Whose Son Is the Christ?

 June 23, 2020

 

Mark 12: 35-40

 

Whose Son Is the Christ?

And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?  David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
    until I put your enemies under your feet.”’

David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?” And the great throng heard him gladly.

The Scribes taught that the Messiah was to be the Son of David.  But David identified the Messiah as his Lord.  It is clear that the Messiah was not just a descendant of David.  He was David’s Lord.

Beware of the Scribes

 And in his teaching, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

Dr. Luke gives more in-depth teaching of the sins of the Scribes in Luke’s gospel 11:37-54.  As you read the account take notice, for it is easy to be a Pharisee or scribe to want to be seen as a person of God, yet your inter life or hidden life from a man but not from God, does not stack up.  Jesus said, they wash the outer part but their enter life is consumed with evil thoughts.  Their teaching puts heavy burdens on the one who listens, yet they do not do the things they teach.  They like the seat of honor, and I share it is a wise person who knows what their flesh is like, mine wants to be noticed, it wants you to think better of me than both God and I know to be true, and also it likes to be first.  I have to be on guard against these things or I will not be the man God desires and to my shame, often I am that man, a Pharisee.

 

The Widow's Offering

 And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums.   And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny.  And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box.   For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Few of us have any understanding of sacrificial giving when it comes to money, but I’ve noticed sacrificial giving from many both men and women when it comes to a mate or a child that no longer has the ability to care for themselves.  As my dear friend Karen shared with Jan and me, I have to take it day by day, and God gives me the strength I need each day.

 

Each of us has been entrusted as managers of what God has blessed us with, do not be a foolish manager, but a wise one and seek the Holy Spirit’s leadership in the matter of your giving of money.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice