20 October

Bible In 365 Days                       

Mark 12-13

Mark 12

In this parable of the vineyard the Lord very graphically sketched for those people their own national history, and condemned them thereby. "They perceived that He spake the parable against them." These words would seem to intimate that the rejection of the Saviour by these rulers of the people was more a sin against light than we sometimes imagine. They had a clear comprehension of what He meant, but they set their hearts and wills against Him.

A coalition of religion and politics, Pharisees and Herodians, approached as if seeking after truth, and proposed a problem. With perfect ease, without resort to any subterfuge, Jesus replied. Caesar's things to Caesar, God's to God.

Next, the Sadducees came to Jesus, proposing a possible situation involving the resurrection. Our Lord replied by declaring their ignorance. "Is it not for this cause that ye err, that ye how not the Scriptures, nor the power of God?" (Mark 12:24).

Next a scribe asked a very subtle question. In answer, our Lord restated the essential truth of the unity of God, and then uttered the two great commandments, showing that they were great, not by comparison, but by inclusion.

Having answered the questioners, the Lord now carried the conflict into the camp of the enemy, and asked them a question. He played no trick with them in order to "catch them in their talk." He was revealing a truth, and His question led men into a place where they might see something of the divine method and understand His own position and mission.

Then followed a description of the scribes as He saw them: self-centered men, desiring all the outward show; oppressors, devouring widows' houses; hypocrites! For a pretense making long prayers. Unholy men. Receiving greater condemnation.

And once again we are face to face with the Master's keen observation of all that passed around Him, but this time in another application. As He saw the emptiness of the long prayers, so also did He observe the value of the sacrificial gift; and His estimate declares that those two farthings were worth more in the economy of heaven then all the gifts of the wealthy, which lacked the element of sacrifice.

Mark 13

A casual remark from the lips of one of the disciples drew from Jesus words full of solemnity and full of hope. This stately building was to be destroyed. Itwas already destroyed in the eyes of Christ by the corruption, the impurity, the blasphemy sheltered within its walls. And yet to those who are with Him, what matter? The Temple is gone, but God abideth, and in Christ by the Spirit is ever near hearts that seek Him. No more long pilgrimages to worship. There where thou art, He is. Then worship!

The account of these final discourses of the Lord are much more fully given and dealt with in Matthew and the notes thereon. The special point of interest for us lies in the closing part of the chapter, from Mark 13:31 to the end. The Lord made three statements closely connected and yet perfectly distinct:

1. He announced the abiding character of His words.

2. He most clearly said that only the Father knows of that day and hour, referring to the question of the disciples as to the time when all things should be fulfilled.

3. He declared the true attitude of His people:

"Let the door be on the latch in your home, in the chill before the dawning, Between the night and morning I may come".