Women to Women April 2021

Mark chapter 12

Before we look at the passage, Lorna Nunn will share a testimony about what Following Jesus looks like for her. 

Lydia Hardesty will introduce the passage to us and then we can look at the following questions together

Mark 12

Give to God what He is due because of who He is.

Remember that as Jesus interacted with the religious leaders, He saw and spoke to the heart behind the questions more than He spoke to the questions themselves. As we study these passages, it is important for us to do the same. Let’s take a step back and look at the passages in context, in light of the parable and it’s application—“Give to God what He is due because of who He is.”

Read vv. 13-17

• In Greek, the word hypocrisy illudes to actors in a drama—people who behave differently than they believe. What is they “hypocrisy” Jesus speaks of in v. 15?
  
  
• Caesar’s “image and inscription” was on the denarius. Who/what bears God’s “image and inscription?” Look at Genesis 1:26.
  
  
• What was the heart-issue of the religious leaders that Jesus pointed out and spoke to? How does this relate to the tenants in the parable?
  
• What would it look like for the religious leaders to give God was He was due? What does it look like for you and me to give God what He is due?

Read vv. 18-27

• If the Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection (didn’t believe in anything beyond this life on earth), why would they ask Jesus about marriage in Heaven; what was the heart behind their question?
  
  
• What was the heart of the problem that Jesus pointed out and addressed?
  
• How do the Sadducees relate to the tenants in the parable?
  
  
• Who does Jesus reveal God to be in vv. 26 and 27? How does this speak to the Sadducees’ heart problem?
  
  
• There are many people today who don’t believe in life after death. How does this affect their understanding of who God is? How does this affect how they live? Can they truly give God what He is due? Why or why not?

Read vv. 28-34

• According to these verses, what is God due?
  
• Jesus partially commended the scribe. But Jesus said that he was not far from the Kingdom of God—not that the scribe had entered the Kingdom of God. What did the scribe get right? Read Hosea 6:6. What was the scribe missing? John 14:6.
  
  
• What is the consequence today of trying to obey God without knowing who He really is? Can you think of an example of when/where this happens?
  
• Is it possible to give God what He is due (love Him; obey Him) devoid of Jesus? Why or why not?