Adat Shalom 7.3.26 " The Testing of the Messiah" Mark 12:13-27

Last week we studied Messiah's teaching on the "Parable of the Wicked Vine-growers" (12:1-12). This parable depicted Israel's unfortunate history of rejecting and persecuting many of her prophets, and the message they were sent by God to bring. The parable was aimed at Israel's present leaders, who were in danger of following in the footsteps of their ancestors with their rejection of the Messiah and their plot to destroy Him (11:18). This week we are going to continue our teaching series in the gospel of Mark, with Messiah continuing to teach in Jerusalem. There He would face further confrontations with the religious leaders. Our message will focus on two questions posed to Jesus by the leaders. In an attempt to "trap" Him with His words, the Pharisees and Herodians posed a question on whether it would be lawful to pay a census tax to Caesar (12:13-17). Later a second question would be asked by the Sadducees having to do with the law of "levirate" marriage (Deut. 25:5-10) and the resurrection (12:18-27). These questions were meant not for the purpose of honest inquiry, but that they might have that by which they could accuse Jesus. However, the Messiah would turn the tables on them and their schemes with His answers. If you would like to hear His response to their questions, come join us this Friday evening for Shabbat services beginning at 7:30 P.M. We will have exciting worship, our weekly Torah devotional, our message in Mark, and a brief special exhortation in honor of our nation's 250th Independence day. At the close of our service we will have warm food and fellowship for our weekly Oneg. So come join us for a full evening. Hope to see you there. The notes for the sermon are attached here or can be downloaded from our website, under "Sermon Notes" www.adatshalom-dallas.org