philosophically
the validity
of Jesus' argument for the resurrection of the dead depends on the accuracy of the story of the burning bush, that is if God really did say that and meant it in that way existence is possible after death as God would never be wrong. The Pharisees
also believed in the resurrection of the dead.
hears Jesus' answer to their question and comes over and asks Jesus what God's greatest commandment is. "The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel (the Shema, a centerpiece of all morning and evening Jewish prayer services
); The Lord our God is one Lord: And 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 neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." (29-31 KJV)
Jesus here quotes Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus
19:18. Putting these two commandments together linked by love, putting loving others on the same level as loving God, was one of Jesus' theological
innovations. (Brown et al. 622) (See also Christianity and Judaism, Didache
1.2) The Jewish Encyclopedia
article on Jesus argues this shows Jesus knew and approved of the Didache, in its Jewish form. Mark wrote this probably four decades after Jesus' death showing Christians still used Jewish prayer formats, this being in the form of daily prayers, at this period. (Brown 144) Most Early Christians saw Jesus' teachings as summing up the essence of Jewish theology as opposed to the religion
's ritual
istic components. (Brown et al. 622) Paul uses the same quotation from Leviticus in Galatians
5:14 and Romans 13:9 as summing up the law. See also Hillel the Elder
.
The man agrees and says keeping these commandments is better than making sacrifices, to which Jesus replies that the man is "not far from the kingdom of God
."
(34) This seems to be Jesus' triumph over his opponents (or agreement with the Pharisees) as Mark states that this was the last question they asked him. Being "not far" from God can be seen in the sense of close to knowledge of God. Others have seen "far" as actually referring to a spatial
distance from God, maybe from Jesus himself. (Kilgallen 237)
Jesus goes to the Temple
courts and teaches the people. This probably took place along the eastern wall of the Temple. (Kilgallen 238)
After overcoming his opponents' traps, Jesus poses a question of his own. He asks the crowd "How is it that the teachers of the law say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: 'The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.' David himself calls him 'Lord.' How then can he be his son?" (35-37) It is a quote from Psalm
110:1, which was traditionally believed to have been written by David himself. This Psalm was used during the coronation of the ancient Kings of Israel and Judea
. (Miller 43)
This passage has caused much debate. It is a promise made to David by God. The first Lord mentioned is God and the second Lord was believed by Jews and then later Christians to refer to the messiah. Since David is here calling the messiah Lord the messiah must be superior to David. Son was a term of submission as father was a term of authority, so one can not say that the messiah will be inferior to David by using the term son. (Kilgallen 238)
Is Jesus saying that the messiah is not David's biological heir, or that he is greater than only David's heir, that the Messiah's kingdom is far greater than merely an earthly successor to David's political kingdom? The messiah was to be from the house of David, as both Matthew
and Luke
use their genealogies of Jesus
to show. Mark has no genealogy or virgin birth. Some have argued that this is Mark's way of explaining why Jesus, from such a poor family, could possibly be the messiah. Since most modern critical scholars reject the genealogies in Luke and Matthew, some have argued that Jesus did not claim descent from David, and this is thus Jesus' explanation of this. Mark however seems to state Jesus to be David's heir. Jesus was acclaimed as bringing the kingdom of David in Mark 11:10. Mark had the demons call him the Son of God
in 3:11 and 5:7. Peter called him the Christ in Mark 8:29. Bartimaeus
, the blind beggar whom Jesus healed, called him the Son of David in 10:47, although Jesus has not referred to himself in this manner directly, an interesting choice for Mark to make, fitting with his theme of the Messianic Secret
. Jesus usually refers to himself as the Son of man
. Jesus explicitly says he is the messiah and the "Son of the Blessed One" in and perhaps tells Pilate
he is the King of the Jews in : "He answered him, ‘You say so.’"(NRSV). Mark clearly wrote to show Jesus is the Jewish messiah
prophesied to be David's heir and successor, so why this speech and no explicit statement by Jesus of Davidic descent? Is he simply saying that the messiah is superior to David, whether from his house or not? If the messiah is indeed God, as the Psalm was interpreted by some Early Christians, then his glory is greater than the glory of any one house.
Both Matthew and Luke use the same story, showing they did not think it contradicted their claim of descent from King David in Matthew
1 and Luke
3. Acts of the Apostles 2:34-35 has Peter use the same quote in reference to Jesus. Paul alludes to it in 1 Corinthians 15:25. Paul might also reference it as well in Colossians
3:1 and Romans
8:34 where he mentions "Christ" at the right hand of God. It is also found in Hebrews
1:13.
Jesus condemns the teachers of the law because of their wealth, fancy clothes, and importance. "They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely." (40) Some have used this passage to justify anti-semitism
over the ages but Jesus is obviously criticizing their actions, not religion. The teachers would be analogous to lawyer
s today, as the Jewish religious code largely was the Jewish law. The scribes interpreted, as judges do today, the meaning of the laws. Often they might feign piety to gain access to trusteeship of a widow's estate and therefore its assets, like law firms today seek good reputations for the sole purpose of obtaining rich clients. The fact that Jesus states that they will be "punished", something which they have done to others, could show how the judges will be judged. (Brown et al. 623)
Jesus goes to where they make offerings, donations of money to the Temple, and praises a widow's donation, "...two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny." (42), over larger donations made by the rich. "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on." (43-44) She gives two lepta
, copper coins, the smallest denomination around. Jesus contrasts her offering as the greater sacrifice because it is all she had, as opposed to the rich who only gave what was convenient. Her total sacrifice might foreshadow Jesus' total sacrifice of his life. (Brown et al. 623) Mark uses the term kodrantēs, a Greek form of the Latin word quadrans
, for penny, one of Mark's Latinisms which many take as evidence for composition in or near Rome
.
Matthew has most of this in
21:28-22:46 but with important differences. He adds the parables of The Two Sons
and the Marriage of the King's Son into Jesus' discussion with the priests but does not have Jesus telling the teacher he is not far from God, leaving the man in Matthew looking more hostile to Jesus than Mark does. He has Jesus with a much more elaborate discourse condemning his opponents in 23 but no widow's offering and Jesus discusses David with the Pharisees, not the crowd.
Luke keeps the same sequence as Mark in 20:9-21:4 but also has slight differences. Jesus tells the parable of the husbandmen to all the people, not just the priests. Unnamed spies
from the priests challenge Jesus about the taxes and there is a longer discourse on marriage. Luke does not have Jesus telling the teacher the greatest commandment. John
skips from Jesus' teaching after his arrival in Jerusalem in John 12 to the Last Supper
in chapter 13.
It is hard to accurately date events described in the Gospels, but with the Passover as a reference one can attempt it here. If one accepts Mark's historical accuracy and dates for Jesus' death of AD April 7, 30 or April 3, 33 then these events occurred on either April 4, 30 or March 31, 33.
Gospel of Mark
The Gospel According to Mark , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Mark or simply Mark, is the second book of the New Testament. This canonical account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the three synoptic gospels. It was thought to be an epitome, which accounts for its place as the second...
in the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
of the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. Continuing Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
' teaching in Jerusalem
Jerusalem in Christianity
For Christians, Jerusalem's place in the ministry of Jesus and the Apostolic Age gives it great importance, in addition to its place in the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible.-Jerusalem in the New Testament and early Christianity:...
on what is traditionally celebrated as Holy Tuesday
Holy Week
Holy Week in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter...
, it contains the parable
Parables of Jesus
The parables of Jesus can be found in all the Canonical gospels as well as in some of the non-canonical gospels but are located mainly within the three synoptic gospels. They represent a key part of the teachings of Jesus, forming approximately one third of his recorded teachings...
of The Wicked Husbandmen
The Wicked Husbandmen
The Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen is a parable of Jesus found in three of the four Canonical gospels , and in the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas...
, Jesus' argument with the Pharisees
Pharisees
The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period beginning under the Hasmonean dynasty in the wake of...
and Herodians
Herodians
The Herodians were a sect or party mentioned in the New Testament as having on two occasions — once in Galilee, and again in Jerusalem — manifested an unfriendly disposition towards Jesus .In each of these cases their name is coupled with that of the Pharisees...
over paying taxes to Caesar
Render unto Caesar...
"Render unto Caesar…" is the beginning of a phrase attributed to Jesus in the synoptic gospels, which reads in full, "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's" ....
, and the debate with the Sadducees about the nature of people who will be resurrected at the end of time
Resurrection of the dead
Resurrection of the Dead is a belief found in a number of eschatologies, most commonly in Christian, Islamic, Jewish and Zoroastrian. In general, the phrase refers to a specific event in the future; multiple prophesies in the histories of these religions assert that the dead will be brought back to...
. It also contains Jesus' greatest commandment, his discussion of the messiah
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
's relationship to King David, condemnation of the teachers of the law
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
, and his praise of a poor widow's offering.
Parable of the wicked husbandmen
Jesus, after his argument with the chief priests of the SanhedrinSanhedrin
The Sanhedrin was an assembly of twenty-three judges appointed in every city in the Biblical Land of Israel.The Great Sanhedrin was the supreme court of ancient Israel made of 71 members...
over his authority in Mark 11, tells them some parables, but Mark then relates only one:
- A certain man planted a vineyardVineyardA vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...
, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty.
- And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some.
- Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.
- What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? (1-11 KJV)
The scripture mentioned is a quote from Psalm 118:22-23, a Psalm that is a general praising of the power of God. Is Jesus the stone that was rejected on which the new Christian community was built? Skeptics
Skepticism
Skepticism has many definitions, but generally refers to any questioning attitude towards knowledge, facts, or opinions/beliefs stated as facts, or doubt regarding claims that are taken for granted elsewhere...
tend to doubt whether Jesus really said this, at least in its written form, rejecting all predictions, real and metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
ical, as actually made by the real Jesus. The quote about the stone is from the Septuagint version of the Psalms, a version Jesus and Jews in Israel
History of ancient Israel and Judah
Israel and Judah were related Iron Age kingdoms of ancient Palestine. The earliest known reference to the name Israel in archaeological records is in the Merneptah stele, an Egyptian record of c. 1209 BCE. By the 9th century BCE the Kingdom of Israel had emerged as an important local power before...
would probably not have used. Mark however, who clearly has the Septuagint as his Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
reference, may have simply used it for his audience, as they spoke Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
, or to clarify his sources, oral and/or written. For those who believe the accuracy of Mark these predictions serve to demonstrate the power of Jesus' knowledge. Paul
Paul of Tarsus
Paul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...
also refers to Jesus as a "stone" in Romans
Epistle to the Romans
The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, often shortened to Romans, is the sixth book in the New Testament. Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by the Apostle Paul to explain that Salvation is offered through the Gospel of Jesus Christ...
9:33 but references this with quotes from Isaiah
Book of Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, preceding the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Book of the Twelve...
8:14 and 28:16. Acts of the Apostles
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...
4:11 records Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
as using the same Psalm to describe Jesus. 1 Peter
First Epistle of Peter
The First Epistle of Peter, usually referred to simply as First Peter and often written 1 Peter, is a book of the New Testament. The author claims to be Saint Peter the apostle, and the epistle was traditionally held to have been written during his time as bishop of Rome or Bishop of Antioch,...
references both Isaiah and the Psalm in 2:6-8, although most scholars, though not all, do not accept this letter as actually written by the Apostle Peter.
Mark says the priests realized Jesus was speaking about them and wanted to arrest him but would not because of the people around. Mark therefore explicitly states the husbandmen to be the priests and teachers, and perhaps the Judean
Iudaea Province
Judaea or Iudaea are terms used by historians to refer to the Roman province that extended over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms of Israel...
authorities in general. It could also be a metaphor for all of human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
ity. Most modern translations use the term "tenants", renters, instead of husbandmen. The owner is God. A common interpretation of the servants is that of the prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
s or all of God's proceeding messengers, while the gentile
Gentile
The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....
s, or Christians, are the "others" who will be given the vineyard. (Brown 143) The vineyard is Israel or more abstractly the promise made to Abraham
Abraham
Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
by God. The "son" is Jesus. "Beloved" is what God has called Jesus in Mark 1 and 9 during his baptism
Baptism of Jesus
The baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of Jesus Christ's public ministry. This event is recorded in the Canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. In John 1:29-33 rather than a direct narrative, the Baptist bears witness to the episode...
and the Transfiguration
Transfiguration of Jesus
The Transfiguration of Jesus is an event reported in the New Testament in which Jesus is transfigured and becomes radiant upon a mountain. The Synoptic Gospels describe it, and 2 Peter 1:16-18 refers to it....
.
Isaiah
Book of Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, preceding the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Book of the Twelve...
5 uses similar language regarding God's vineyard. Workers working the estates of absentee landlords happened frequently in the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, making the story relevant to the listeners of the time. (Brown et al. 621) Vineyards were the source of grape
Grape
A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
s and wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
, a common symbol of good in the Gospels. There is Jesus turning
water into wine in John
John 2
John 2 is the second chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It contains the famous stories of the miracle of Jesus turning water into wine and Jesus expelling the money changers from the Temple.-Water into Wine:...
2 and the saying about new wineskins in Mark 2:22. Natural growth, like Jesus' parables of The Mustard Seed
Parable of the Mustard Seed
The Parable of the Mustard Seed is one of the shorter parables of Jesus. It appears in three of the Canonical gospels of the New Testament. The differences between Gospels of Matthew , Mark , and Luke , are minor...
and Seed Growing Secretly in Mark 4, was probably a naturally understood metaphor for Mark's audience as the ancient world
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
was largely an agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
world. The parable is also found in the Gospel of Thomas
Gospel of Thomas
The Gospel According to Thomas, commonly shortened to the Gospel of Thomas, is a well preserved early Christian, non-canonical sayings-gospel discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945, in one of a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library...
saying 65-66.
Paying taxes to Caesar
The chief priests send some PhariseesPharisees
The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period beginning under the Hasmonean dynasty in the wake of...
and Herodians
Herodians
The Herodians were a sect or party mentioned in the New Testament as having on two occasions — once in Galilee, and again in Jerusalem — manifested an unfriendly disposition towards Jesus .In each of these cases their name is coupled with that of the Pharisees...
to talk to Jesus and they give him false praise but hope to trap him by asking him whether one should pay their taxes demanded by Caesar, meaning the Roman government. These two groups were antagonists, and by showing them working together against Jesus Mark shows the severity of the opposition to him. Mark has mentioned them working together before in 3:6. The Herodians, followers of Herod Antipas
Herod Antipas
Herod Antipater , known by the nickname Antipas, was a 1st-century AD ruler of Galilee and Perea, who bore the title of tetrarch...
, would have been in Jerusalem with Herod during his trip there for the Passover
Passover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
. (Kilgallen 228) Jesus states he has not fallen for their trap and asks them to bring him a denarius
Denarius
In the Roman currency system, the denarius was a small silver coin first minted in 211 BC. It was the most common coin produced for circulation but was slowly debased until its replacement by the antoninianus...
, a Roman coin, and asks whose image and inscription are on it. The coin was marked with Caesar's, or the Emperor's image to signify ownership, image signifying ownership on many things then and now. Today's currency
Money
Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past,...
is often marked with President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
's, Monarch
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
's or Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
's images. Which Caesar is not stated but it was probably Tiberius
Tiberius
Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
as this occurred during his reign.
Jesus goes on to utter the famous phrase "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." (17) Jesus once again avoids two traps, the one of not paying taxes and offending the Herodians and the Romans they supported, and therefore being a criminal to Rome, and the other of paying them, opposed by the Pharisees (or at least the Zealots), and thereby assisting in oppression
Oppression
Oppression is the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner. It can also be defined as an act or instance of oppressing, the state of being oppressed, and the feeling of being heavily burdened, mentally or physically, by troubles, adverse conditions, and...
. It is plain to see that the coin is the Emperor's so giving it back to him changes nothing but Jesus could be referring to the people who belong to Caesar and the people who belong to God. In this case, Jesus is going beyond avoiding a trap but further exposing the hypocrisy of the religious system he was critiquing.
The same argument applies to government-issued money today. Giving God what is God's might be an admonishment to meet one's obligation to God as one must meet them to the state
Sovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
. (Brown et al. 622) It could also be Jesus' way of saying that God, not Rome, controlled Israel, indeed the whole world, and thereby also satisfy the Pharisees. This passage is often used in arguments on the nature of Separation of church and state
Separation of church and state
The concept of the separation of church and state refers to the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state....
.
The same saying is found in the Gospel of Thomas as saying 100, except Jesus adds the final statement "...and give me what is mine." Paul teaches about government authority, taxes and debts, and God's will in Romans 13:1-7.
The resurrection and marriage
Sadducees
The Sadducees were a sect or group of Jews that were active in Ancient Israel during the Second Temple period, starting from the second century BC through the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. The sect was identified by Josephus with the upper social and economic echelon of Judean society...
, who mock the idea of the resurrection of the dead
Resurrection of the dead
Resurrection of the Dead is a belief found in a number of eschatologies, most commonly in Christian, Islamic, Jewish and Zoroastrian. In general, the phrase refers to a specific event in the future; multiple prophesies in the histories of these religions assert that the dead will be brought back to...
. The Sadducees only accepted the Pentateuch as divinely
Divinity
Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power or deity, or its attributes or manifestations in...
inspired. Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy
The Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, and of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch...
25:5 says that if a man dies and his wife has not had a son his brother must marry her. They then take this to its logical conclusion and ask if a woman has had seven husbands in this manner who will she be married to when they all are resurrected from the dead, showing Jesus' doctrine without biblical or logical foundation.
Jesus says they do not understand the scriptures and the power of God and says that after the resurrection no one will be married, "...they will be like the angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
s in heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
. Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the book of Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, 'I am (emphasis added) the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac
Isaac
Isaac as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the only son Abraham had with his wife Sarah, and was the father of Jacob and Esau. Isaac was one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites...
, and the God of Jacob
Jacob
Jacob "heel" or "leg-puller"), also later known as Israel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament and the Qur'an was the third patriarch of the Hebrew people with whom God made a covenant, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his descendants.In the...
'? He is not the God of the dead
Death
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
, but of the living
Life
Life is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have signaling and self-sustaining processes from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased , or else because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate...
. You are badly mistaken!" (25-27) The story of the burning bush
Burning bush
The burning bush is an object described by the Book of Exodus as being located on Mount Sinai; according to the narrative, the bush was on fire, but was not consumed by the flames, hence the name...
is found in Exodus 3.
The belief in the resurrection of the dead was largely a fairly recent innovation in ancient Jewish thought, and Jesus defends the belief against the Sadducees, who find it to be a false innovation. (Miller 42) He quotes God's statement to Moses on Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai , also known as Mount Horeb, Mount Musa, Gabal Musa , Jabal Musa meaning "Moses' Mountain", is a mountain near Saint Catherine in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. A mountain called Mount Sinai is mentioned many times in the Book of Exodus in the Torah and the Bible as well as the Quran...
made in the present tense
Present tense
The present tense is a grammatical tense that locates a situation or event in present time. This linguistic definition refers to a concept that indicates a feature of the meaning of a verb...
about the patriarchs
Patriarchs (Bible)
The Patriarchs of the Bible, when narrowly defined, are Abraham, the ancestor of all the Abrahamic nations; his son Isaac, the ancestor of the nations surrounding Israel/Judah; and Isaac's son Jacob, also named Israel, the ancestor of the Israelites...
to show that God states them to be still in existence
Existence
In common usage, existence is the world we are aware of through our senses, and that persists independently without them. In academic philosophy the word has a more specialized meaning, being contrasted with essence, which specifies different forms of existence as well as different identity...
after their death , and thus that the doctrine of resurrection is present in the scripture from the beginning.
So far in Mark Jesus has possibly resurrected a dead girl in Mark 5:41-42 and has predicted his own resurrection in 8:31 for instance, but has not discussed the nature of resurrection in depth. Jesus largely defends the belief here, perhaps indicating Mark's intended audience already knows it. Paul also describes bodily resurrection in 1 Corinthians
First Epistle to the Corinthians
The first epistle of Paul the apostle to the Corinthians, often referred to as First Corinthians , is the seventh book of the New Testament of the Bible...
15, that it will be of a fundamentally different nature than people's current physical nature. Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas uses an argument for eternal life based on the fact that the nonliving matter of dead food becomes the living matter of your body after you eat it in saying 11. Philosophically
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
the validity
Validity
In logic, argument is valid if and only if its conclusion is entailed by its premises, a formula is valid if and only if it is true under every interpretation, and an argument form is valid if and only if every argument of that logical form is valid....
of Jesus' argument for the resurrection of the dead depends on the accuracy of the story of the burning bush, that is if God really did say that and meant it in that way existence is possible after death as God would never be wrong. The Pharisees
Pharisees
The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period beginning under the Hasmonean dynasty in the wake of...
also believed in the resurrection of the dead.
The greatest commandment
A nearby scribeScribe
A scribe is a person who writes books or documents by hand as a profession and helps the city keep track of its records. The profession, previously found in all literate cultures in some form, lost most of its importance and status with the advent of printing...
hears Jesus' answer to their question and comes over and asks Jesus what God's greatest commandment is. "The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel (the Shema, a centerpiece of all morning and evening Jewish prayer services
Jewish services
Jewish prayer are the prayer recitations that form part of the observance of Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book....
); The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love
Love
Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...
the Lord thy God with all thy heart
Heart (symbol)
The heart has long been used as a symbol to refer to the spiritual, emotional, moral, and in the past, also intellectual core of a human being...
, and with all thy soul
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
, and with all thy mind
Mind
The concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
, and with all thy strength
Belief
Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true.-Belief, knowledge and epistemology:The terms belief and knowledge are used differently in philosophy....
: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." (29-31 KJV)
Jesus here quotes Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus
Leviticus
The Book of Leviticus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible, and the third of five books of the Torah ....
19:18. Putting these two commandments together linked by love, putting loving others on the same level as loving God, was one of Jesus' theological
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
innovations. (Brown et al. 622) (See also Christianity and Judaism, Didache
Didache
The Didache or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles is a brief early Christian treatise, dated by most scholars to the late first or early 2nd century...
1.2) The Jewish Encyclopedia
Jewish Encyclopedia
The Jewish Encyclopedia is an encyclopedia originally published in New York between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. It contained over 15,000 articles in 12 volumes on the history and then-current state of Judaism and the Jews as of 1901...
article on Jesus argues this shows Jesus knew and approved of the Didache, in its Jewish form. Mark wrote this probably four decades after Jesus' death showing Christians still used Jewish prayer formats, this being in the form of daily prayers, at this period. (Brown 144) Most Early Christians saw Jesus' teachings as summing up the essence of Jewish theology as opposed to the religion
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
's ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
istic components. (Brown et al. 622) Paul uses the same quotation from Leviticus in Galatians
Epistle to the Galatians
The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, often shortened to Galatians, is the ninth book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul of Tarsus to a number of Early Christian communities in the Roman province of Galatia in central Anatolia...
5:14 and Romans 13:9 as summing up the law. See also Hillel the Elder
Hillel the Elder
Hillel was a famous Jewish religious leader, one of the most important figures in Jewish history. He is associated with the development of the Mishnah and the Talmud...
.
The man agrees and says keeping these commandments is better than making sacrifices, to which Jesus replies that the man is "not far from the kingdom of God
Kingdom of God
The Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven is a foundational concept in the Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.The term "Kingdom of God" is found in all four canonical gospels and in the Pauline epistles...
."
(34) This seems to be Jesus' triumph over his opponents (or agreement with the Pharisees) as Mark states that this was the last question they asked him. Being "not far" from God can be seen in the sense of close to knowledge of God. Others have seen "far" as actually referring to a spatial
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
distance from God, maybe from Jesus himself. (Kilgallen 237)
Teaching the crowd
Temple in Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...
courts and teaches the people. This probably took place along the eastern wall of the Temple. (Kilgallen 238)
After overcoming his opponents' traps, Jesus poses a question of his own. He asks the crowd "How is it that the teachers of the law say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: 'The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.' David himself calls him 'Lord.' How then can he be his son?" (35-37) It is a quote from Psalm
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
110:1, which was traditionally believed to have been written by David himself. This Psalm was used during the coronation of the ancient Kings of Israel and Judea
Kingdom of Judah
The Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....
. (Miller 43)
This passage has caused much debate. It is a promise made to David by God. The first Lord mentioned is God and the second Lord was believed by Jews and then later Christians to refer to the messiah. Since David is here calling the messiah Lord the messiah must be superior to David. Son was a term of submission as father was a term of authority, so one can not say that the messiah will be inferior to David by using the term son. (Kilgallen 238)
Is Jesus saying that the messiah is not David's biological heir, or that he is greater than only David's heir, that the Messiah's kingdom is far greater than merely an earthly successor to David's political kingdom? The messiah was to be from the house of David, as both Matthew
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
and Luke
Gospel of Luke
The Gospel According to Luke , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Luke or simply Luke, is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It details his story from the events of his birth to his Ascension.The...
use their genealogies of Jesus
Genealogy of Jesus
The genealogy of Jesus is described in two passages of the Gospels: Luke 3:23–38 and Matthew 1:1–17.* Matthew's genealogy commences with Abraham and then from King David's son Solomon follows the legal line of the kings through Jeconiah, the king whose descendants were cursed, to Joseph, legal...
to show. Mark has no genealogy or virgin birth. Some have argued that this is Mark's way of explaining why Jesus, from such a poor family, could possibly be the messiah. Since most modern critical scholars reject the genealogies in Luke and Matthew, some have argued that Jesus did not claim descent from David, and this is thus Jesus' explanation of this. Mark however seems to state Jesus to be David's heir. Jesus was acclaimed as bringing the kingdom of David in Mark 11:10. Mark had the demons call him the Son of God
Son of God
"Son of God" is a phrase which according to most Christian denominations, Trinitarian in belief, refers to the relationship between Jesus and God, specifically as "God the Son"...
in 3:11 and 5:7. Peter called him the Christ in Mark 8:29. Bartimaeus
Bartimaeus (biblical character)
Each of the three synoptic gospels tells of Jesus healing the blind near Jericho, as he passed through that town, shortly before his passion....
, the blind beggar whom Jesus healed, called him the Son of David in 10:47, although Jesus has not referred to himself in this manner directly, an interesting choice for Mark to make, fitting with his theme of the Messianic Secret
Messianic Secret
In Biblical criticism, the Messianic Secret refers to a proposed motif primarily in the Gospel of Mark in which Jesus is portrayed as commanding his followers to silence about his Messianic mission...
. Jesus usually refers to himself as the Son of man
Son of man
The phrase son of man is a primarily Semitic idiom that originated in Ancient Mesopotamia, used to denote humanity or self. The phrase is also used in Judaism and Christianity. The phrase used in the Greek, translated as Son of man is ὁ υἱὸς τοὺ ἀνθρώπου...
. Jesus explicitly says he is the messiah and the "Son of the Blessed One" in and perhaps tells Pilate
Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilatus , known in the English-speaking world as Pontius Pilate , was the fifth Prefect of the Roman province of Judaea, from AD 26–36. He is best known as the judge at Jesus' trial and the man who authorized the crucifixion of Jesus...
he is the King of the Jews in : "He answered him, ‘You say so.’"(NRSV). Mark clearly wrote to show Jesus is the Jewish messiah
Jewish Messiah
Messiah, ; mashiah, moshiah, mashiach, or moshiach, is a term used in the Hebrew Bible to describe priests and kings, who were traditionally anointed with holy anointing oil as described in Exodus 30:22-25...
prophesied to be David's heir and successor, so why this speech and no explicit statement by Jesus of Davidic descent? Is he simply saying that the messiah is superior to David, whether from his house or not? If the messiah is indeed God, as the Psalm was interpreted by some Early Christians, then his glory is greater than the glory of any one house.
Both Matthew and Luke use the same story, showing they did not think it contradicted their claim of descent from King David in Matthew
Matthew 1
Matthew 1 is the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. It contains two distinct sections. The first lists the genealogy of Jesus's legal father Joseph from Abraham...
1 and Luke
Luke 3
Luke 3 is the third chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It contains an account of John the Baptist as well as a Genealogy of Jesus.- John the Baptist :...
3. Acts of the Apostles 2:34-35 has Peter use the same quote in reference to Jesus. Paul alludes to it in 1 Corinthians 15:25. Paul might also reference it as well in Colossians
Epistle to the Colossians
The Epistle of Paul to the Colossians, usually referred to simply as Colossians, is the 12th book of the New Testament. It was written, according to the text, by Paul the Apostle to the Church in Colossae, a small Phrygian city near Laodicea and approximately 100 miles from Ephesus in Asia...
3:1 and Romans
8:34 where he mentions "Christ" at the right hand of God. It is also found in Hebrews
Epistle to the Hebrews
The Epistle to the Hebrews is one of the books in the New Testament. Its author is not known.The primary purpose of the Letter to the Hebrews is to exhort Christians to persevere in the face of persecution. The central thought of the entire Epistle is the doctrine of the Person of Christ and his...
1:13.
Jesus condemns the teachers of the law because of their wealth, fancy clothes, and importance. "They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely." (40) Some have used this passage to justify anti-semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
over the ages but Jesus is obviously criticizing their actions, not religion. The teachers would be analogous to lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
s today, as the Jewish religious code largely was the Jewish law. The scribes interpreted, as judges do today, the meaning of the laws. Often they might feign piety to gain access to trusteeship of a widow's estate and therefore its assets, like law firms today seek good reputations for the sole purpose of obtaining rich clients. The fact that Jesus states that they will be "punished", something which they have done to others, could show how the judges will be judged. (Brown et al. 623)
Jesus goes to where they make offerings, donations of money to the Temple, and praises a widow's donation, "...two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny." (42), over larger donations made by the rich. "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on." (43-44) She gives two lepta
Greek lepton
Lepton pl. Lepta is the name of various fractional units of currency used in the Greek-speaking world from antiquity until today...
, copper coins, the smallest denomination around. Jesus contrasts her offering as the greater sacrifice because it is all she had, as opposed to the rich who only gave what was convenient. Her total sacrifice might foreshadow Jesus' total sacrifice of his life. (Brown et al. 623) Mark uses the term kodrantēs, a Greek form of the Latin word quadrans
Quadrans
The quadrans was a low-value Roman bronze coin worth one quarter of an as. The quadrans was issued from the beginning of cast bronze coins during the Roman Republic with three pellets representing three unciae as a mark of value...
, for penny, one of Mark's Latinisms which many take as evidence for composition in or near Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
.
Matthew has most of this in
21:28-22:46 but with important differences. He adds the parables of The Two Sons
The Two Sons
The Parable of the Two Sons is a parable told by Jesus in the New Testament, found in Matthew . It contrasts the tax collectors and prostitutes who accepted the message taught by John the Baptist with the "religious" people who did not.- Narrative :...
and the Marriage of the King's Son into Jesus' discussion with the priests but does not have Jesus telling the teacher he is not far from God, leaving the man in Matthew looking more hostile to Jesus than Mark does. He has Jesus with a much more elaborate discourse condemning his opponents in 23 but no widow's offering and Jesus discusses David with the Pharisees, not the crowd.
Luke keeps the same sequence as Mark in 20:9-21:4 but also has slight differences. Jesus tells the parable of the husbandmen to all the people, not just the priests. Unnamed spies
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
from the priests challenge Jesus about the taxes and there is a longer discourse on marriage. Luke does not have Jesus telling the teacher the greatest commandment. John
Gospel of John
The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...
skips from Jesus' teaching after his arrival in Jerusalem in John 12 to the Last Supper
Last Supper
The Last Supper is the final meal that, according to Christian belief, Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. The Last Supper provides the scriptural basis for the Eucharist, also known as "communion" or "the Lord's Supper".The First Epistle to the Corinthians is...
in chapter 13.
It is hard to accurately date events described in the Gospels, but with the Passover as a reference one can attempt it here. If one accepts Mark's historical accuracy and dates for Jesus' death of AD April 7, 30 or April 3, 33 then these events occurred on either April 4, 30 or March 31, 33.