Christ's Authority

Mark 12:13-27 ¹³ Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. ¹⁴ They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? ¹⁵ Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”

But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” ¹⁶ They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

¹⁷ Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

And they were amazed at him.

¹⁸ Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. ¹⁹ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. ²⁰ Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. ²¹ The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. ²² In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. ²³ At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

²⁴ Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? ²⁵ When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. ²⁶ Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ²⁷ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”

Two illustrations in this passage show that dethroning God is foolish. One is about the taxes and the second is about marriage. And really they didn’t care about either taxes or marriage, they were just trying to trip Him up.

What we learn about taxes from the Bible is: part of what you own is due to the government and all of what you own belongs to God. And about marriage: in heaven marriage has evolved into a beautiful transformation, just like our bodies will be similar but different.

All of Mark chapter 12 is about Christ’s authority. When Jesus told them the parable, they rejected the message. God has told us His message in the Bible. We must not reject it.

Here are 6 ways you know you are “religious” “if”:

1. You find yourself just going through the motions.
2. You attend a church without investing in it.
3. You are motivated by guilt instead of grace.
4. You compare yourself to the person who is worse then you.
5. You are hard hearted and prideful in your service.
6. You come to church to be with your friends instead of reaching out to the people who need Christ.