The Last Week - Notes on Chapters 3 & 4

Tuesday - Mark 11:27 - 13:37

• This one day covers three chapters
• The authorities challenge Jesus attempting to entrap him or discredit him with the crowds.  Remember, the crowds are still with Jesus from Palm Sunday.  
• The first approach was the "direct approach" and they asked "By what authority are you doing these things" meaning Sunday and Monday's events.  
• Jesus chooses to respond by asking them a question about John the Baptist which traps the authorities and he refuses to answer their question, and as a bonus makes them look foolish.
• The next confrontation has Jesus telling the parable of the Wicked Tenants, or Greedy Tenants.
• Often this parable is interpreted with Christ as the son, but the main focus is to get them to realize that THEY are the greedy tenants, taking advantage of people through the domination system.  
• The tenants aren't Israel (Jesus is not mad at "the Jews") The vineyard is Israel and again the trouble is the greedy want to keep the "fruit" all to themselves.  
• The next confrontation ends with "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
• We've grown to assume this is a separation of church and state BUT IT ISN'T.  
• The players here are Pharisees who are SUPER strict and want much more intense religious practice.  The Herodians were supporters of the royal family and that system.  They ask "should we pay our taxes or not?"
• Even then, people didn't like taxes.  Here the taxes included a tax tribute that went to Rome.  It was a reminder that they were not in charge of their own lives.  The trap was that if Jesus said, "Pay your taxes" the people would not like it because they don't like taxes.  If Jesus said "Don't pay" then the Romans could arrest him for rebellion.  
• Jesus responds with a trap of his own.  He asks to see a Roman coin.  They produce one and in THAT moment they are discredited.  The coin has the Emperor's image (a graven image) AND his title of son of god written on it.  Good Jews simply would not touch a coin like this, but they had one!  They are exposed as part of the corrupt system. 
• The second part of his response is also masterful. By saying "give to Caesar that which is Caesars and to God, that which is God" he avoids the trap on the Roman side, BUT reminds all the Jews of the countless passages that tell us "The earth is the Lord's a lll the fullness thereof" Ps. 24:1
• Give to God, that which is God's means God gets EVERYTHING!
• The next confrontation was from the Sadducees.  Wealthy and powerful and part of the lay-nobility. They only accepted the Law (not the prophets) which was convenient since the prophets would indict them for their greed.  Also, they did not believe in the afterlife.  The afterlife was a relatively new idea at this time.  200 years old. 
• They looked to use this difference to entrap Jesus.  Jesus simply avoids the trap as before.  
• Second, Jesus reminds us that his mission is NOT primarily about an afterlife for anyone, but is about a transformation of THIS world NOW. 
• The next encounter is not a conflict.  "Which commandment is the greatest" is a typical question for a rabbi.  Jesus responds with "Love God" from Deuteronomy 6:5-6 and "Love neighbor" from Leviticus 19:18.  To love God means to give God everything (and not give any of it to Caesar) To love neighbor means to refuse to accept the divisions such as respected/marginalized, righteous/sinner, rich/poor, friend/enemy, Jew/Gentile.  
• This interlude reminds us not ALL scribes were against Jesus.  Life was not black and white then any more than it is now.  
• This encounter ends with Jesus saying the scribe is "not far from the Kingdom of God" which is to say he gets the idea, but isn't there yet.  To be IN the Kingdom, you have to LIVE it!
• The next section challenges scribal teaching about the Son of David.  This could be a biological heir OR someone who would rule like David.  Jesus teaches that the Messiah would be "like" David in that the rule would be just and peace filled, but MORE than David… David perfected.  
• The end of this section concerns the widow's mite. The widow becomes the model of discipleship:  She gave ALL she had.  The alternative interpretation is that it is shameful of the domination system to get widows to give all they have to support the corruption.  Either way, greed comes out as bad.  
• The next section concerns the Temple building.  His prediction of destruction mirrors Jeremiah's and like Jeremiah's is NOT a judgement about Judaism, but against the corruption in the "den of robbers."  
• The next section is called "The Little Apocalypse" with the "big" one being Revelation.  
• This section seeks to explain what was happening in Mark's time.  Rome put down the rebellion and offered a sacrifice to Caesar in the Temple.  
• The rebellion but Jesus' followers in the middle.  They opposed Rome but were committed to non-violence so they were mistrusted by both groups.  
• Mark expected (like Paul) Jesus to return ANY MINUTE and all the turmoil was an indication that it was going to be soon.  Mark was writing this to help the people be strong and live out the faith in spite of the hardships. 

Wednesday   Mark 14:1-11

• Wednesday starts with another Markan frame.  The Chief Priests and scribes were looking for a way to kill Jesus.  Into that story is inserted the story of the woman who anoints Jesus and then the first story concludes with the authorities finding a way to kill Jesus.
• Important to remember the authorities couldn't get Jesus in public.  He was so popular with the people they couldn't get him openly.  The Jewish population wasn't against Jesus. 
• The authorities were against Jesus because he was a threat to their authority AND because the Romans might destroy everything if any Jewish person started attracting too much attention.  
• John the Baptist was killed NOT because of his message but because of the crowds he attracted.  
• The previous three days they have TRIED to trap Jesus but it didn't work.  Their only option now is to get him apart from the crowd.  They need a traitor.  
• The time of Lent in Mark's Gospel takes Jesus and the disciples from Caesarea Philippi to Jerusalem.  On THE WAY there, the idea is for the disciples to become prepared for them to join Jesus in a death and resurrection transformation.  (Perhaps literally but certainly metaphorically for the disciples)  The disciples DON'T get it.  
• In Mark's Gospel the disciples fail miserably!  
• To illustrate their failure Mark uses another frame with healing the blind on each end of the journey. The take-home message is that while these blind people now see, the disciples still do not.  
• When they seem to get it, like Peter confessing Jesus as the Messiah, they only get it partially.  They think it is to be Messiah THEIR way (military might etc. or heaven) They miss that Jesus is about transformation of the world/political system.
• Jesus proposes death and resurrection for a Lenten journey, not simply giving up chocolate.  Jesus invited the disciples then and us disciples now to join him in his death and resurrection, not just watch.  
• THE WAY leads to death and resurrection, so not following all of The Way means an incomplete disciple's journey.  REMINDER - based on Sunday and Monday's protests, the invitation is to stand up non-violently to anyone who uses violence and anyone who establishes injustice on an earth that belongs to a God of justice. 
• Again, the disciples are called to (not necessarily a literal) death and resurrection.  To JOIN Jesus.  NOT for Jesus to do it for them.  
• Therefore it is about PARTICIPATION WITH JESUS, NOT SUBSTITUTION BY JESUS.  Jesus does not pay the price for us to appease an angry or offended God.  That concept simply isn't in the text.
• At the end of this day, Mark gives us a POSITIVE example of discipleship to contrast all the negative.  The unnamed woman who anoints Jesus is the first Christian.  She believed before the tomb was empty.  
• Her actions also make her a model for Christian leadership.  She is the servant, slave, child AND is unnamed!  She is the model because she gives ALL she has.  The ointment would cost about $25,000 in today's money.
• Judas is the exact opposite of a model disciple, but notice, in Mark, Judas remains part of the twelve.  The difference is that he acts on his displeasure with Jesus's call for a discipleship of death and resurrection to change Jesus course of action.  HOWEVER, none of the other disciples thought Jesus was doing it right either.