June 1st, 2024

This Sunday is termed the ‘Second Sunday after Pentecost’, and that is what it is. And this pattern will continue for some time.

The Gospel Reading for this Sunday points back to a significant time in Jesus’ ministry as recorded in the Gospel according to Mark, that of Jesus making his enemies so mad at him that they begin their plan to destroy him. What a start to the Pentecost season! [The text is Mark 2:23-28, and there is the option of also including Mark 3:1-6, and this option contains the wish for destruction].

On this website, we started to study the same gospel account at the beginning of the church year, near the end of the last calendar year. And we are going through that account as it has been laid out by the writer. And at this point in time, we are in what is usually called the twelfth chapter of the Gospel according to Mark. And there is some significant tension in these words as well.

In chapter three the Pharisees and Herodians were starting their attempt to destroy Jesus (3:6). And in chapter eleven it is no coincidence that the chief priests and scribes were doing the very same thing (11:18). And in the text for last week, the group normally called the ‘elders’, along with the last two groups, were trying to start the destruction process by wanting to ‘seize’ Jesus (11:27; 12:12). These three groups are the ‘they’ who are behind the start of this text below, and they are sending the first two groups that, by a type of ‘miracle’, were working together to get rid of Jesus. (Pharisees and Herodians do not usually work together.) And this text, although small, is a very significant one. A total of five Jewish groups are behind the actions below.

The following is a somewhat-literal translation of the text [Mark 12:13-17; and you may find it helpful to look at other translations or a study bible to aid in your understanding of the text; it is a short text because the outcome at the end of this text is significantly different from the wishes to destroy and/or seize. Those were responses that were given before this text; the response given here in this ‘somewhat-literal translation’ has to do with the verb ‘to marvel out’, and this word is extremely rare; it is only found elsewhere in the Greek translation of the Old Testament; the base of the word, being simply ‘to marvel’, is much more frequent; if you would like to look at all of the other references to the word in only this gospel account, they are quite interesting: Mark 5:20, 6:6, 15:5, and 15:44]:

And they send away toward him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, that him they might catch in a word. And having come, they say to him, “Teacher, we know that true, you are, and not it matters to you about no one, for not, you see into face of men, but on the contrary, upon truth, the way of the God, you are teaching; is it lawful to give tax to Caesar or not? May we give or not give?”

Now the one, knowing of them, the hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why me, you are tempting? Bring to me a denarius, that I may see.” Now the ones brought. And he says to them, “Of whom, the icon, this, and the epigraph?”

Now the ones said to him, “Of Caesar.”

Now the Jesus said to them, “The things of Caesar, give back to Caesar, and the things of the God, to the God.” And they were marveling out at him.
​
It has been noted in the previous writings that the words in bold print are called ‘historical presents’, that of a verb in a present tense that is usually given in some type of past tense. It is interesting that the writer uses the same verb, with the same ‘historical presence’, when Jesus sends away two of his disciples. And although this verb is close to the word ‘apostle’, this writer is using this literary style, not when the disciples are sent out to tell others about Jesus, but when Jesus sends his disciples to get the animal for him to ride upon so that he can come into Jerusalem to die (11:1). It is again used when he sends two of his disciples to get a safe place ready where our Lord will inaugurate the Lord’s Supper (14:13). This is definitely the use of the historical present with some very serious historical actions in mind.