The Man Of Integrity - Mark 12:12-14 Series

After highlighting how the authorities feared man three times, Mark now makes a point of how Jesus was the opposite. Against the dark backdrop of their sin (which results in hypocrisy, dishonesty, cowardice, and favoritism), Mark shows us Jesus in stark relief. He uses the very words of their flattery to show us the truth about Jesus. He is a man of integrity, courage, impartiality, and faithfulness to the way of God.

Mark 12:12 Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away. 13 Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14 They came to him and said, "Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay or shouldn't we?" But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. "Why are you trying to trap me?" he asked. "Bring me a denarius and let me look at it." 16 They brought the coin, and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" "Caesar's," they replied. 17 Then Jesus said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." And they were amazed at him.

Introduction

This passage preaches two sermons—one by Jesus and the other by Mark. Jesus is going to teach us about Caesar and taxes and God, and Mark is going to teach us some things about Jesus. So if the passage preaches two sermons, I’m going to preach two sermons. I’ll start with Mark’s sermon about Jesus, then next time we’ll look at Jesus’ sermon about government.

Fear of Man

I believe one of Mark’s purposes in this passage is to showcase some facets of Christ’s glory. And they are facets that shine against the pitch-black backdrop of the character of the religious leaders of Israel. In order to really see the brilliance and beauty of Jesus character, we can best appreciate it in stark relief of the chief priests, Pharisees, teachers of the law, and elders of Israel. They were men with plenty of character flaws, but there’s one that Mark has gone out of his way to show us in this section, namely, fear of man. Mark shows us the ugliness of that sin, then turns our attention to Jesus’ character to show us the opposite of that sin. So let’s look first at the sin, then we’ll turn our attention to Christ.

Fear of man is when you desire man’s approval or fear man’s disapproval more than God’s. You care more about what people think than about what God thinks. You crave human approval—the approval of certain people in your life, or maybe just people in general. Or you’re more afraid of what man might do to you than you are of the consequences of crossing God.

And the spiritual leaders of Israel at the time of Jesus were the poster children for fear of man. Mark really wants us to see that in this section.

Mark 11:18 The chief priests and the teachers of the law … began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

They were so driven by their desire for popularity and the respect of the people that they became murderous when they saw Jesus taking it from them. Skip down to v.30 and Jesus asks them where John’s authority came from.

31 They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Then why didn't you believe him?' 32 But if we say, 'From men'..." (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.) 33 So they answered Jesus, "We don't know."

When someone is infected with fear of man, that fear governs how he answers questions. The truth is irrelevant. Just answering truthfully doesn’t even enter into their consideration—it’s all about what answer will win them the most respect from people. And if they believed the people are being duped by a false prophet who is leading them astray, but that false prophet is popular—they won’t say anything. They are like modern pastors who will allow people in their own flock to be deceived rather than risk criticism for calling out the false teacher. They care more about avoiding controversy than they do about people’s souls.

And now Mark brings it up a third time in today’s passage. Jesus spoke a parable about how God is like a landowner who is currently on his way to come destroy them. And instead of fearing God and dropping to their knees in repentance, look how they respond.