Passage: Mark 12:35-44

The Big Idea

After answering every trick question thrown at Him, Jesus went on the offensive. In three short scenes that close Mark 12, He showed His opponents that they didn’t really know Him: the Messiah is both David’s Son and David’s Lord, fully God and fully man. He showed that He knew them: proud religious leaders who cared about what they could get out of life. And He showed what a transformed life looks like: a poor widow who gave everything she had. Humility and faith are what catch God’s eye.

Three Scenes

We’ve been walking through the last week of Jesus’ life. All week He’s answered every question His opponents threw at Him. Now He turns the tables.

These three sections might seem unrelated, but they’re closely connected:

“You don’t really know Me.” Who Jesus is: fully God and fully man.
“I know all about you.” Who we are: people who care about what we can get out of life.
“I’ll teach and transform you.” Who we become: people more concerned with what we give.

1. Who Jesus Is (Mark 12:35-37)

As Jesus taught in the temple, He said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, said, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, until I put Your enemies under Your feet”‘ (Psalm 110:1). David himself calls Him Lord. So how is He his son?” And the large crowd listened to Him with delight.

The scribes should have known who Jesus was. It was all right there in God’s Word.
Jesus exposed that they hadn’t put the pieces together.

Let’s break down what He said:

The scribes taught that the Messiah would be a descendant of David, a man. Rightly so!
But they taught that He would be only a man.
Jesus quoted David in Psalm 110, where David calls the Messiah “my Lord.”
How can the Messiah be both David’s son (his descendant) and David’s Lord (his superior)? Both man and God?
The scribes had no answer, because they didn’t know who Jesus was.

But Jesus asked the question so we would search out the answer, and the rest of Scripture gives it: Jesus is both man and God, at the same time, fully man and fully God. Theologians call this the hypostatic union, the two natures of Christ united in one Person.

The Athanasian Creed, an early confession of the church, puts it this way: “Who although He be God and Man; yet He is not two, but one Christ; one, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the Manhood into God; one altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of Person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ.”

It’s so clear! Jesus is both David’s Son and David’s Savior. He is both David’s Son and God’s Son. Both human and divine. Both man and God.

And once you know who He is, there’s no sitting on the fence. You have to decide for Him or against Him. The more clearly we see who He is, the more our response matters. Choose wisely; everything is at stake.

2. Who We Are (Mark 12:38-40)

In His teaching He said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and 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.”

Beware of the scribes, proud lovers of:

Power suits. “They like to walk around in long robes.”

Robes that made work impossible. They stood out from everyone else.
“Look at me!” (Today we’d call it Instagram.)

Praise. “Greetings in the marketplaces.”

They didn’t care about greeting others; they wanted to be greeted. “Everybody knows my name.”
Following Jesus isn’t popular, because He calls us to deny self and love others more than ourselves. For that to happen, our selfish flesh has to die, and at the cross we experience that death without having to die physically (Galatians 2:20).
“Praise me. Tell me how much I mean to you. Favorite my post.”

Prestige. “The best seats in the synagogues.”

Where everyone can see me, where I can see best, where I’m most comfortable.
Religious recognition. “Look how holy I am.” Five-star reviews.

Position. “The places of honor at feasts.”

Social recognition and popularity. “I’m included.”

Power. “They devour widows’ houses.”

Scribes generally didn’t receive a regular salary and depended on others’ support.
Widows, in turn, often depended on scribes for legal help and guidance.
It was a system easily abused by men who didn’t truly care for people.
“My needs matter more than yours.”

Pomp. “For a pretense they make long prayers.”

Not to be heard by God, but to be seen by people.
Showmanship. Acting. Fake. Hypocrisy.
“Like me.”

3. Who We Become (Mark 12:41-44)

Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large amounts. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, worth a fraction of a penny. Calling His disciples to Him, He said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those 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.”

The religious leaders were focused on what they could get out of life. She was focused on what she could give.
She’s the opposite of pride. This is humility in action.
Humility isn’t thinking less of yourself; it’s not thinking about yourself much at all. Self-forgetfulness.
And it only grows by trusting God, by confidence in His love and grace. She could give everything because she trusted God to take care of her.
This is the way to be great in God’s sight. He sees everything: the motives and deeds of the religious showmen, and the weak, poor person quietly trusting Him.
Humility and faith are what catch God’s eye.

God values humility more than any impressive work. What have you done for Jesus? That’s not the point. Humility is everything.

And notice who sat watching her. In just a few days, Jesus Himself would give everything He had, His very life, for us. Paul says that though He was rich, for our sake He became poor, so that through His poverty we might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). We become givers by receiving the One who gave Himself.

Grace Takeaway

The scribes didn’t know who Jesus was, and it showed in how they lived: for show, for praise, for what they could get. The widow knew whom she trusted, and it showed in how she gave. Jesus is fully God and fully man, David’s Son and David’s Lord, and He gave everything for you. Let Him be your confidence, and He’ll turn you from a taker into a giver.

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Who He Is, Who We Are, Who We Become