The King No One Was Expecting: Mark 12:35-44

We are looking at Mark chapter 12, verses 35 to 44.

Mark 12:35–44

We're starting to wind down in our series in Mark, and we're going to see these last days of Jesus' life because that's where we are in terms of time.

These are the last days of Jesus' earthly life before his death.

And we pick up reading God's word.

And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, How can the scribe 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.

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 feast, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers.

They will receive the greater condemnation.

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 he 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.

This is the reading of God's holy, powerful, precious word.

Let's ask the Spirit's help.

Holy Spirit, you inspired these very words we've just read.

We desperately need you to illumine our minds now to understand.

You're the one who gives the inspiration, but you're also the one who gives the illumination.

So turn on the lights that we might see and understand, that we might desire as we ought the things that you have created us to desire.

And the courage to live out in obedience.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So uh I'm speaking to a very, very small demographic of our congregation right now.

How many of you remember the game show to tell the truth in the 60s?

I want to see the there they are.

Wait a minute, give me a second.

Keep your hands up.

There's a few over here.

What was that game show all about to tell the truth?

Well, you had this panel of four people, and their job in the show was to figure out, and the three guests, which of the three guests was the person that they purported to be.

So you had two impostors, and those impostors were well trained.

Those impostors like read all the, you know, they read up.

And so they talked as though they were the person that there weren't.

And uh so they'd go through a series of questions, the panelists, the panelists, the four panelists asking all their questions, attempting to see who the real person was.

And then at the end of the round, the the host would say, now will the real Mr.

Jones, whoever it is, please stand up.

And they would.

And then they would find out more about the exploits of this person, why this person was famous or was known for what they were doing.

And Tom, why are you telling that story?

Will the real Jesus stand up?

That's where he is right now.

They've been peppering him with questions, right?

We've seen that.

All these scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees, all these religious leaders, they've been saying, Who is the real Jesus?

Please stand up.

Jesus is now standing up, if you will.

He's saying, I am the Messiah.

I am the Son of God.

I came to rescue you.

We see his identity being revealed once again in the passage that we read, but now Jesus is asking the questions.

Alright?

There's no more questions coming from the panelists.

I mean, they've been really embarrassed, frankly.

We've seen that, right, the last few weeks.

They've been embarrassed.

They've been trying to make Jesus look bad, to discredit him.

And in fact, what's happened is they're the ones that look like they've got egg on their face.

You know, Jesus is embarrassing them with his wisdom, with his truth.

Jesus is standing up.

The scriptures tell us that they stopped asking questions.

Jesus says, No, I'm asking the question.

Well, what a question he asked.

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.

Are you ready for a good riddle today?

You're ready to have your mind stretched a little bit?

This is not the easiest passage of Scripture to understand, but it's an important one to understand.

Jesus' identity is in fact being revealed.

His lordship, he's affirming his lordship.

He's affirming his sonship.

And he's asking the questions.

Verse 35, how can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?

Alrighty, are we starting to kind of warm up to the challenge here?

Wait a minute.

David lived a thousand years earlier.

And yet Jesus took the title son of David.

Okay, well, Jesus now living ten centuries later.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecies, and we saw those over the Advent season.

In the Old Testament saying that the Son of David will come.

David will have a son, many generations.

David will have a son who will come, who will be the anointed one, who will be the Christ, the Son of God.

How can the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David when the Lord said to my Lord, David said, speaking in the Holy Spirit, here Jesus is quoting Psalm 110, verse 1.

Psalms 110:1

That's what he's doing.

We have to understand the Old Testament background.

In Psalm 110, verse 1, Jesus prophetically speaking, the Lord, okay, now, hey, you know what?

Psalms 110:1

All the 17 kids in the communicate membership class, they know this.

You know this, right, Nora?

She's shaking her head.

Yeah.

We've been going over this.

Now the adults have to catch up.

In the Old Testament, if you look at the Hebrew, Psalm 110, verse 1, Yahweh is speaking.

Psalms 110:1

God Himself, God Almighty, is saying, the Lord Yahweh said to my Lord Adonai.

It's a different Hebrew word, it means master.

This is what Jesus is quoting.

Make no mistake, Jesus is now standing up.

But he was standing up earlier.

Remember, and this is the beauty of going through a gospel like Mark.

We've just seen it progressively being revealed.

In Mark chapter 8, for the first time, we saw Jesus saying, first time he's willing to say, I am the Messiah.

Mark 8 · chapter mention

Because he didn't want to get out ahead of his headlights.

He didn't want everybody trying to make him king for all the wrong reasons politically.

Mark chapter 8, we saw that.

Mark 8 · chapter mention

Mark chapter 9, we saw that more information.

Mark 9 · chapter mention

Mark chapter 10, even more information.

Mark 10 · chapter mention

Remember what Jesus asked the disciples in Mark chapter 8, who do people say that I am?

Mark 8 · chapter mention

And they said, Well, some people think you're a good teacher, some think you're a great rabbi.

And then Peter says, No, you are the Christ.

You are the Christ, the Son of God.

And he says, You got that right, Peter.

I am.

There's just been progressive revealing of his identity as God in the flesh.

This Psalm 110 was quoted or alluded to 33 times in the New Testament.

It's the most frequently quoted Old Testament text in the New Testament.

That's significant.

Why?

He's laying claim to his deity.

He is saying, I don't want anybody to miss this.

I am God in the flesh.

And unless I came to this earth as God in the flesh, you would not be rescued from your sin.

You would have no redemption.

You know, people still people struggle with that today.

You know, we've had people leave our church because they didn't believe that.

That's true.

We've had people leave our church because they kind of had a hard time accepting that Jesus is God.

And you know, it's it's frankly, it surprised me.

People have been here for a long time.

This is big.

There's nothing bigger in the Bible than understanding the identity of Jesus Christ.

Is he God in the flesh or is he not?

Our salvation depends on that.

This is why it's so important.

Who do people say that I am?

But then you remember what he asked the disciples after that question?

But what's the more important question?

Who do you say that I am?

You see, every one of us in this room is going to have to one day answer, who do you say that he is?

Is he more than just a great teacher, prophet?

Is he actually God in the flesh?

David's son from the line of David, but here he's quoting this two-person conversation, okay?

I don't want to lose anybody on the on this little ride.

This is a two-person conversation.

My Lord said to the Lord, Yahweh, God Almighty, says to Jesus at an eye, but they're both Lord.

They're both Lord.

They're both God.

And as our children are learning in the communicants class, we serve a triune God.

There are three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and this and the three are the same in substance, equal in power and glory.

That's a good catechism to know.

We have more and more biblically illiterate people today in our culture who don't understand some of the most basic, important truths of the Bible.

This is important.

Yes, he's acknowledging, Jesus is acknowledging, I came from the line of David.

Yes, I'm in the same bloodline a thousand years later.

And he says, but again, who are these two lords?

That's what we're addressing.

The first Lord is clear, Yahweh.

But who is he speaking to?

God the Father is speaking to God the Son.

That's what he's saying.

The name Adonai is a word that could be used for other types of lords, earthly lords, but clearly he's ascribing deity here to himself.

Here it specifically refers to the Messiah, the anointed one, the one who will rule the kingdom of God.

And yet, here David calls him my Lord.

Fathers don't normally call their sons Lord.

It's usually the son defers to the Father.

Usually.

Why didn't Jesus call David his Lord?

But here David's calling his son Jesus, my son Jesus, he's calling him my Lord.

If the Messiah is David's son, how can he be superior?

Jesus is affirming that he is David's son, yet he's also more than David's son.

He's God's son.

That's what he's saying here.

He was David's Lord because he was the Son of God from all eternity.

Revelation, the last chapter in the Bible, chapter 22, verse 16, Jesus says, I am the root and the offspring of David.

He encapsulates it all so succinctly.

I am the root of David, but I'm also the offspring of David.

You see this?

It almost feels like a riddle.

But it's an important thing to understand.

He is both David's creator and his human son, many lines down, generations down, which is why he calls him Lord.

The Messiah is not only David's son, he's God's son.

But we see him, we see the authority of Jesus being clearly delineated here too, because in this verse he says, Sit at my right hand.

This is what the Father says to the son, sit at my right hand.

That's the place of highest rank.

Highest authority.

The Father says, I've sent you on mission, son.

But when you return, after you've accomplished your mission, sit at my right hand.

Is he doing that now?

Yeah?

Right now.

As we speak.

He's at the right hand of God Almighty, a Father.

Together they are ruling.

Sit.

What does that verb suggest?

After you've done a long day, hard day's work, what do you like to do?

Sit.

Rest.

Your work is done.

For that day, maybe.

Your work is done.

Rest, sit.

Enjoy your labor of that day.

When he says, sit at my right hand, he's saying, son, all of your saving work is completed.

There's nothing more that you can do or should do.

It's done.

Now, all of his work is not done because we just said earlier in the service, what is he doing?

He's praying for us, he's interceding for us, but all of his saving work is completed.

Listen carefully.

That means that he's done everything, everything to save you.

And there's nothing that you can do to save.

All the work was done by him.

All the work was done for you.

And because of that, he sits.

That's a beautiful image.

Take that in.

He's not running around anxious.

Whoa, what am I gonna do?

What am I gonna do with the world these days?

What am I gonna do with these people?

No.

He's at peace.

He's at rest.

He says, Father, I did everything you commanded me to do.

And this is my gift to you, your people.

And so we give them thanks again.

Until I make your enemies my footstool.

This is an image that he is giving.

It pictures our his enemies lying on the ground with the conqueror's feet pressing in on their necks.

You know that you've seen that in movies, I mean, in history.

When the victor would capture the enemy, and many people, perhaps, they would lie down and they would literally, you know, put their feet on their necks.

Demonstrating their submission to this greater power.

And that's gonna happen.

The day is coming when we read that a few months ago in some capacity in our worship service, Romans 16, 20, the day is coming when we, and he uses the plural, it's gonna somehow we are mysteriously gonna have some part in this.

I can't say any more about it.

The scriptures don't explain it more until I put all your enemies under your neck and crush them.

Every enemy of Christ, from the atheist who denies even his existence, to people that were in church all their lives.

But never really bowed.

Not only their knee, they never really bowed their heart to Jesus.

They said, hands off my life, Jesus.

I I will acknowledge you by name.

I will identify as a Christian in the polls.

But I am not gonna bow my heart to you.

I am not gonna submit to you as Lord and Master of my life.

They're gonna be crushed by Jesus.

This is real stuff, people.

They're gonna be crushed under the justice of Jesus.

Don't be that person.

Even in this sermon, this is a call again back to acknowledging his rightful ownership of us.

This is a call back to his rightful our our rightful response of obedience to his lordship in our lives.

We're not playing here.

We're saying, Jesus, I I want to, I am acknowledging you are God in the flesh.

I'm acknowledging that you are my savior.

No one else could save me.

I'm acknowledging that you are my master.

That's what he's saying.

His authority is being asserted.

His authority is being identified in this chapter, it's being asserted, and it's being lived out as we respond in our daily living.

This is the first uh part.

I'm taking a couple of different paragraphs this afternoon.

The next paragraph in verse 38, and he goes on, he teaches more.

Beware of the scribes.

You like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces.

They have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor of feast.

They devour widows' houses, and for a pretense, they make long prayers.

Listen to what he says.

The most religious people you know will receive the greatest condemnation in hell.

The most religious people you know who are not actually Christians will receive the greater judgment in heaven.

Why would that be, why should that not surprise us?

Because the hypocrisy, the level and the depth of the hypocrisy.

Somebody says, Oh, I know him.

I know him.

And I kind of identify with him, and I want people to think I know him, living for show.

That's what he's calling out the hypocrisy.

Their judgment will be even greater.

The Greek says abundance.

There will be a greater abundance of judgment for the person, that person, as opposed to the person who's just a casual, you know.

Well, I don't know what I think about Jesus.

And interestingly, now, he talks about these religious leaders of his day who devour widows' houses.

And then he goes on to talk about a widow.

You see that?

And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched people putting money into the offering box.

That's interesting.

Jesus watches people give their offering.

I mean, literally.

Does that make you a little squeamish?

Jesus is not embarrassed by it.

Jesus says, I watch my people give their money in the offering.

Doesn't embarrass him.

Straight up.

He says to his disciples, hey guys, come on over here.

And it's not in a degrading way.

He says, I've got a lesson to teach you.

Watch what these people were putting in their offering box.

In that day and time, in that place, there were 13 trumpet-shaped receptacles that they used.

And it goes back, it goes back to the Old Testament imagery.

There were these 13 big, I think, I think brass receptacles.

And so when you put in your coins, if there weren't dollar bills, when you put in your coins, it made a noise.

And he says all these religious leaders who have a lot of money, they make a lot of noise when they give their offering.

Because they have big coins.

And when those big coins are placed in the mouth of the receptacle, it makes a big noise.

And he's calling them out.

He says they like to make a lot of noise when they give their money.

As the big coin goes down, you know, the neck of the receptacle, clang, clang, clang.

And he says, but but look at her.

Look at this widow.

Look at this widow, presumably older.

She's lost her husband.

We don't know more details.

She has the smallest coin possible.

Two coins.

So small what she had to give.

Two very small copper coins worth only a fraction of a penny.

We don't even now.

Am I right?

We don't even make pennies anymore.

Who needs pennies?

In the Greek they're called two lepta, which means a quarter, a quarter of what?

A quarter of some denominations they use, which was like one sixteenth of a denarius.

Now we used the word denarius a couple of weeks ago.

That was a daily wage, a laborer's wage for a day.

One eighth of a cent.

Leaf.

Very thin.

As if almost not there.

This is what she puts in.

These two coins.

And Jesus turns to his disciples and he says, gentlemen, and to those that were listening, she's making the biggest noise of all.

It's like, what do you mean?

It barely made a noise.

It barely made a sound.

It was like nothing.

Jesus says, Oh, no, no, no, no.

She gave the most.

Because it's not how much you have.

It's how much you have left when you give.

She gave everything.

Well, where is she going to sleep tonight?

How is she going to eat tomorrow?

Back then they didn't have social security.

She didn't have investments.

How is she going to live?

And Jesus commends her for her faith.

The magnitude of her possessions, the magnitude of her faith, and the magnitude of her gratitude.

That's what he's putting in front of them, putting in front of us.

Wow.

It makes me think of an offering, a special offering we had years ago back in Delray Baptist.

This is probably 30 years ago, maybe.

And we were preaching and teaching on trusting God with our money.

And the offering was taken that Sunday morning.

And a Tonka truck ended up in the offering bag.

Anybody remember that?

A Tonka truck.

And it was a couple that used to go to our church.

They since moved a long time ago.

And little Nicholas, little Nicholas was learning about worship and trusting God with your possessions.

And little Nicholas's most prized possession was that tonka truck.

And he put it in the offering.

And I remember the deacons coming up to me later and saying, What do we do with the tonka truck?

You know what we said?

Keep it.

Don't deny him the privilege of giving his most prized possession.

I don't know what happened to that tonka truck.

I really don't know what happened to it.

But we were not going to give it back to him.

And say, oh, no, we really, thank you, Nicholas, but you know, you keep your tonka truck.

No.

I mean, probably what he would have said is, I'm not giving it to you guys.

I'm giving it to Jesus.

That's what he's talking about, Jesus is talking about here.

That's what he's talking about.

The magnitude of this widow's faith.

She put in everything.

That's what it says in the Greek.

She put in everything, all that she had to live on.

So we don't know.

We don't know how long she lived.

We don't know how she made out the next days, weeks, months, years.

All we know is that she gave all that she had to live on.

When considering our giving, we need to take account, yes, of how much we have, but we also need to take account of how much we have left.

Are we really trying to, are we saying to God, I'll tip you, but when it comes to my security, I'm going to make sure I'm secure.

Jesus seems to have something to say about that, doesn't he?

And we we have much, most of us, by comparison to the world, don't we?

Tim Keller in his book Ministries of Mercy says it so well.

When you're considering your giving to the Lord, is it cutting into your lifestyle?

You know, Sharon and I had multiple conversations about that over the years.

I mean, the Eurise campaign raised that question.

Seriously, Vision 2026 raised that question.

Is it cutting into our lifestyle?

If you can give without noticing it, you're not giving enough.

I'll just say that straight up.

If you're giving without it cutting into your lifestyle, you're not giving enough.

That's not Tom, that's Jesus.

To give sacrificially, to say, Jesus, this is yours.

Now, why is that fitting?

Why is this the last story that Mark tells before he gets into the last days of Jesus' death?

That's a good question.

It's back to his lordship.

Who is this?

Remember the two questions?

Let me take you way back when we started the series.

What are the two key questions?

Who is this one who calls us?

And secondly, what does it mean to follow him?

Those are the two questions.

Isn't this beautiful?

Isn't this beautiful literature, storytelling, that this is the closing story that Mark leaves us with?

He says, I want you to look at that widow.

I want you to think about this woman.

She gets my identity as Lord and Savior and Son of God.

She gets my identity and she treasures, she treasures my treasure.

I think that's why Mark ends with this story.

It just wasn't by coincidence.

No.

It definitely cut into her lifestyle.

So let me ask you a question.

Do you think God took care of her?

Do you think God took care of that widow?

Yeah.

I think God took care of her.

But it takes faith to trust him.

Even with our possessions.

It's been said, James Edwards commentator says, in purely financial terms, the value of her offering is negligible, but in the divine exchange rate, things look quite different.

That which made no difference in the books of the temple is immortalized in the book of life.

That's a beautiful way to express it.

This is how Jesus sent.

The magnitude of her gratitude.

So as we close, let's just think about this.

Wrap up.

Why would anybody give that much to Jesus?

Only one answer that I know.

If he's your treasure.

If he's your treasure, if he's your truest treasure, we're not going to hold on to stuff.

We're not.

We're not going to hold, and not just money, we're not going to hold on to our time.

Yeah, it's possible it's possible to be very stingy toward Jesus with your time.

Well, I'll give so much time.

Like I'll give them an hour a week.

Really?

Is that what Jesus gets?

I'll give them an hour.

Well, these services tend to go an hour and 20 minutes.

I'll give them an hour and 20.

No! What are we holding on to?

We can hold on to our money, we can be stingy with our time, we can be stingy with our talents.

I'll serve, but I'm only gonna do the little bit.

Are you kidding?

Do you know who he is?

Am I treasuring him as my truest treasure?

Jesus is yours.

My time.

My talent.

My treasure.

My life.

And you know what?

When we get to heaven, you're not gonna regret it.

I promise.

One day, when we see him as he is, we're not gonna say, oh, why did I do so much for him?

It's not gonna happen.

Nobody here is gonna say that.

You know what we're more likely to think.

What?

Why didn't I do more?

Why didn't I give more?

Of my time, my talent, my treasure, my life, my love?

Let's be like that widow.

Let's be like that widow.

I think that's what Jesus is saying to us.

But it goes back to her identifying him as the Messiah.

The real Jesus.

The real Messiah.

You gotta get that right first.

And then the other stuff comes.

Jesus, speak to our hearts.

Continue speaking, this conversation.

You brought us here for reasons this afternoon.

You wanted us to worship you, and we're here to worship you.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, try you and God, we're here to worship you.

We're also here to be stretched.

We're here to be challenged, like the people of Jesus' day.

We're not armchair quarter quarterbacks.

We're not critics.

We're not on the sideline.

We're in the game.

We want to be in the game with you.

We want to actually be carrying out your mission.

Because you're the Messiah, Jesus.

And you are worthy of our worship.

You are worthy of our worship in every area of our life.

May we see it.

May we believe it.

May we respond in no other way.

Oh Lord Jesus, we do love you.

We do thank you for all that you did to make us your people.

Father, to make us your sons and daughters.

We are grateful.

Thank you in the name of Jesus.

Amen.