Reasoning Through the Bible
Taking a cue from Paul, Reasoning Through the Bible is an expository style walk through the Scriptures that tells you what the Bible says. Reviewing both Old and New Testament books, as well as topical subjects, we methodically teach verse by verse, even phrase by phrase.
We have completed many books of the Bible and offer free lesson plans for teachers. If you want to browse our entire library by book or topic, see our website www.ReasoningThroughTheBible.com.
We primarily do expository teaching but also include a good bit of theology and apologetics. Just like Paul on Mars Hill, Christianity must address both the ancient truths and the questions of the people today. Join Glenn and Steve every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as they reason with you through the Bible.
Reasoning Through the Bible
S47 || A Widow's Sacrificial Offering || Mark 12:35-44 || Session 47 || Verse by Verse Bible Study
A theological chess match unfolds in Mark 12:35-44 as Jesus, having weathered a barrage of trick questions from religious leaders, turns the tables with a single profound question that leaves them speechless. Drawing from Psalm 110, Jesus asks how the Messiah can be both David's descendant and David's Lord—a paradox that reveals the divine nature of the Messiah and exposes the limitations of His opponents' understanding of Scripture.
The crowd delights in this reversal as Jesus delivers a scathing critique of religious leaders who parade around in fancy robes seeking recognition and honor while exploiting the vulnerable. His warning about "greater condemnation" for such hypocrites reveals that judgment comes in degrees, particularly severe for those who use spiritual authority for personal gain.
The scene shifts dramatically when Jesus sits to observe worshippers making donations to the temple treasury. Among the wealthy contributors, he notices a poor widow who places two small copper coins—her entire livelihood—into the collection. In this quietly powerful moment, Jesus declares she has given more than all others combined, not by amount but by sacrifice.
Through these encounters, Jesus demonstrates divine wisdom and authority, revealing profound theological truths, exposing religious hypocrisy, and elevating humble faithfulness above outward displays of piety. His teachings continue to challenge our understanding of true spirituality and what it means to follow God wholeheartedly.
Have you considered how you measure generosity in your own life? Is it by the dollar amount or by the sacrifice it represents?
Thank you for listening!! Please give us a five-star rating to help your podcast provider's algorithm spread RTTB among their listeners.
You can find free study and leader resources at the following link - Resource Page - Reasoning Through the Bible
Please prayerfully consider supporting RTTB to help us to continue providing content and free resources. You can do that at this link - Support RTTB - Reasoning Through the Bible
May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
In the Gospel of Mark, chapter 12, jesus has been responding to a series of questions that's been asked by the religious leaders. They've been trying to test him and trap him in his words and he's managed to turn it around every time on them. Today, towards the end of Mark 12, jesus is going to ask them a question, and we're going to see a very profound question that he asked them that they're unable to answer. We're also going to see Jesus observe a poor widow that gives the last money that she has. That'll be a great lesson for us on giving. Hi, my name's Glenn. I'm here with Steve. We are Reasoning Through the Bible and if you have your copy of the Word of God, open it to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 12, starting in verse 35. We're going to see Jesus ask a question to the Jewish religious leaders. Steve, can you read from verse 35 to verse 37?
Speaker 2:Jesus began to say as he taught in the temple how is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself said in the Holy Spirit. The Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet. David himself calls him Lord. In what sense is he his son? And the large crowd enjoyed listening to him.
Speaker 1:In this chapter. As we said, the Jewish religious leaders had sent several groups of people, several teams, to Jesus with questions. You can almost be assured they had been huddling in the back room thinking up increasingly difficult questions to go ask Jesus to try to trap him. Because they ask him these paradoxical questions that would no matter which way he answered. They thought they could trap him and accuse him and separate him from his followers. Well, every time he managed to see through their trap and turn it around on them to where he made them look foolish.
Speaker 1:Well, here they finally stop asking questions and he turns around and asks them one question, and it's so profound that he teaches them a huge theological lesson, so much so that they were unable to answer it. It seems to be a question that they had never thought of, and it's a question even though these men had lived and studied the Word of God all their lives. They didn't really know it, at least the way that Jesus knew it, because he's able to point out things that they had never thought of before. The very first question Jesus asked them is so profound that they have no answer. Remember when Jesus was only 12 years old, back in the Gospel of Luke. He was asking questions to the educated leaders in the temple and they were amazed at his questions and his answers. You'll find that in Luke 2, starting in verse 46. In that culture, a son would never be considered greater than his father. Steve, why does this question play on this idea of a son being greater than a father?
Speaker 2:Well, the son is the one that has the inheritance that builds off of the previous generations. So there's, you know, at what point, just logically from an age perspective. At what point, just logically from an age perspective, they're coming along at a period of time whenever the father is a little bit older. Generally, the father is going to pass away before the son passes away and you have knowledge that's passed down from the father to the son. Just thinking of it in a logical perspective, you wouldn't think of the son being greater than the father. It's always things that are the inheritance being passed down, everything to the son In this passage this question that Jesus asked.
Speaker 1:he asked these religious leaders how is it that the Christ is to be the son of David, even though he quotes Psalm 110 saying the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand? In the English we don't always get the full meaning of what this question is in this quotation. Help us out. What's the theological implications of that question?
Speaker 2:The quotation that he's making here, glenn, is from Psalm 110. It's a psalm that David is writing and it's from the first verse. If I could just read that and give the implication, I'm going to use the proper name of Yahweh as it's put here. Anytime we see L-O-R-D in the Old Testament capitalized behind that is the name of God, y-h-w-h. We pronounce it Yahweh in our teaching here. Let me read this verse and then comment on it. In this verse it says Yahweh says to Adonai and Adonai is another way of saying Lord, sit at my right hand, my being Yahweh's right hand. Until I, yahweh, make your Adonai, my Lord's enemies, a footstool for your feet, yahweh will stretch forth your strong scepter from Zion Zion is another term for Jerusalem saying rule in the midst of your enemies. So that's the first couple of verses there. So it's clear in this psalm that what's being depicted is Yahweh being supportive of the Messiah, the Adonai, the my Lord, that David is saying my Lord is of the Messiah. Well, the Messiah was going to come from the lineage of David.
Speaker 2:Now we get back to Jesus's question to the teachers. He says how is it that the Messiah, the Christ, is going to be of the lineage of David, but at the same time, he's there in the throne room and Yahweh is supporting him and saying I'm going to give you this scepter for you to rule all the nations. He also says, my Lord, that's the term that he uses. This is what Jesus is getting at. How is it that David can refer to the Messiah who's going to be the lineage of him, david, as being his Lord? How is it that that can happen? That's the perspective that he's giving over to these teachers.
Speaker 1:Part of the reason that we have such an issue understanding exactly what he's saying here is because we don't live in a monarchy. In countries where there is a monarchy, a true powerful monarchy, in the throne room, the only one sitting is the king. The only one sitting is royalty. Everyone else stands up. You don't sit with the king. So here, when he says the Lord Yahweh said to my Lord sit at my right hand. This is very profound. Again, the only one sitting is royalty. The only one sitting, especially at the right hand, which is the position of the heir to the throne, it would be where the prince would sit, or the queen. This is the co-ruler is what this is saying? It is a statement saying that Jesus is God. The Son of God is God. So this is yet another claim by Jesus to be Almighty God. He is claiming to be able to go into the very throne room of God and sit at God's right hand. This elevates him well above any created creature, any created being, to be God's heir, the co-ruler, the co-reign, if you will, with the Lord God. This is exactly what he's claiming. He's saying here that how could it be that David could quote and say Yahweh said to my Lord, even though he was his descendant. Well, the only way that could happen is if David's descendant preexisted David, which is exactly what happened.
Speaker 1:Jesus is claiming here to be the son of David, the heir of David, the descendant of David, yet to also pre-exist as the Lord God. That's the only way that Psalm 110 would make any sense to where the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand. The descendant had to also be the ancestor. The descendant, the son of David, is also the creator. That's the only way. That could be Very profound. So it's interesting. The Sadducees and the Pharisees and the Herodians had huddled together and worked up their most trick questions and they totally failed. Here Jesus turns around and asks them one, and it's so profound that they have no clue as to even how to answer. But they do realize that he's claiming to be deity. How do you think they would react with this question, steve Glenn?
Speaker 2:this shows me a little bit that possibly, or at least some of these teachers didn't go verse by verse through the Hebrew scriptures like we do. We say oftentimes, you can make pretty good claims of different things and different doctrines until you have to deal with the text. Jesus is really pulling this on them that they all acknowledge that Psalm 110 is talking about the Messiah, but they haven't really thought about it and thought it through. Jesus is making them go back and deal with the text and making them think it through. How is it that, as you put it, a descendant of David who is going to be the Messiah, he calls him Adonai, he calls him my Lord. Adonai was another word or term that was used often for God Yahweh in the Hebrew scriptures. It's something that they might have thought of before.
Speaker 2:How is it that in Psalm 110 that David speaks of this, but apparently they haven't or at least these that Jesus is talking to haven't thought it through? It catches them. It catches them off guard to the point that we don't see any type of an answer. That's given here Many times, as Jesus has been questioning the Pharisees, the Sadducees, going back to them and turning their questions back on themselves with other questions they don't have a response. We see it once again here that Jesus, through his questioning response, we see it once again here that Jesus, through his questioning, has silenced them. A key part here is that the people sat there and they enjoyed hearing Jesus' teaching. I get the picture that they were enjoying seeing Jesus turn the tables on these teachers and these ones who so often thought that they were pious and above them and knew the scriptures better than them. They were sitting there enjoying seeing Jesus doing this.
Speaker 1:If you were with us in one of our previous sessions and I believe it was the same chapter the scribe comes up and asks Jesus a question. When Jesus answered, the scribe was talking in almost entirely quotations of the Old Testament. They knew the Old Testament, the Word of God, so well that even when they talked it would just flow out of them because they had memorized probably the entire Old Testament. They knew it very well, but they didn't know it as well as God did. It tells us some very profound things about the breadth and depth of the Word of God. When Jesus asked this one question, these scribes had memorized most of the Old Testament. If you were to ask them, recite back to me Psalm 110, they could probably get it word for word, but they didn't really look at it. The Word of God is so multidimensional that there's meaning in there so profound that it's difficult for any human to really grasp. It makes it a challenge for people like us, steve, that try to do verse-by-verse Bible study. Even with the length that we go through, we're just scratching the surface With this one question. There's a handful of very profound theological points he's making by just asking this one question. That's a quotation from Psalm 110. One of the things he points out is that he says in verse 36, david himself said in the Holy Spirit that tells us one that David did indeed write Psalm 110. There's no question of the authorship of that that when David wrote it. Therefore the note.
Speaker 1:If we go back to Psalm 110, our Bibles will have a little note that says Psalm of David. Even those call them pericopes, the little notes are inspired. At least they're accurate. According to Jesus, david spoke in the Holy Spirit, which means that David's writings were the Word of God, were the inspired Word of God. Jesus is now saying that David's writings were the inspired Word of God and he says that the note is correct in Psalm 110, that David wrote it. Thus, jesus is saying the Psalms are the inspired Word of God.
Speaker 1:He's also claiming to be the Christ. He's claiming to be the Christ himself, is the creator, the co-heir to the throne, and that we don't really understand all that without his help. So all of that is wrapped up in one question and I just find it's almost comical that the leaders would ask all these you know their hardest questions and then go down in flames and all he has to do is turn around and ask one question and show how profoundly ignorant they are of the depth and breadth of the Word of God. I find it to be just incredible. Let's go ahead and move on to the next part, which is verse 38 to 40. Steve, can you read that?
Speaker 2:In his teaching he was saying beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and like respectful greetings in the marketplaces and chief seats, in the synagogues and places of honor, at banquets, who devour widows' houses and, for appearances' sake, offer long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation here.
Speaker 1:Jesus is directly condemning the religious leaders that like to wear fancy clothing that draws attention to themselves. He's condemning things like grand titles and positions, people that like to be recognized, like to appear holy because of their long, flowery prayers. Steve, do we have religious leaders today that fall into this same?
Speaker 2:sin Many religious leaders across all types of religions it's not just limited to Christianity and there are certain groups that really go forth with what they call tradition. They have censors that have incense that they swing back and forth, they have robes that are different colors and different colors of hats to signify the rank that they are in the organization and how they're supposed to be addressed. Whenever you approach them, you're supposed to take their hand and kiss their ring Things like this. That harkens back to what they call traditions. Why do you do it? Well, it's because it's tradition and we're showing respect for these people. But in reality, it's what Jesus is talking about here. They themselves get pleasure out of it and they feel that they have earned it and that they have been put in this position and that the people should react this way to them.
Speaker 2:Jesus is saying really, there's going to be greater condemnation for them. They're completely separated from the people and from the understanding and from the actual duties that they need to be doing to shepherd the flock. I guess another way to put it would be what does all of that have to do? All of this tradition have to do with actually shepherding the flock? Don't get me wrong. I think that we should be respectful and sometimes reflective whenever we're in a worshipful setting of God, but we should not let the clergy and the respect for them come between our relationship with God. Sometimes I think that's what happens in some of these groups are that people think as long as I have a good relationship with the clergy, then therefore I have a good relationship with God. They need to be careful with that because really our relationship is directly with God. It's not through any other type of a man.
Speaker 1:What happens with the fancy garments and the titles that go along with it is that the human sinfulness shines through in the sense that the other people in the church start thinking oh well, this person's more righteous or more holy than us regular people. They're up on a platform and they're a little closer to God than the rest of us. What is the Scripture? To our listeners, if you were with us when we went through the epistles it makes it very clear that all of us are sinful to a great degree. We are worthless before God in our own righteousness, but yet we all, as Christians, have Christ's infinite righteousness applied to our account. When God sees us, he sees Christ's righteousness at the foot of the cross. It's level. It's even yes, there's people that I respect, and there's this person gets another job so he gets an extra color on the robe. It just adds to this separation between the clergy and the regular people, and this is exactly what he's condemning here is that we shouldn't do those things. We shouldn't elevate some people up to be more holy than others, because we're not, and I think if we just look at the history of Christianity, none of us have any ground to hold ourselves up as any higher morally than the others. The only righteousness I have is imputed to me from Christ. We need to always beware of anyone who wants to be recognized, anyone who wants to be viewed as a great spiritual leader, anyone who really wants their name put on a building, things like that, to hold a higher position of a great scholar. One of my mentors said there is a great proclivity amongst young seminary students to be recognized as a famous scholar instead of just a worker in the church and a good deed of the scriptures. It's a problem in all circles. There's no group within Christianity that has any corner on this problem. So even though these men were very educated and took high positions in the temple, they found ways to take money from people, because that's what he's saying here. It says here in the temple, they found ways to take money from people, because that's what he's saying here. It says here in verse 40, they devour widows' houses. These were the people that were the highest of the positions of the religious leaders, yet they found ways to abuse the system. It says here at the end of verse 40, these will receive greater condemnation.
Speaker 1:Tells us even more spiritual things, some deep theological things, seems like every time Jesus opens his mouth in these sections it tells us a very profound theological concept. It tells us that there is condemnation. This denies what's called universalism. Universalism says all will be saved and go to God. No, some will be condemned. And it says some will receive a greater condemnation than others. There's some sins here that earn us a greater condemnation and some lesser condemnations. It says God has this system of greater and lesser, says he's going to measure us by how we act in this world and we can get blessed or condemned by it. We can be sure that not all are going to go to heaven, not all will be in fellowship with God, but some will be condemned and people are going to pay a price for their sins, including condemnation from God, even people with fancy robes and fancy titles. In this next section we're going to start at verse 41. Here Jesus comments on the contribution made by a widow. This is the widow with the two mites. Steve, can you read from 41 to 44?
Speaker 2:And he sat down opposite the treasury and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins which amount to a cent. Calling his disciples to him, he said to them Truly, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury, more than all the contributors to the treasury, for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.
Speaker 1:One of the previous sessions we talked about how the accurate historical description is woven into the background, into the very fabric of this. Well, he sees this widow giving a contribution, which tells us that he has walked from the court of the Gentiles into the court of the women, where the Jewish women would be there giving contributions. Mark describes an accurate account of what Jesus would have seen in the temple and in the order. He would have seen it throughout his day and his week. The Bible presents accurate history. Stephen, verse 41,. What was Jesus doing at the beginning of this scene?
Speaker 2:He was just sitting there. People watching is what sometimes I'd refer to Just watching the people going to and fro that were depositing their temple tax into the treasury.
Speaker 1:Remember, this is the last week of his life. He knows he's going to the cross. He's been forcing the leader's hand to crucify him. His time is short, yet he finds time to sit and watch this poor widow. How busy was Jesus? It tells us that he was quite busy, but he always had time to look at the people that loved him and the people that were serving God. What does this tell us about the nature of our Lord?
Speaker 2:That he's observant and that he's observant of even the smaller things, that he can get something out of just watching people going through a normal activity of giving their offerings to the temple, in this case, and that he's noticing that, the attitude and the way that they're giving. He says he's seeing a lot of the rich people that are coming in, but he notices this poor woman. I think he can see, probably through her dress, that she's poor and probably through the dress of the others that they're rich. As he's noticing them, maybe the way that they put it in their attitude, the way that they do it, is it respectful? Do they reflect on what they're doing? There's many things that aren't written down here, but he was observing. It tells us that he does observe us, I think.
Speaker 1:He was very busy, yet he takes the time to sit and watch. Does God, still today, see what we do?
Speaker 2:He does see what we're doing today and we should acknowledge that and understand that he does that. But he's not just watching us from a standpoint of seeing whether or not we're being worshipful of him, glenn. I think that he's watching us and seeing the concerns that we have and seeing the struggles that we're going through and also the great times that we have. Quite often I am guilty of going to the Lord whenever there's a time of need, of going to the Lord whenever there's a time of need, then whenever I come through that period, whatever it is, many times I won't turn back around and acknowledge God and thank Him for bringing me through that particular time.
Speaker 2:It might be a day or two later that I'll do that, and when I do that I catch myself of saying that's so human of me to go to God whenever a time of trouble, which is what we should do but then whenever we come through it that I don't acknowledge God, that he brought me through that, I can look back and say thank you, god that you've done that. I think that's a human aspect. But be aware God is watching us, he's there. He wants to know that we are going to Him with troubles and he wants to know that we're worshiping Him. It's again for our benefit in relation to that. But yes, he watches us, he knows who we are, he knows what we need and he also provides for us.
Speaker 1:This is, of course, a lesson on giving. He sees this woman give, so he knows what she gave. He knows what we give. Why is it, do you think, steve, that we get so sensitive nowadays about giving? When we start talking about finances and financial giving, it always just sort of seems like the conversation's a little awkward. Giving it always just sort of seems like the conversation's a little awkward. Why is that? Why don't we feel and treat this just like any other?
Speaker 2:spiritual topic. Why is giving such an issue sometimes? I think it's because our lives revolve around money, because money buys material things. It buys the transportation that we take, it buys the houses that we live in, it buys what we refer to as luxury items, items that we don't necessarily need to survive, such as electronics and things like that, whereas food is something that we do need to survive on, and our lives revolve around that. If we don't have sufficient amounts of money, then we don't have sufficient amounts of food and shelter, things like that. I think that that's why we treat it kind of differently is because it goes to the heart of where our lives are.
Speaker 2:I want to point out here it says there that as he was observing, he was observing how the people were putting money into the treasury in verse 41, the way that they were putting in, what was their behavior as they put it in. I think, when it comes down to us, how is it that we're giving back to the Lord? It tells us in the New Testament that God loves a cheerful giver and that we should give the money that we have cheerfully and the way that we want to worship God and not out of a duty and a sense that we have to give certain amounts of money. We should give back to God what we want to show as a worship to him. We should also be aware of where we're giving our money, that it's going to things that are going to be minister to other people and spread the gospel, and not necessarily frivolous things that aren't necessarily things that are spreading the treasury.
Speaker 1:I've seen different places, different religions around the world will have a metal container where people put in a coin. It makes a noise and everybody in the room can hear while this person gave money. I think that's part of what he was making a point about here is that he was seeing how you gave money. And just to read what he says about this woman again, truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors into the treasury, for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on. She put in two half cents, which probably even in that day, but in our days as well, it's not that much money when we contrast that with the money changers back in chapter 11, who had more money?
Speaker 2:Well, the money changers had more money than the widow did, obviously.
Speaker 1:With that, Jesus turns that whole thing around on its head. She gave more. He's looking at the sacrifice that she gave and not whether you're giving out of your excess. That's really the lesson, is it not, Steve? It's God looks at our heart, whether we're holding on in a greedy sense to well, I earned that money and I don't want to let it go. What happens if my security? Am I trusting God? This woman loved God enough to where she said I'll trust him. So she gave all she had because there was a need. So that, to me, is the lesson here. It's a very clear one, in the sense that we should not hold on to anything. What did he tell the rich young ruler? All you have and give to the poor. And we pointed out at that point it's not the money, it's your attitude towards the money, Am.
Speaker 2:I right. You're exactly right, glenn. There was an additional part with the rich young ruler Sell all you have, give to the poor and you will store up treasure in heaven. We talked about that when we went through that session. I find it interesting that here he was, he had a lot of property here in the temporal part of his life here on earth that he had built up. He liked riches and when Jesus told him, said you will have wealth in heaven, something that will last forever, he still walked away sad. It's the attitude that we give it and that's the sacrifice, as you pointed out, that she was giving. She was giving in a sacrificial way. That's the way that God, I think, wants us to give sacrificially, cheerfully and knowing that it's going to be a treasure in heaven that we are building up. I think that this widow here will be experiencing a treasure in heaven because of the way that she gave.
Speaker 1:People think that the money can bring them security. Can money and riches truly bring us security?
Speaker 2:No, it can't. It can buy a lot of things, but no, it doesn't.
Speaker 1:Simply because too many times it's been proven over the years the money systems come and go. They turn to dust and a pile of money won't buy you love and it won't buy you sleep. Money will buy distractions, money will buy friends, but it won't buy love. Money will buy a bed but it won't buy sleep. And it'll buy a doctor but it won't buy health. So money turns into a burden oftentimes, and it's certainly not security. The only security we can truly have is in the Lord.
Speaker 1:The riches that he spoke of in heaven are the ones that and he specifically has said in the Gospels build up treasure in heaven where moth and rust can't take it away and the thieves can't steal it. So that's the end of chapter 12. Next time we're going to be in chapter 13, where Jesus has what's called the Olivet Discourse. It's a long talk that he gives from the Mount of Olives. This is one of the longest speeches in the Gospel of Mark and it is quite deep and quite profound. We're going to see some grand things next time on Reasoning Through the Bible.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for watching and listening. May God bless you.
