Mark 12:38-44

This passage is found in the Revised Common Lectionary Year B (Most recently Nov 10, 2024)

Summary:  This is a case where the Greek does not alter the meaning, but simply forces us to slow down and examine Jesus' familiar words.  Jesus offers a strident critique of an overly consuming, self-aggrandizing and elitist clergy.  Yikes.  More generally, I think Jesus makes a comment on how all of us consume and how we give.

βλεπω (12:38; "see")  The word here for "watch out" is simply the Greek 101 for see; Jesus will tell his followers to "watch out" five times in this section (12:38, 13:5; 9; 23; 33).

γραμματευς (12:38; "scribes") This word has an obvious English cognate:  "Grammar."  The question for us today is, whom do we need to watch out for -- who are the grammarians today?  I struggle with this question a bit more personally -- how do I become a grammarian, who says "no" to the working of the Lord, either in my congregation or in my denomination?  How do I NOT become someone whom Jesus warns against.  The further description of Jesus' critique includes:

they wear στολη (12:38, "stole" or "robe")
and sit in the 
προτοκαθεδρια (12:39, "first seat").  Ouch. 

κατεσθιω (12:40, "devour")  As you guessed, the Bible uses this word in an entirely negative fashion.  It also comes up in the prodigal son, where the son has consumed the father's property (literally, βιος, used also in this passage in vs. 44).  One can read this passage as a narrow critique of 1st century Jewish leadership, more broadly of religious leaders over time, or most broadly, against all over-consumption.  In what ways does our whole culture "devour widows houses while praying long prayers."  A prophetic voice is helpful and perhaps here, but how can this be done so that its not simply an attack on others (or in an election year, people who voted differently), but a call for all of us to repent?

βιος  (12:44, "life"  The woman gives "the whole of her life" The word life here is "bios." So the sermon is not about stewardship of money, but stewardship of everything.  

περισσεύοντος vs ὑστερήσεως ("abundance" and "poverty" 12:44)  Generally the word for "abundance" does not refer to monetary surplus, but all sorts of abundance.  The word poverty (and its lexical sibling), however, generally focuses on a lack of material resources.  The idea of spiritual poverty shows up in lots of other ways in Scripture though, it just doesn't use this particular word.  Nothing too scientific here, just an observation that the Bible is willing to acknowledge both abundance and poverty in material and non-material terms.  This particular passage shows their mis-alignment.  How do you (and your flock) see these in alignment?

Grammar note:  Here we have a substantive participle "the ones who devour" followed by a participle "praying."  There are a couple of ways these two participles (devouring and praying) could be related.  I think the best way to translate the participle "praying" is as a circumstantial participle:  "the ones who devour widows houses while praying long prayers."  Ouch!  They pray while they sin.

Mark 12:13-17

This passage is found in the Narrative Lectionary Year 2 (Most recently: Feb 28, 2016)

Summary:  The basic sermon point is this:  Everything belongs to God; taxes are for good or for bad, to be paid.  I'd like to dwell a bit more on two other terms:  image and inscription.  These words unpack the tension of old and new creation.

Two Words:
εικων (icon/image):  Humans are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26/27; even after the fall, humans are still in the image of God (Gen 9:6)).  After these passages in Genesis, the idea of humanity in the image of God recedes into the background of the Old Testament.  Most of the time, when there are divine images, they are graven images of other gods.

Two possible directions for a sermon:
- The image of Caesar is of a human.  Any human is in the image of God, and therefore it is an image of God.  Therefore the coin belongs to God, not just to Caesar.  We live in a world that is God's, but somehow also of kings and emperors.  Sometimes the image of God seems in the background against the world's chaos and injustice!
- The image of Caesar is a graven image of another god.  Jesus is calling them out because even though they don't use these coins inside the temple, they still live in the world of Caesar coins.  In fact, they carry with them an image of a false god (in fact, they were caught red handed with this image in their pocket!)

The New Testament makes scare reference to the idea of image of God, but when it does, it normally refers to Christ as the image of God:
- Romans 8:29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family.
- 1 Corinthians 15:49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.
- 2 Corinthians 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
- Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;

There is the thought that we will be transformed into this image (Romans 8:29) and also
- 2 Corinthians 3:18 And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
- Colossians 3:10 and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.

In fact, there is only one reference to image of God outside of the Gospel, Christ and the transformational power of the Holy Spirit:
1 Corinthians 11:7 For a man ought not to have his head veiled, since he is the image and reflection of God; but woman is the reflection of man.

Even with this passage, the overall New Testament emphasis on "image of God" is to the new creation's image of Christ, rather than the old creation's image.

This then is rather interesting:  Is Caesar in the image of Christ?  It pushes harder on what we mean by image of God; how creation and restoration relate to the image of God.

επιγραφη (inscription):  This word comes into the Gospel's one other time:  the inscription on the cross when Jesus has an "epigraph" or "inscription" King of the Jews.  Does Caesar or Jesus deserve that title?  (Clearly Jesus). 

I am not sure if its great for a sermon, but this passage and the other passages these key words allude to suggest a real tension between the old and new creation as well as the "now and not yet" of Jesus' power in the world.

A reminder of translation difficulties:
The Pharisees try to "butter" Jesus up with praise.  Their praise though is really tough to translate.  Verse 14 literally reads:
And going they said to him, "Teacher we know that you are true/genuine and it is not a concern to you about anyone; for you do not look in to the face of people, but teach upon the truth the way of God."
They are trying to get across the point that Jesus is not superficial and does not try to please people with his teachings.  This would be a very odd way to say it in modern English!  In this case the literal translation almost certainly fails.  One must message the translation to something like:
"Teacher, we know that you are a genuine person, who truly teaches the way of God, not concerned for what people might think of you or what their status is..."  Or something like that.