The Lord’s Calf is Dead   Mark 11:27-12

Sermon by Pastor Dennis Gleason -- June 18, 2006

Martyn Lloyd-Jones told a story about a farmer who went into the house one day to tell his wife and family some good news. "The cow just gave birth to twin calves, one red and one white," he said.

He continued, "We must dedicate one of these calves to the Lord. We will bring them up together, and when the time comes, we will sell one and keep the proceeds and we will sell the other and give the proceeds to the Lords work." His wife asked him which he was going to dedicate to the Lord. "There's no need to bother about that now," he replied, "we'll treat them both in the same way and when the time comes, we'll do as I say."

A few days later, he entered the kitchen looking unhappy. "What happened?" his wife asked. "I have bad news," he replied, "The Lords calf is dead." "Wait," said his wife, " you didn't decide which calf was the Lords." "Yes" he said," I decided it was the white one, and the white one died. The Lords calf is dead."

“This poor widow cast in more than all they that are casting into the treasury.” Mark 12:43b

The paragraph that contains our verse for this morning follows the discovery of the disciples that the fig tree that Jesus had cursed was dead…withered from the roots upward.

We want to note first of all the background of hostility that is obvious in this paragraph. So first of all, we have the Lord and his foes and then the woman worshipper and thirdly, the Son of Man and his friend.

In the face of the hostility of the Jewish leaders, we find the Son of Man acting in judgment. Keep in mind that judgment becomes condemnation and punishment or commendation and reward, according to the attitude of the human heart and soul.

We consider, first of all Jesus and his foes. There were four questions asked Jesus on the day he went back into Jerusalem after the disciples found the withered fig tree.

1. The first question was one of unbelief. “By what authority do you do these things?” Or we could say, “Who gave you the authority to do these things?”
   1. They recognized what Jesus had done in the temple but raised the question of his right to do it.
   2. Jesus’ response was to show them that they were unfit to receive an answer. They had been dishonest about the ministry of John the Baptist. So, he told them the parable of the vineyard and with it the inference that they were guilty of the killing of the son of the owner of the vineyard.
   3. Jesus showed them that he was speaking of them and of the fact that his authority came directly from God because he is the Son of God.
2. The second question was one that was sinister in intend and designed to bring Jesus within the grasp of his enemies. “Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?”
   1. Those opposed to him included:

i. The Herodians who believed that the Jews should be subservient to the Romans.

ii. The Pharisees who protested the yoke of the Romans being laid on the shoulders of the Jewish people. These two groups of Jews were always at war with each other, but now they have formed an alliance against Jesus.

iii. What is at stake here? Well, if Jesus answered that it was lawful to pay tribute to Caesar, he would be abrogating his claim of Messiahship. On the other hand, if Jesus should say that it was not lawful to pay tribute to Caesar, he would be arrested for treason.

2. Note his answer, “Render unto God the things that are God’s and to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. It was a rebuke of both groups of people…to the Herodians who did not want Rome’s rule…to men who would not accept God’s rule in their lives.

3.  Then there was the question of the Sadducees, who supposed a man had married multiple times, enquiring as to who would be the wife of the man in the resurrection.

a.The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. So their question is hypocritical. They are trying to trip Jesus up with an illustration about seven brothers and the resurrection that they do not believe in.

b. Jesus declared that they understood nothing about the resurrection. For at that time there will be no marriage. He reminded them that God was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, all long dead…therefore, He is the God of the living. The Sadducces had nothing more to say.

3. And finally, the lawyer’s question related to the relative value of the laws. He had heard all of this and he wanted to know, which was the greatest commandment. It was an honest question. Jesus’ answer spoke to the central principle of the law: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all you soul and with all your mind and with all your strength…and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The lawyer acknowledged what Jesus had said and proclaimed that he had done both since he was a child. Jesus’ estimation of the man was that he was not far from the Kingdom of God.

All of this is background to what takes place next.

Jesus passed from the inner court of the temple and into the outer court which was the court of the women. That is were the two great chests were placed to receive the offerings of the people. One chest was for the priests and the other chest was for the collection for the poor.

Jesus sat down and observed what was happening there. Can you imagine Jesus looking for some flower or fruit in that place?

He waited in the treasury where people were giving their gifts. Where the heart is, the treasure will go. Remember Scripture puts it the other way around: “Where the heart is there will your treasure be also.”?

So it stands to reason that where your heart is your treasure will surely follow.

The Junior Sunday School Teacher asked her eight eager 10-year-olds if they would give $1,000,000 to the missionaries.

"YES!" they all screamed!!

"Would you give $1,000?" Again they shouted "YES!"

"How about $100?" "Oh, YES we would!" they all agreed!!

"Would you give just a dollar to the missionaries?" she asked.

The boys exclaimed "YES!" just as before except for Johnnie.

"Johnnie," the teacher said as she noticed the boy clutching his pocket, "why didn't you say 'YES' this time?"

"Well," he stammered, "I HAVE a dollar."

Jesus is watching people as they give. Please note that what they are giving is of no real importance. The important thing to Jesus here is how they are giving. People come and go and drop in various amounts of money into the chests. And then he sees a little woman, a woman who happens to be a widow in the crowd of people. One might imagine here a lonely, poor woman whose husband had died somehow. His death would have impoverished her. But there she is in the temple courts placing her offering in the big chests that hold all the offerings of God’s people. And she drops in two mites. These were the smallest coins by denomination that were being circulated at that time. The equivalent value in today’s money would be $0.00112 1/8. To give you an idea of the value of the mite (lepton), it would take about 200 lepton (mites) to purchase a loaf of bread. (Judean Coin web site at Coinart.net).

Jesus noted that she dropped in two of these small coins. Mark tells us that is was “all her living.” It was everything she had. And no one would have ever seen it if Jesus had not observed it. If a list of all the gifts received that day had been made, those two coins would hardly have registered in the thinking of any one.

What do those two coins have to say to us?

Those two coins speak of the woman’s faith. They are a gift of faith. They are a gift of sacrifice. They are a gift of spiritual life.

This woman gave these coins out of the desire of her heart to honor God and did so unobserved so far as she knew. There is no indication that she ever knew that Jesus had observed her faith in giving. My best guess is that she was trying to hide her giving from prying eyes…not letting her right hand know what her left hand was doing. Do you remember what Jesus said to his disciples when they asked him about the withered fig tree? He said, “Have faith in God.”

Here in the midst of hostility and lack of real faith among those who were the religious leaders of Israel, was a little woman who had faith in God. The rulers had challenged his authority. They did not believe that he was the Messiah, or the Son of God. They wanted to kill him; to get rid of him. The faith of this woman is such as would save the nation if all truly believed as did she.

It was a gift of sacrifice. She gave all she had. On that day there were greater gifts placed in those huge chests. But most of those gifts were out of the abundance the people had. There gifts were out of superfluity…over abundance. But for her it was all she had. What a sacrifice!

It was a gift of spiritual life…a gift of vision. She was giving because she loved God. She was giving to the priests and the poor. She was giving to priests who no longer had a spiritual life that honored God. She had a vision of God and because of that vision, she gave openly and freely. And Jesus saw it all.

Out of all the gifts given that day, hers was the greatest of all. It certainly was the one that was remembered as having great spiritual value.

Her gift that day recognized the two great principles of the Law that Jesus shared with the lawyer: You shall love the Lord you God…and your neighbor as your self. He gifts went to the priests who represented God officially before the people of Israel. And her gifts went to the poor…her neighbors. She was poor and yet she was concerned about those who had less than did she. She was expressing her love for God and for her neighbors. And Jesus watched there and saw one woman whose giving came from a life being lived that unconsciously met the requirements of the Law of God.

Mark tells us that …’”Jesus sat down over against the Treasury and beheld how the multitude cast money into the treasury.” Jesus was not watching them, but how they were giving. He was looking at the motive behind the giving. And he could tell much as he watched the multitudes give their gifts.

He was observing unobserved. As I mentioned earlier, there is no indication at all that the woman was even aware that she was being observed. He called the attention of his disciples to it, but he did not speak to the woman about it. I don’t think she ever knew

And then he gave his appraisal of her gift: “This poor widow cast in more than all.” Notice that he did not say that she had given graciously. He did not say that she had cast in a great amount. He did not say that she had given as much as many others. He did not even say that she had given as much as all of the others put together. “More than all” was his appraisal of her fantastically small gift. Here is the Lord of the Universe sifting the gifts given that day and her gift was “More than all.” On one side he placed all the gifts of ostentation, the gifts of wealth and on the other side he placed the two mites and pronounced “More than all.” And he gave the reason: they gave out of superfluity…an over abundance, but she gave all she had. And God noticed!

Those two mites produced more for the Kingdom of God in the last two thousand years than all the other gifts given that day. They have been racking up dividends for Christ. Who really knows how many people of moderate means to give out of a heart of love? I am sure that wherever offerings are taken all over the world that Jesus sees the gift and the giver’s heart and many gifts given that man hardly takes note of are seen by Him.

It is not for us to measure the gifts given. We cannot ever truly measure them for we never really see the heart of the giver. Jesus does. He sees. And he appraises every gift given. Many of those gifts get the same appraisal: “More than all!”

C.S.Lewis once said: I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. C.S. Lewis.

Where the heart is, the treasure will follow.

--Dennis Gleason