In 2 Samuel 16-18, we read the record of David’s continuing retreat from Jerusalem, of Absalom’s arrival there, and of Absalom’s defeat and death. The high points of the chapters are: 1) David was cursed by Shimei a Benjamite as he was leaving Jerusalem. One of David’s men wanted to kill him, but David’s response was that his own son had rebelled against him, how much more this Benjamite. 2) When Absalom entered Jerusalem, Ahithophel, his advisor, told Absalom to go in to David’s concubines as a sign that he was taking over the palace. Then he told Absalom to go after David with 20,000 men at that time and destroy him, before he made it across the Jordan. Hushai, one of David’s trusted advisors, who had stayed behind in Jerusalem to confound Absalom’s plans, told Absalom to wait until the next day, and to amass all of Israel against David. This plan saved David’s life and set into motion Absalom’s defeat. Ahithophel was so upset that his plan was not received that he left the group, went home, and hanged himself. 3) Absalom and his army went after David the next David. David had told his commanders and all his troops to deal gently with Absalom, but when the time came, and Absalom was literally caught in a tree, Joab killed him. When the troops returned from battle they returned to David sobbing in remorse for Absalom’s death. That is how chapter 18 ends. A day that was a great victory for David appeared to be more like a defeat. All these events are the living out of the consequence of David’s sin with Bathsheba. While David repented of the sin, the consequence remained. What an important lesson for us to remember: God will always forgive our sins when we repent, but the consequence of our sins may remain with us. We can escape from sin and eternal death, but the consequences of our actions often remain.
As we return to Mark 12, we read one of the longest sections of teaching in Mark’s gospel. Jesus has entered Jerusalem. Holy Week has begun. He has cleansed the Temple, and now He takes on the religious leaders. First, He tells the Parable of the Tenants, an obvious illustration of how the religious leaders were going to kill Him. Then He faced several tests from the religious leaders, passing each one easily. In the first test the religious leaders asked whether it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar. They saw this as a “lose-lose” question for Jesus. If He said, “Yes,” they would say He was disloyal to Israel. If He said, “No,” they would turn Him into the Romans. Jesus didn’t answer either yes or no, but told them to render to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar and to God the things that belong to God. Next, the Sadducees who didn’t believe in the resurrection (That’s why the were sad, you see!) came to him with a story about a woman who was married to seven different men, and asked whose wife she would be in the resurrection, because she was married to each? Jesus answered that in heaven we are neither married or given in marriage, but we are like angels. Then He pointed out that in the time of Moses when God appeared to Moses, He told Moses, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…. At that time, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been dead for a long time, but Jesus’ point was God said they were alive, proving the resurrection is a reality. Finally, Jesus was asked which commandment in the Law is the greatest. The test here was Jesus could answer in a way that the religious leaders could argue was “wrong.” Once again Jesus demonstrated His command of the Law by stating the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and another commandment is like it: to love our neighbors as ourselves. No one could argue with that answer. Jesus closed out His time with the religious leaders by pointing out that the Messiah is both the Son of David and the Lord of David, which astounded the crowd. He warned the crowd about the hypocrisy of the Scribes. Then chapter 12 ends with Jesus pointing out the faithfulness and generosity of a poor widow, who gave her last two coins as an offering to God. Jesus pointed out this was a greater gift than the “generous” gifts of those who gave a great quantity of offering, but only out of their surplus. Jesus’ interactions in chapter 12 show us no one is wiser than He, and no one is more faithful than He. As some political leaders have been described as “presidential,” we would have to describe Jesus as “Messiah-like,” because He was, indeed, the Messiah!