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Mark 12

Jesus exposes resistance to God’s authority and places wholehearted love above religious status, public display, and costly offerings.

Jesus tells a vineyard parable whose violent tenants provoke judgment, and the leaders recognize that he is speaking against them. Pharisees and Herodians try to trap him over taxes; Sadducees challenge him about resurrection. A scribe asks about the greatest commandment and receives a warmer response. Teaching in the temple, Jesus questions how the Christ can be David’s son and Lord, warns against scribes who exploit widows, and watches a poor widow give everything she has.

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1He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the wine press, built a tower, rented it out to a farmer, and went into another country.
2When it was time, he sent a servant to the farmer to get from the farmer his share of the fruit of the vineyard.
3They took him, beat him, and sent him away empty.
5Again he sent another, and they killed him, and many others, beating some, and killing some.
6Therefore still having one, his beloved son, he sent him last to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
7But those farmers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’
8They took him, killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.
9What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the farmers, and will give the vineyard to others.
10Haven’t you even read this Scripture: ‘The stone which the builders rejected was made the head of the corner.
11This was from the Lord. It is marvelous in our eyes’?”
12They tried to seize him, but they feared the multitude; for they perceived that he spoke the parable against them. They left him and went away.
13They sent some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to him, that they might trap him with words.
14When they had come, they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and don’t defer to anyone; for you aren’t partial to anyone, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?
15Shall we give, or shall we not give?” But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why do you test me? Bring me a denarius, that I may see it.”
16They brought it. He said to them, “Whose is this image and inscription?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.”
17Jesus answered them, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” They marveled greatly at him.
18Some Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection, came to him. They asked him, saying,
19“Teacher, Moses wrote to us, ‘If a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife behind him, and leaves no children, that his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.’
24Jesus answered them, “Isn’t this because you are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God?
25For when they will rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
26But about the dead, that they are raised, haven’t you read in the book of Moses about the Bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?
27He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are therefore badly mistaken.”
28One of the scribes came and heard them questioning together, and knowing that he had answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the greatest of all?”
29Jesus answered, “The greatest is: ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
30You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
31The second is like this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
32The scribe said to him, “Truly, teacher, you have said well that he is one, and there is none other but he;
33and to love him with all the heart, with all the understanding, all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from God’s Kingdom.” No one dared ask him any question after that.
35Jesus responded, as he taught in the temple, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?
36For David himself said in the Holy Spirit, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet.”’
37Therefore David himself calls him Lord, so how can he be his son?” The common people heard him gladly.
38In his teaching he said to them, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk in long robes, and to get greetings in the marketplaces,
40those who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”
41Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and saw how the multitude cast money into the treasury. Many who were rich cast in much.
43He called his disciples to himself and said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, this poor widow gave more than all those who are giving into the treasury,
44for they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on.”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Mark 12:29Jesus grounds the greatest commandment in the confession that Israel’s God is one, establishing whom all love and allegiance belong to.
Mark 12:30The repeated call to love God with all that a person has leaves no part of life outside his claim.
Mark 12:33The scribe recognizes that love for God and neighbor outweighs sacrifices, and Jesus commends the understanding behind his answer.
Where this chapter reaches

Matthew and Luke recount parallel disputes over taxes and resurrection, while Deuteronomy supplies the confession of God’s oneness and the command to love him with the whole person. Psalm supplies Jesus’ quotations about the rejected stone and David’s Lord, linking rejection with exaltation.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What does the scribe’s comparison between love and sacrifices lead you to examine about your worship?

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What stands out when you read the warning about exploited widows beside the widow’s offering?

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Questions people ask about Mark 12

What is the greatest commandment in Mark 12?

Jesus begins with the confession that the Lord is one, then commands love for God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength. He joins this with love for one’s neighbor as oneself. The scribe agrees that such love outweighs burnt offerings and sacrifices, and Jesus commends his answer.

Does Mark 12 say people become angels after death?

Jesus says those raised from the dead are like angels in heaven in the context of marriage: they neither marry nor are given in marriage. He does not say that humans become angels. His answer challenges the Sadducees’ denial of resurrection and their failure to understand Scripture and God’s power.

What does the widow’s offering mean in Mark 12?

Jesus says the widow gave more than the other donors because her two coins were everything she had to live on. The account measures her gift against her poverty. Its placement after the warning about scribes who devour widows’ houses also raises concern about exploitation; Jesus gives no command that others surrender their livelihood.

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What the Bible says about worship →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).