RSV ~ Mark 12 Notes

Mk 12:1-9 | ISB Notes

The parable of the Wicked Tenants narrates the history of Israel. The story stresses that God has been patient with his wayward people throughout the ages. The vineyard represents Israel dwelling in the walled city of Jerusalem (Jer 2:21; Hos 10:1), the tower is the Temple (as in Jewish tradition based on Is 5:1-2), and the tenants are Israel’s leaders stationed in the city. The servants are OT prophets repeatedly sent by God to call for repentance. Many prophets were abused and killed (12:5; Lk 13:34). God eventually sent Jesus as the beloved son (12:6), whom they also killed (12:8). By adding the detail that the son is thrust out of the vineyard (12:8), Jesus predicts his Crucifixion outside the city walls of Jerusalem (Jn 19:20). God will avenge his Son when he sends him to destroy (12:9) the unfaithful of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. See note on 13:2.

• Morally (St. Bede, In Marcum): the vineyard of Israel signifies every Christian, whose duty it is to cultivate his new life given in Baptism. The Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms are sent as messengers one after another, and finally, as recounted in the Gospels, the Father sends his Son. Should we despise these servants in pride, and even spurn the Son of God through sin, the graces we forfeit will be given to others more willing to receive them.

Mk 12:10-11 | ISB Notes

A citation from Ps 118:22-23, a psalm chanted by Passover pilgrims flocking to Jerusalem.

• Psalm 118 foretells the bitter irony of Holy Week: Jerusalem’s leaders (the builders) will reject their Messiah (stone) despite his divine mission (the Lord’s doing), while his work will be called marvelous by those who recognize him with the eyes of faith. The psalm is implying that the old Temple will be replaced with another, where the rejected Messiah will serve as the honored cornerstone of the new edifice (Eph 2:19-22; 1 Pet 2:4-5; CCC 756). See note on Mk 11:8-10.

Mk 12:13 | ISB Notes

Pharisees … Herodians: Two opposing groups in NT Palestine. They stand far apart in their political outlook but close together in their opposition to Jesus (3:6). The Pharisees opposed the Roman rule and occupation of Palestine, whereas the Herodians were sympathetic to Rome’s government of Israel through the Herodian dynasty.

See essay: Who Are the Pharisees? at Mk 2.

entrap him: Roman taxation was a sensitive and potentially explosive issue for Jews of the NT period. Jesus’ opponents thus confront him on the tax in order to trap and eliminate him once and for all.

The dilemma they pose appears inescapable: If Jesus agrees with the tax, he will lose credibility with the majority of Jews embittered by Roman rule; if Jesus rejects the tax, he will be reported to the Roman governor for instigating rebellion.

Mk 12:16 | ISB Notes

Whose likeness … ? Jesus responds with a riddle that plays on the word “likeness”. Because Caesar’s likeness is stamped on the coin for the tax, it should be given back to him as his rightful property. God’s image and likeness, however, is stamped into every living person, including Caesar (Gen 1:27). Even more important than civil responsibilities is the obligation everyone, including Caesar, has to give himself back to God. In the end, Jesus is able to rise above the controversy over taxation by stressing this higher duty incumbent upon all (CCC 450). See note on Mt 22:19.

Mk 12:18 | ISB Notes

Sadducees: Priestly aristocrats who managed the affairs of the Jerusalem Temple. Their denial of a future resurrection was unacceptable to most Jews of the day (Acts 23:8; CCC 992-93). Here they consider a future resurrection only hypothetically; they are really out to prove there is no such thing.

See topical essay: Who Are the Sadducees?

Mk 12:19 | ISB Notes

if a man’s brother dies: The Sadducees draw attention to the levirate law of Deut 25:5-6.

• This law required a man to marry his brother’s widow if the brother died childless (Gen 38:6-8). The man would thus produce children for his deceased brother and carry on his family name in Israel. The Sadducees considered this legislation inconsistent with a belief in bodily resurrection, since the widow’s numerous marriages would only lead to confusion if all of her husbands were raised.

Mk 12:25 | ISB Notes

when they rise: At the general resurrection the righteous will become like angels in glory and immortality; they will not, however, live as disembodied spirits. Marriage will no longer exist in this state since its purposes are fulfilled during earthly life (CCC 1619). .

Mk 12:26 | ISB Notes

I am the God: Since the Sadducees restricted biblical authority to the Pentateuch, Jesus deliberately draws from the Pentateuch to demonstrate the resurrection (Ex 3:6).

• The passage narrates how Yahweh revealed himself to Moses at the burning bush as the God of the deceased patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Their intimacy with God even after death proves the immortality of their souls (Wis 3:1) and so hints at the future resurrection of their bodies (Is 26:19). See note on Mk 12:18.

Mk 12:29-31 | ISB Notes

Jesus summarizes the teaching of the entire Old Covenant in two commandments.

• The greatest is the Shema (Hebrew for “hear!”), taken from Deut 6:4-5. The Israelites considered this passage a summary or creed of their faith in the one God of the universe. The second is taken from Lev 19:18. Together these injunctions to love God and one’s neighbor underlie all 613 precepts of the Mosaic Law and especially the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:2-17; Deut 5:6-21). The distillation of Yahweh’s revealed Law into two commandments was prefigured by the two stone tablets of the Decalogue (Ex 34:1).

Mk 12:33 | ISB Notes

burnt offerings and sacrifices: The scribe recalls what is often restated in the Scriptures: the moral laws of God are superior to the sacrificial laws of the Temple (1 Sam 15:22; Jud 16:16; Ps 40:6-8; Hos 6:6; Mic 6:6-8). It is implied that drawing close to the New Covenant kingdom means backing away from the Old Covenant Temple (12:34).

• The sacrificial system as managed by the Levitical priesthood was not part of the Mosaic covenant in Ex 19-24 but was imposed upon the Israelites after they worshipped the golden calf in Ex 32. Originally, the Mosaic covenant was to consist only of the Ten Commandments (Deut 5:22; Jer 7:22) and a single sacrificial ceremony where Israelites would renounce idolatry once and for all by slaughtering the very animals they had begun to worship in Egypt (Ex 24:3-8; Ezek 20:7-8). However, the golden calf episode in Ex 32 proved that the Israelites were still attached to their idols and needed a permanent means to eradicate idolatry from the nation. Detailed legislation for priesthood and sacrifice was thus added to Mosaic covenant as Yahweh’s (temporary) solution to this predicament (Ex 25-31, 35-40; Lev 1-27).

Mk 12:36 | ISB Notes

by the Holy Spirit: Jesus affirms

the divine inspiration of Scripture (2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:2021). Although David wrote the Psalm, the Holy Spirit authored divine words of prophecy through him. declared: Scripture itself exposes the inadequate understanding of Israel’s leaders. Although the scribe

s were rightly aware that the Messiah would be a royal descendant of David (12:35; 2 Sam 7:12-14), they overlooked the Messiah’s lordship over David in Ps 110. This leaves them with a dangling question: How can David’s son and successor also be David’s superior?

• In Ps 110, David foresaw the greatness of the Messiah by calling him Lord, a title associated with Israel’s kings (1 Sam 24:6; 26:19; 1 Kings 1:37). Accordingly, David’s successor becomes his superior once the Davidic heir is crowned and enthroned by the Lord. Jesus stakes out this royal claim for himself (14:62; 16:19).

• Theological reflection yields another solution to this puzzle. Jesus is the son of David in his humanity, and thus David’s successor (Lk 1:32; Rom 1:3), while he

is also the divine Son of God, and thus David’s superior Lord (CCC 202, 668).

Mk 12:42 | ISB Notes

copper coins: The smallest unit of currency in circulation. a penny: Worth one sixty-fourth a laborer’s daily wage.

Mk 12:44 | ISB Notes

out of her poverty: Jesus points to a paradox: the poor widow (12:42) gave more to the Temple treasury than the rich people (12:41), despite her minuscule donation. Unlike them, she offered to God her whole livelihood with pure intentions and a generous spirit (2 Cor 9:7).