Mark 12-13

[wolfpurplemoon]

Jesus points out that the couple of coins a poor widow put into a charity box was worth far more to her than the bigger offerings the rich were leaving. Apparently this shows she has greater faith than the rich men.

A line used as an excuse for missionaries to 'developing' countries, before the end times that Jesus predicts can come the gospel must be preached to all nations, I think that's been achieved already.

Comments

[zteccc.livejournal.com]

Chapter 12
Verses 10-11 Jesus quotes Psalm 118:22-23 regarding the cornerstone. He is saying that although Jesus himself will be rejected by the people, Jesus would be the cornerstone of their salvation.

A note on the different groups in Chapter 12. We have the Pharisees who were religious conservatives, the Sadducees who were religious liberals and the Herodians who were political leaders (representatives of Herod). All three of these groups were constantly at odds with each other, but they all had a common purpose in attacking Jesus because Jesus message of following God's word, love and humility threatened the corrupt lifestyles of all of them.

Verses 41-44
Many translations of Mark include the word "how" in verse 41. I believe this to be an important word when reading this passage because it says that Jesus watched how people put money into the treasury. Jesus wasn't looking at "how much", but at the people's attitudes. Did they put in large amounts to puff up their own pride? Did they put in only the bare minimum they could get away with, down to the smallest fraction? Did they give as a duty or did they give freely and with joy? Yes, it can be done.

The poor widow who freely gave even though she was poor (a true sacrifice), and could have made the excuse that she truly needed the money, gave a greater gift than one who is wealthy and gives stingily. She remembered that her very life was a gift from God as was all of the money she had. We say we earn our wealth (or sometimes our forebears did), but we do so only because we use the gifts and resources provided by God. As such, all of that wealth is ours because God supplied it, either directly or by supplying our gifts. The tithe is simply acknowledging and thanking God for this.

The widow understood all of this. She therefore made the tithe important in her life and made ends meet without it. She remained faithful to the law, but more importantly, she remembered where the money really came from and remained faithful to God. This isn't to say that she had more faith than the rich people, but they gave out of their surplus while she gave out of her necessary funds which meant that she was completely and willfully obedient while they only gave what they could spare.

Chapter 13
verse 10 Whether the gospel has been preached to all nations depends somewhat on how you define a nation. The European Union could be seen as one nation because it has a single currency and government, or it can be seen as 27 nations. The United States can be seen as one nation or 50 nations. In Afghanistan, the UAE, Pakistan, etc. there are tribes, emirates, etc. which act autonomously from the centralized government, are they independent "nations" as described in this verse? I'm not giving an answer here, but suggesting that just because the people in Pyongyang have televisions and have heard preaching of the Gospels doesn't mean that the farmers in the rural areas of North Korea have heard it.

Further, Jesus doesn't give the preaching of the gospel to all nations a cause and effect relationship with the end times. The language says that it will occur before the end, but not that one will precipitate the other. The gospel could be preached to all nations for years prior to the end and the prophecy will still be fulfilled.

Scripture does provide a better understanding, however. Revelation 14:6 (NIV) says "Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people." This angel will preach the gospel to the entire earth just after the start of the Great Tribulation.

This doesn't mean that we should not spread the scriptures with Missionaries because Jesus gave us the "Great Commission" to do so (Matthew 28:19-20).

[(Anonymous)]

This is just a note on Wycliffe Bible Translators and their on-going work and observations that about 340 million people today don't have a bible in their language. A link to an interactive map and info is below.

http://www.lastlanguagescampaign.org/LLC.aspx

-EG