Welcome to our new project, the Daily Bible Devotional. The goal is to help you understand and apply

scripture as you go through a New Testament Bible read five days a week, Monday through Friday,

as we move from Matthew straight through to Revelation. In under four minutes each morning, we will recap the chapter,

make some application, present thought questions for the day, and offer a prayer together.

I'm excited about exploring God's word with you, so let's get started.

Welcome to our study from Mark Chapter 12. Let's start with a recap of the content.

Jesus and the Jewish leaders battle in this chapter. It begins with the parable of the vineyard workers.

They attack the owner's delegates and eventually kill his son. The result was wrath from the father and the

destruction of the murderers. The Jews know Jesus is talking about them,

so they send inquisitors to try and trap Jesus in his words. They ask him about paying

poll taxes to Caesar. Jesus responds by saying to give Caesar his taxes. They ask about a seven-time

widow in her marriage in heaven. Jesus responds with divine wisdom about

eternity. They ask about the greatest commandment, and he responds perfectly with the law of love.

These prideful men are said in contrast with the humble widow who contributes all that she has

to God. Let's look a little more closely to decide which of those two were going to be.

The widow at the end is praised by Jesus because her devotion to God is real and sacrificial.

She is fully committed to God, while many others only give out of their surplus.

She is the opposite of the Jewish leaders. The parable at the beginning is about killing the son of the owner so they can have the vineyard.

The motivation is selfishness and greed.

All their questions for Jesus are about diminishing him so they don't have to submit.

Their main priority is themselves and what they can get and keep.

We are challenged to be less like them and more like the widow at the end.

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