Mark 12
Mark 12 unfolds entirely in the pressure of Jesus' final week, mostly in the temple courts, where one delegation after another comes to trap Him in His words. It opens with a parable He aims straight at the men plotting His death. A certain man planted a vineyard (v. 1), built and fenced and equipped it, let it to tenants, and went away; at harvest he sent a servant for the fruit, and they beat him; he sent more, and they wounded and killed them. Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son (v. 6). But the tenants reason among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be our's (v. 7) - and they do. The hearers cannot miss it: they knew that he had spoken the parable against them (v. 12).3
Then Jesus lays His hand on the great reversal at the heart of the chapter, quoting the psalm pilgrims sang on the temple steps: The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes (vv. 10-11). What the builders cast away, God sets at the head of the whole structure. From there the chapter becomes a series of questions. The Pharisees and Herodians try to catch Him on Roman tribute, and He answers, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's (v. 17). The Sadducees, who deny any resurrection, bring an absurd riddle about a woman married to seven brothers, and He answers that they know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God, for God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living (v. 27).2
At last a scribe asks an honest question - which commandment is first of all? - and Jesus answers with the words Israel had prayed for centuries: Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength (vv. 29-30), joined to a second like it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself (v. 31). The scribe agrees warmly, and Jesus tells him he is not far from the kingdom of God. Then Jesus turns questioner Himself, asking how the Christ can be both David's son and the Lord whom David calls my Lord (vv. 35-37); He warns the crowd against scribes who devour widows' houses (v. 40); and He sits down across from the treasury and watches a poor widow drop in two mites - all that she had, even all her living (v. 44) - and declares she has given more than all the rich.
Tap any highlighted phrase to jump to the commentary that unpacks it.
Mark 12:1-12This Is the Heir · The Stone the Builders Rejected
1And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. 2And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. 3And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. 4And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. 5And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some. 6Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. 7But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be our's. 8And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. 9What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. 10And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: 11This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? 12And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way.
Jesus draws the picture from an image every hearer would know. Isaiah had sung of Israel as a vineyard the LORD planted, dug, and hedged, looking for good grapes and finding wild ones (Isa. 5). So when Jesus says, A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country (v. 1), the leaders standing in the temple recognize the song at once. The owner does everything a careful planter does and then entrusts the vineyard to tenants while he is away. The arrangement is ordinary; the expectation is just: at harvest the owner sends for his share of the fruit. The detail not to rush past is the owner's patience. He has built and provided and then placed real responsibility in the tenants' hands, asking only that they render what is due. The whole tragedy that follows turns on a refusal that should have been unthinkable - tenants who decide the vineyard is theirs and the owner may be defied.3
What follows is a mounting record of violence. He sent… a servant… and they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty (vv. 2-3). He sent another, and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled (v. 4). He sent another, and him they killed, and then many others; beating some, and killing some (v. 5). The pattern is unmistakable, and it is the history of Israel's prophets - men sent by God to call the people back to their owner, and met with beating, stoning, and death. Jesus is reading the nation's own story back to its leaders, and He is reading it as a story of repeated, escalating rejection of God's messengers. The astonishing thing in the parable is not the tenants' cruelty but the owner's persistence: again, and again, and again he sends. Long-suffering does not give up at the first wound. But persistence is not the same as indifference, and the parable is moving toward a reckoning the tenants do not see coming.
Then the parable reaches its terrible center. Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son (v. 6). The owner has one card left, and it is his dearest - not another servant but his beloved son, sent in the hope that the tenants will at last show respect. But their reasoning is chilling in its clarity: This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be our's (v. 7). They do not kill the son in ignorance of who he is; they kill him because they know who he is. The heir is precisely the obstacle they mean to remove, imagining that with him gone the vineyard falls to them. And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard (v. 8). Jesus is telling the men in front of Him exactly what they are about to do - and exactly why - days before they do it. Then He asks the question that hangs in the air: What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? (v. 9). The answer is just, not vindictive: the owner will come, deal with the murderers, and give the vineyard to others who will render its fruit. Rejecting the son does not seize the inheritance; it forfeits it.
Mark 12:13-27Render Unto Caesar · The God of the Living
13And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. 14And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? 15Shall we give, or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it. 16And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar's. 17And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him. 18Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying, 19Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man's brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. 23In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife. 24And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? 25For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. 26And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? 27He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.
The next trap is sprung by an unlikely alliance: certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words (v. 13). The two groups were natural opponents - the Pharisees chafed under Roman rule, the Herodians made their peace with it - but they unite to corner Jesus. Their flattery is thick and false: Master, we know that thou art true… thou regardest not the person of men (v. 14). Then comes the snare: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? Shall we give, or shall we not give? (vv. 14-15). The question is built so that either answer destroys Him. Say no, and the Herodians can denounce Him to Rome as a rebel; say yes, and the Pharisees can discredit Him before a people who hated the occupying tax. Jesus sees straight through it: knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? (v. 15). He does not take the bait of their framing. Instead He asks for a coin - bring me a penny, that I may see it - and turns the trap into a lesson.
Jesus holds up the coin and asks a single question: Whose is this image and superscription? (v. 16). The denarius bore the emperor's portrait and an inscription naming him. Caesar's, they answer - and the answer is the hinge of everything. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's (v. 17). The coin carries Caesar's image, so let Caesar have his coin; that much is no threat to God. But the second half of the saying is the weightier half, and the trappers do not seem to have expected it. If what bears Caesar's image is owed to Caesar, then what bears God's image is owed to God. And Scripture is clear about what bears God's image: the human person, made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27). The coin is Caesar's because his likeness is stamped on it; you are God's because His likeness is stamped on you. Jesus does not merely escape the trap; He quietly raises the stakes far past taxation. A coin is a small thing to render. A whole self is not. And they marvelled at him (v. 17) - the trap had closed on the trappers.3
A different party tries next. Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection (v. 18). The Sadducees accepted only the books of Moses and denied any rising of the dead, and they bring a riddle designed to make resurrection look ridiculous. Citing the law that a man should raise up children for a dead brother (v. 19), they invent a woman married in turn to seven brothers, each dying childless, and spring their question: In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? (v. 23). Jesus answers with unusual directness: Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? (v. 24). Their error is double. They do not know the power of God - they assume the life to come must simply replay the arrangements of this one, as though God could raise the dead but not transform the conditions of their living. And so He tells them: when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven (v. 25). The riddle dissolves because its premise was false. The resurrection is not this life stretched out unchanged; it is life raised into a new order the Sadducees had never reckoned with. The point He presses is the reality and the transforming power of the resurrection - not a verdict on what is, or is not, carried forward into it beyond the terms of their particular trap.
Then Jesus does what the Sadducees claimed could not be done - He proves the resurrection from the books of Moses they themselves accepted. Have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? (v. 26; Ex. 3:6). The whole argument rests on the tense of one short verb. God did not say at the burning bush that He was the God of these men; He said, long after they had died, that He is their God, present tense. And then the conclusion: He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living (v. 27). If God still calls Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob centuries after their burial, then in the only reckoning that finally matters they are not lost to Him - the covenant He made with them is not annulled by the grave. A God who binds Himself to people in a living covenant does not let death have the last word over them. The Sadducees had searched the Scriptures and missed the One who stands behind them: the living God, whose faithfulness to His own does not end at the tomb. Ye therefore do greatly err.
Mark 12:28-37Thou Shalt Love the Lord Thy God · David's Son and David's Lord
28And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? 29And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. 32And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: 33And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. 34And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question. 35And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David? 36For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. 37David therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly.
After a parade of hostile questioners, one scribe comes differently. He has been listening, perceiving that he had answered them well, and his question is genuine: Which is the first commandment of all? (v. 28). Jesus answers with the words every faithful Israelite prayed morning and evening, the confession at the center of the people's life: Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord (v. 29; Deut. 6:4). It is the great affirmation of the oneness of God, and Jesus sets it first - before any command to do, the truth to hear: the LORD our God is one. Everything that follows grows from that root. Because the LORD is one, He is to be loved with an undivided whole: thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength (v. 30). The four “alls” pile up to leave nothing out - not the affections, not the inner life, not the reasoning mind, not the body's effort. The oneness of God calls for the wholeness of our love. There is no corner of a person that the first commandment does not reach.2
Jesus is asked for one commandment and gives two, binding them together: And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these (v. 31; Lev. 19:18). The second is like the first - not lesser, not separable, but of the same kind and cut from the same cloth. Love for God that does not become love for the people God made is not yet the love the first commandment asks; and love for neighbor that is not rooted in love for God loses its anchor and its measure. The standard Jesus names for that second love is exacting: as thyself. Not more than yourself, not less - with the same instinctive, unhesitating care you already extend to your own needs, your own comfort, your own future. Most of us love ourselves effortlessly and our neighbor only with great labor; Jesus says the labor is the commandment. And He ranks these two above every other: there is none other commandment greater than these. The whole law hangs here. Every particular command is some application of these two loves, and where these two are kept, the rest is fulfilled.
The scribe's reply is one of the warmest moments in the chapter. He does not argue; he agrees, and he sees deep: Well, Master, thou hast said the truth… to love him with all the heart… and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices (vv. 32-33). Standing in the very temple where the sacrifices were offered, the scribe grasps what the prophets had long said - that God desires mercy, and not sacrifice (Hos. 6:6), that love is the thing the offerings were always pointing toward. He understands that ritual without love is empty, and that whole-hearted love for God and neighbor is worth more than all the offerings on the altar. Jesus honors the answer: And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God (v. 34). It is high praise - and a gentle summons. Not far is genuine commendation, but it is not yet arrival; there remains a step to take, from seeing the truth to entering it. The kingdom is near this man, near enough to reach. And the verse leaves him on the threshold, where every honest seeker eventually stands: knowing what matters most, and asked whether he will go in. And no man after that durst ask him any question.
Now Jesus turns from answering to asking. How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David? (v. 35). The teachers rightly held that the Messiah would come from David's line; the Scriptures said so. But Jesus presses on a verse that complicates the easy assumption that the Christ is therefore merely David's descendant. For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool (v. 36; Ps. 110:1). Mark the two titles. The first - The LORD - is the divine name, God Himself speaking. The second - my Lord - is the one God invites to sit at His right hand, and David, the greatest king of Israel, calls that one my Lord. Here is the puzzle Jesus sets: David therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son? (v. 37). A father does not ordinarily call his own descendant my Lord; the greater does not bow to the lesser. So the Christ cannot be only David's son, a king like the kings before Him. He is David's son according to the flesh, yes - but He is also David's Lord, seated at God's right hand, and therefore more than any merely human heir to the throne. Jesus does not spell out the full answer; He lets the question do its work, opening a door the easy expectation had kept shut. And the common people heard him gladly.
Mark 12:38-44The Widow's Two Mites
38And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces, 39And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts: 40Which devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation. 41And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. 42And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. 43And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: 44For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.
Before the chapter's closing scene Jesus issues a sharp warning: Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts (vv. 38-39). The portrait is of religion turned into theater - flowing robes that catch the eye, public greetings that flatter the ego, the best seats taken as a right. It is faith performed for an audience, religion that exists to be seen. But Jesus names a darker thing beneath the show: Which devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers (v. 40). The word devour is brutal - these men consume the homes of the most defenseless people in their society, the widows who had no husband to protect them and no standing to fight back, and they do it under cover of piety, the long prayers a screen for the plunder. It is the exact opposite of the love of neighbor Jesus has just called the heart of the law. And His verdict is grave: these shall receive greater damnation. Religion used as a costume, especially religion that preys on the weak it ought to protect, does not escape God's notice; it draws His heavier judgment.
Then comes one of the quietest and most searching scenes in the Gospel. And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much (v. 41). He sits down deliberately, across from the offering chests in the temple court, and He watches. What He sees is a steady stream of the wealthy giving large amounts - impressive sums, visibly generous. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing (v. 42). The contrast could not be sharper. After the rich and their much comes a widow - the very kind of person the scribes had been devouring - and her whole offering is two of the smallest coins in circulation, together worth almost nothing. By every visible measure her gift is negligible, lost entirely beside the rich man's heap. No one watching the chests would have noticed her. But Jesus, who had just warned about religion done to be seen, is watching the one gift no human eye valued - and He sees in it something the size of which has nothing to do with the amount.
Jesus calls His disciples over to make sure they do not miss what He has seen. Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury (v. 43). It is a startling verdict - her two mites are more than the combined wealth of all the rich givers - and He explains the arithmetic of it: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living (v. 44). Heaven does not measure a gift by its size but by its cost to the giver. The rich gave out of their surplus, sums they would never miss; the widow gave out of her poverty, and what she gave was not a portion but the whole - all that she had, even all her living, the very money she needed to eat. She kept back nothing for herself. That is why her offering outweighs every other in the temple that day: it was total. The lesson cuts against every instinct to measure generosity by the figure on the check. God weighs what is left behind, not what is handed over. A great gift that costs nothing is small in heaven; a tiny gift that costs everything is great.3
Further study
- The Greek text of Mark 12 word by word, each term linked to its lexicon entry - useful for agapao (vv. 30-33, the wholehearted “love” of the great commandment), for kephalen gonias (v. 10, the “head of the corner”), and for lepton (v. 42, the widow's “mite”).
- Mark 12 ↔ Psalm 118 · Psalm 110 · Deuteronomy 6 · Exodus 3Intertextual BibleTraces the threads tying Mark 12 to the rest of Scripture - the rejected stone of verse 10 read with Psalm 118:22-23 (and Acts 4:11; 1 Pet. 2:7), the Shema of verse 29 with Deuteronomy 6:4-5, the burning-bush words of verse 26 with Exodus 3:6, and David's Lord in verses 35-37 with Psalm 110:1.
- Mark 12 - Translators' NotesNET BibleThe NET Bible's detailed footnotes on Mark 12 - the vineyard imagery and its Old Testament roots in verses 1-9, the coin and its inscription in verses 13-17, the Sadducees' denial of resurrection in verses 18-27, and the value of the widow's two small coins in verses 41-44.
Where this echoes in Scripture
This Is the Heir · The Stone the Builders Rejected
- Isaiah 5:1-7My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: and he fenced it... and looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.The song behind verse 1 - Israel as the LORD’s vineyard, planted and hedged, expected to bear fruit.
- Psalm 118:22-23The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.The scripture Jesus quotes in verses 10-11 - the rejected stone made the cornerstone.
- Acts 4:11This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.Peter applies verse 10 to the temple rulers themselves - the stone they rejected, now the head of the corner.
- 1 Peter 2:7the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner.The same prophecy as verse 10 - Christ the cornerstone, precious to those who believe.
- Hebrews 13:12Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.The son cast out of the vineyard (v. 8) - Christ killed outside the city.
Render Unto Caesar · The God of the Living
- Genesis 1:27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him.Why we are owed to God (v. 17) - His image is stamped on us as Caesar’s was on the coin.
- Romans 12:1present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.Rendering to God the things that are God’s (v. 17) - the whole self given back.
- Exodus 3:6I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.The burning-bush words Jesus quotes in verse 26 - God speaking in the present tense of the long-dead.
- John 11:25-26I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.The God of the living (v. 27) named in person - Christ Himself the resurrection.
- Romans 6:9Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.The resurrection Jesus defends in verses 24-27 - accomplished and irreversible in Him.
Thou Shalt Love the Lord Thy God · David’s Son and David’s Lord
- Deuteronomy 6:4-5Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.The Shema Jesus quotes in verses 29-30 - the confession at the center of Israel’s life.
- Leviticus 19:18thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.The second commandment of verse 31 - spoken first in the law of Moses.
- Romans 13:8-10he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law... love is the fulfilling of the law.The two great loves of verses 30-31 - named by the apostle as the whole law fulfilled.
- Psalm 110:1The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.The verse Jesus presses in verse 36 - David calling the Messiah his Lord.
- Acts 2:34-36The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand... God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.The question of verses 35-37 answered by Peter - the risen Jesus made both Lord and Christ.
The Widow’s Two Mites
- Hosea 6:6For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.What the scribe rightly saw (v. 33) and the scribes of verses 38-40 forgot - love above ritual.
- 1 Samuel 16:7the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.How Jesus weighs the widow’s gift (vv. 43-44) - by the heart, not the visible amount.
- James 1:27Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.The reverse of the scribes who devour widows’ houses (v. 40) - true religion cares for the widow.
- 2 Corinthians 8:9though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.The widow’s whole gift (v. 44) mirrored in Christ - who gave all that He had.
- 2 Corinthians 8:12if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.The principle of verses 43-44 - a gift weighed by the willing heart, not the sum.