Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Tuesday of Lent 4

21 Mar 2023

Text: Mark 12:13-27

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

As we move through St. Mark’s Gospel, as Jesus is now in Jerusalem, His enemies are increasing their attacks on Him.  Although they try to flatter Him with the title, “Teacher,” they pose “questions” that are not really questions at all.  They are trying to “trap Him in His talk,” for they are “hypocrites.”

First are the Pharisees (the conservative scholars) and the Herodians (the politically well-connected).  They try to flatter Jesus by emphasizing that He does not “care about anyone’s opinion” nor is He “swayed by appearances, but truly teach[es] the way of God.”  Their “question” involves taxes.  Taxes are controversial because the children of Israel are being taxed unfairly by the Roman occupation forces.  The taxes paid by Jews are unfair, cruel, and collected dishonestly.  At the same time, Rome will permit no dissent in the matter.  It is the price of peace and survival.

The Pharisees and Herodians understand that a yes or no answer will either put Jesus at odds with the Jews (who are hanging on His every word) or the Roman authorities (who would arrest and crucify Him as a rebel).  Our Lord outsmarts them by turning the question back on them.  Asking for a coin, He shows them the engraved image of Caesar, who purported to be a god, on the front.  He shows them that this coin is an idol.  And yet, they overlook this in order to try to trap Jesus regarding taxes.  “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,” He says, “and to God the things that are God’s.”  Jesus did not come to debate tax policy or even to liberate people oppressed by governments in this life.  He has come for a much greater purpose: to establish a kingdom not of this world (John 18:36), in which we will live forever.

A second group of enemies comes along, the Sadducees (the liberal faction) also being sly and flattering.  This group denies the resurrection, and they pose a riddle to Jesus, hoping that He will deny the resurrection like they do.  Jesus tells them bluntly that they are wrong.  And it is because they “know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.”  For when we are raised again from the dead, we will not “marry nor [be] given in marriage.”  But again, their real question concerns the resurrection.  And so the Teacher answers their real question: yes, the resurrection is real.  And Jesus proves it by pointing out that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will live again in the flesh at the resurrection, for God is not “God of the dead, but of the living.”  And Jesus will shortly rise from the dead Himself.

The Pharisees and the Herodians ask about taxes, and Jesus teaches them about the kingdom instead, that He, not Caesar Augustus is the true “Filius Dei” (Son of God).  The Sadducees ask about marriage, and Jesus also teaches them about the kingdom, in which the people of God, those whose faith is in the Word of God, will rise from the dead, and live forever. 

That, dear friends, is what the kingdom of God is about.  It is not about taxes, but rather the Son who frees us from all such debts.  Nor is it about earthly institutions, even holy ones like marriage.  For we will live forever, bodily partaking of the “marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev 19:9) for eternity.  Our Lord’s enemies will finally get Him to the cross.  But by the cross, our debts are paid in full, and we enjoy eternal life in the body by means of our Bridegroom. 

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.