All We Need
Good morning. Thank you for reading along with me—you give my life purpose. Today, we will look at Mark chapters 12 and 13.
We open in Mark 12:1 with Jesus telling us, through a parable, how God has provided everything we could need. The vineyard represents provision; the walls, protection. He provided winepresses and watchtowers—everything we need for righteous living.¹
But then He tells how we have ignored the prophets and the rules that He gave them. Whether they were asking for judges, kings, or a Savior, we have rejected all they told and killed or abused them all. The rulers knew He was talking about them, but may have missed the subtle warning in this parable. The owner—God—is returning, and His displeasure is imminent (Mark 12:9).
Above All
As we look deeper into this passage, we hear about marriage in heaven (Mark 12:25) and realize that God is looking at our hearts. He gave us spouses here on earth because we needed companionship (Gen 2:18). We also get affirmation from our spouses.
I had to learn a lot about Scripture to get to where I was obeying the greatest commandment—loving God above all others (Mark 12:29–31). This includes my wife. I would lay down my life for my wife, son, or grandkids. This is because to serve God, I must put others’ needs before my own. But as important as those people are to me, they still must come after God Himself.
When I get to heaven, I will know who they are and love them as much as I ever did, but I will be the bride of Christ (Rev 19:7). He will always be the most important person. In heaven, the hierarchy becomes clearer.
Relationships and Resources
These verses are talking about what we value most and how we care for what God has given us. We have not taken care of the vineyard. We have misappropriated our relationship. Then we look at money—the denarius (Mark 12:17) and the coins from the widow (Mark 12:42–44)—and we see that none of that matters.
What matters, as shown by the widow, is that we give our all to Jesus. She gave everything she had, and that is what God desires from us—not a portion, but our complete trust and surrender.
The Heart
Then, the passage reminds us that the temple of the Lord is temporary. It was a building, nothing more. It would fall in AD 70 when the Romans burned it down (Mark 13:1–2).² But God dwells not in temples made by man, but in the hearts that He has entered. He dwells in believers (1 Corinthians 6:19).
When we defile ourselves by accepting sinful rebellion in our flesh, we become an abomination equal to what Daniel described as the “abomination that causes desolation” (Mark 13:14). In Daniel’s time, this referred to Antiochus IV in 167 BC and the Romans in AD 70 desecrating the temple.³ Today, since we are the temple, it is anyone who practices lawlessness.
We’ve read already that when a man commits adultery, he defiles himself and his partners (Mark 7:20–23). There were many acts of lewdness and sexual perversion described as things that defile a person.
The Matter
The body, however, is only a part of it. When we defile our hearts by allowing them to be consumed by greed, power, wealth, or any obsession, we are desecrating the temple of the living God (1 Corinthians 6:19–20).
Therefore, when the Owner—God—returns and finds this condition, He will bring about judgment on all the people (Mark 13:26–27). Jesus’s disciples ask when this will be. The gospel will have to be preached to all nations (Mark 13:10).
Still Waiting
“Nations” are not countries—they are people groups. There are still over 100 tribes in places like the Amazon, New Guinea, and India, and no one has contacted them.⁴ We see them on satellites and know of them, but they live in isolation—because of difficulty in reaching them or direct resistance to contact.
These people will still stand before Jesus. He has put eternity in the hearts of all men (Ecclesiastes 3:11). But God wants them to know Him before that time. Therefore, we must support missionaries who risk all to reach these people. We must all pray about how we can support those brave people willing to sacrifice their all to serve in this way.
Tomorrow, we will read Mark 14.
Footnotes
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Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Mark 12, BibleHub, https://biblehub.com/commentaries/maclaren/mark/12.htm.
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Josephus, The Jewish War, Book VI, Chapter 4.
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Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11.
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“6 Uncontacted Tribes in the World,” Times of India, July 15, 2025, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/travel/destinations/6-uncontacted-tribes-in-the-world-these-people-will-never-allow-entry-in-their-homes/photostory/122303204.cms.
