Mark 12: The Master Cheat Code

Jesus reveals the ultimate spiritual cheat code in Mark 12: love God completely and love others as yourself. This profound teaching cuts through religious complexity to expose the heart of faith as relationship, not rule-following.

• Jesus tells the Parable of the Wicked Farmers, exposing religious leaders' rejection of God's messengers
• When asked about taxes, Jesus brilliantly answers "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's"
• Jesus refutes the Sadducees' argument against resurrection by exposing their ignorance of scripture
• The greatest commandment is revealed: love God with everything and love your neighbor as yourself
• Jesus contrasts religious leaders' showy spirituality with a poor widow who gives everything she has
• The master cheat code for life: before doing anything important, ask how it helps you love God and others

Try approaching every important decision by asking how it helps you love God and others better. This won't give you the final answer every time, but it will get you much closer to living a life that honors God.

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Chapters

• 0:48 Welcome to Bible Breakdown
• 3:04 Parable of the Wicked Farmers
• 5:47 Jesus on Taxes and Caesar
• 7:20 Confronting the Sadducees about Resurrection
• 9:12 The Greatest Commandment Revealed
• 11:55 Jesus Honors the Widow's Offering
• 14:03 The Master Cheat Code Application

Transcript

Speaker 0: 0:24

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today, mark chapter 12, and today's title is the Master Cheat Code. The Master Cheat Code. I don't know what generation you grew up in, whether you were like me with the Atari and the original Nintendo or later, but it always seems like the game makers. They go in and they create different codes, different secret places so you can really get ahead. You know, in all of this there's different things now, but back in the day there used to be this game called Mike Tyson's Punch-Out and somehow we are going to connect Mike Tyson's Punch-Out to the greatest commandment in the entire Bible. We'll see if we can do that. So, if you have your Bibles, open up with me to Mark chapter 12, get your popcorn out, get your notes out, all the different things. We're going to have some fun today. But while you're also doing that, make sure, if you're new here, take just a moment to like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast. Whatever app you are using, it really does help us in the search engines. And make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown discussion on Facebook. You can get all the links to all of that at thebiblebreakdowncom. That is really the hub for all things Bible Breakdown. Okay, all right.

Speaker 0: 1:42

Well, what I was saying to you is remember the overall goal of the Gospel of Mark is the gospel in motion, like he just starts out of the gate and just moves on and with that then you would imagine, as he is moving on through this, every single story that Peter tells. You know, in spite of the Holy Spirit, of course, all of it has a very specific point. There's a lot of things that he didn't include that obviously Peter was there for, as Mark is writing it down, these are the things that the Holy Spirit inspired him to write. And so there's all these that could and were not. And in today's text, once again, as always, we're going to cover all kinds of stuff. We're going to talk about the resurrection and we're going to talk about a parable, about an evil farmer, but in here there's going to be this idea where they are going to stop and talk about something that really, I think a lot of us deal with. So we're going to read through it and on the back end we're going to talk about Mike Tyson and a cheat code. Okay, you ready, here we go. Mark, chapter 12, verse 1, says this Then Jesus began teaching them with stories.

Speaker 0: 2:50

A man planted a vineyard, he built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice and he built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers who moved to another country At the time of the grape harvest. He sent one of his servants to collect his share of the crop, but the farmers grabbed the servant, beat him up and sent him back empty-handed. The owner sent another servant, but they insulted him and beat him over the head. The next servant they sent, he killed, or they killed. Others they sent were either beaten or killed until there was only one left, his son, whom he dearly loved. The owner finally sent him, thinking surely they will respect my son. But the tenant farmer said to one another here comes the heir to this estate. Let's kill him and get the estate for ourselves. So they grabbed him, murdered him and threw his body out of the vineyard. What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do, jesus asked. I tell you he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others. Didn't you ever hear or read this in the scripture the stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing, and it is wonderful to see.

Speaker 0: 4:08

The religious leaders wanted to arrest Jesus because they realized he was telling the story against them. They were the wicked farmers, but they were afraid of the crowd so they left him and went away. Now pause Now. What is amazing if you look at this story is what Jesus is saying is that God created this world, he put the people in it and he set up this plan of redemption, and then he sent the Jewish nation to, because the Bible says that God told Abraham through your descendants, I'm going to bless the whole world. And so they were sent to then guide the people, grow and flourish, but they didn't do it. And so then the different ones that they sent Jesus would be talking about the prophets, who would say, hey, come on, we gotta get back, we gotta get back. And then, once again, what happened to the prophets? Over and over again, beaten, killed, all of this, until finally Jesus says the son came, and he's like me, you know. And then he's already prophesying about what they're going to do. And so he is telling them this whole thing, and they're already realizing that he's talking about himself. There's something more to him, and so you can tell that they really do have a good idea about who Jesus is. They just don't want to admit it. All right, here we go, verse 13.

Speaker 0: 5:23

Later, the leader sent some Pharisees and supporters of Herod to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested. Teacher, they said, we know how honest you are. You are impartial and don't play favorites. You teach the way of God truthfully. Now tell us, is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them or shouldn't we Now pause?

Speaker 0: 5:40

This was a major debate going on at the time, because the Romans had come and subjugated the Jewish people, and there were a lot of people in the Jewish community that was saying we don't owe anything to Rome, let them come take it. And other people were saying now, wait a minute, we are not free. They are letting us have a little bit of freedom, but we are not free, and it is not a sin to work with them. I mean, there's just all of this going back and forth, and so they were really talking about the sovereignty of the Jewish nation, and Jesus is claiming to be some kind of king, and a king should pay tribute to no one, right? So they're doing. It's really a smart question because they're kind of trapping him in some way or another. But watch how brilliant the king is, and of course he's cheating because he's God.

Speaker 0: 6:25

Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and said why are you trying to trap me? He sees it. He sees all these little angles going on. Show me a Roman coin and I'll tell you. When they handed it to him, he said whose picture and title are stamped on it Caesar's. They replied Well then, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God. And his reply completely amazed them. In other words, he weaved through all of their traps and just told the truth. I love it. Here we go, verse 18.

Speaker 0: 6:56

Then Jesus was approached by some Sadducees. These are religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. They pose this question. Teacher Moses gave us the law that if a man dies leaving a wife without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who would carry on the brother's name. Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children. So the second brother married the widow, but he also died without children. Then the third brother married her, and this continued with all seven of them, and still there were no children. Last of all, the woman also died, which of course she did because she'd been married seven times. So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her. And look, this is like the biggest diss Jesus could give you.

Speaker 0: 7:44

Here it goes, verse 24. Jesus replied your mistake is that you do not know the scriptures and you do not know the power of God. So these religious leaders, and he's saying, you don't know your Bible. That's why you don't know this Verse 25, for when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect, they will be like the angels in heaven. But now as to whether the dead will be raised, haven't you ever read about these writings in the writings of Moses and the story of the burning bush? How, long after Abraham, isaac and Jacob had died, god said to Moses I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is the God of the living, not the dead. You have made a serious error. Now, what's also amazing about this is, the Sadducees only accepted the five books of Moses majority as the only authoritative books, and so he goes straight to the books that they would recognize and say in this you can see that there is a resurrection, verse 28. Here's the one I wanted to draw attention to.

Speaker 0: 8:50

One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. When he realized that Jesus had answered well, he asked Of all the commandments, which is the most important? Jesus replied the most important commandment is this Listen, O Israel, the Lord, our God, is the one and only Lord. You must love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is equally important Love your neighbor as yourself. No other command is greater than these. Then the teacher of religious law replied Well said, teacher, you have spoken the truth by saying there is only one God and no other. I know it is important to love him with all my heart, with all my understanding, with all my strength, and to love him as my neighbor. These are more important than to offer him all the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law. Realizing how much the man understood, jesus said to him. After that no one dared ask him any more questions. But now Jesus goes on the offense in verse 35.

Speaker 0: 9:56

Later, as Jesus was teaching in the temple, he asked goes on the offense in verse 35. Later, as Jesus was teaching in the temple, he asked why do the teachers of religious law claim that the Messiah is the son of David? For David himself, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said the Lord said to my Lord, sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies beneath your feet. Since David himself called the Messiah my Lord, how can the Messiah be his son? And the large crowd listened to him with delight. So Jesus taught beware these teachers of religious law, for they like to parade around in flowing robes and receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and how they love the seats of honor in the synagogues and the head table at the banquets. Yet they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this they will be more severely punished.

Speaker 0: 10:51

Jesus sat down at the collection box in the temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins. Jesus called his disciples to him and said I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given even more than all the others who are making contributions, for they gave a tiny of their surplus, a tiny portion of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on. Wow, there's so many things there that we could talk about and go through, especially there at the ending, when Jesus is telling us it's not about how much you give, it's about the heart in which you give, and that's powerful.

Speaker 0: 11:35

But the one I want to talk about is where they asked Jesus what's the cheat code? Because you got to think, in the Old Testament there were 613 laws, both positive and negative, that the people of Israel were supposed to keep. Now, some of these were, you know, very, very common sense and some of them, excuse me, were a stretch they had to do and so people were coming along and it was a constant debate, constantly a debate. And, as a matter of fact, one rabbi, not too long after Jesus, you know he was pretty famous guy and he said that you should love your neighbor as yourself. So Jesus is agreeing with that.

Speaker 0: 12:10

But he's saying there's one that's even more important, because the idea is is would one cheat code I can say it like that would it lead to opening up the rest? It kind of reminds me of the Mike Tyson's punch out, that when you first began you could hit start and start with Glass Joe and go through all those, or you had these codes and if you knew the code you could get to all these other ones and you could kind of bypass all of that and you would get credit for it. You know what I mean, as though you'd already passed. Is there something I can do, something I can live by, that will automatically take care of the rest? And Jesus says absolutely there is something you can do that will automatically take care of so many of these things. And he said this love God with everything you have and then love his people as much as you can. Now what they knew is is that was the summation of the Ten Commandments. Now, what they knew is that was the summation of the Ten Commandments.

Speaker 0: 13:10

A long, long time ago we realized that the Ten Commandments is really the rules of relationship, and that is that the first four is how to love God properly. And the last six is how to love people. And we all know why because it's harder to love people than it is to love God. And we get an amen somewhere right, but it's true. And we get an amen somewhere right, but it's true.

Speaker 0: 13:27

And Jesus is saying if you will focus on loving me with all that you are all of Christ in all of life, and then you will take that love you have for me and, based on how much you love me, now go and see people, go and love people the best you can, you're going to automatically take care of so many of these other things. You can see that cascading out throughout the rest of the New Testament where Jesus said people will know you by how you love one another. Love covers a multitude of sin. It's just over and over and over again. So here's the takeaway today what would it look like in your life if, before you did anything important, you said how through this can I love God and how through this can I love others? Now I'm gonna tell you that's not going to give you you know, the final answer all the time, but it will definitely get you a whole lot closer in the end to live a life to say through this, how can I love God and how can I love others? Give it a try and watch what happens.

Speaker 0: 14:27

Let's pray together. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you that your word is life. In your word we find the principles that you've given us to live by, because you want us to have a hope and a future. I pray that, as we focus our life on loving you and loving one another, that you'll continue to open the right doors, close the wrong doors and always see that we live to be an example of what it is to be loved by you. Thank you for that. Today, in Jesus' name, we pray Amen, amen. What God's word says in Mark, chapter 8, verse 34,. It says if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. I hope, as we are reading through this, you are seeing that we serve a God worth following. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Mark, chapter 13.