Thy Strong Word

Hosted by Rev. Will Weedon

With guest Rev. David Peterson of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Ft. Wayne, IN.

Mark 12

The Parable of the Tenants

12 And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. ²When the season came, he sent a servant^[a] to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. ³And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. ⁶He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰Have you not read this Scripture:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;^[b]
¹¹this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

¹²And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.

Paying Taxes to Caesar

¹³And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. ¹⁴And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances,^[c] but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” ¹⁵But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius^[d] and let me look at it.” ¹⁶And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” ¹⁷Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.

The Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection

¹⁸And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, ¹⁹“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man^[e] must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. ²⁰There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. ²¹And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. ²²And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. ²³In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”

²⁴Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? ²⁵For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ²⁶And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ²⁷He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”

The Great Commandment

²⁸And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” ²⁹Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” ³²And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. ³³And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” ³⁴And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Whose Son Is the Christ?

³⁵And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? ³⁶David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet.”’

³⁷David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?” And the great throng heard him gladly.

Beware of the Scribes

³⁸And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces ³⁹and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, ⁴⁰who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

The Widow’s Offering

⁴¹And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. ⁴²And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny.^[f] ⁴³And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. ⁴⁴For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Footnotes:

Mark 12:2 Greek bondservant; also verse 4
Mark 12:10 Greek the head of the corner
Mark 12:14 Greek you do not look at people’s faces
Mark 12:15 A denarius was a day’s wage for a laborer
Mark 12:19 Greek his brother
Mark 12:42 Greek two lepta, which make a kodrantes; a kodrantes (Latin quadrans) was a Roman copper coin worth about 1/64 of a denarius (which was a day’s wage for a laborer)

About the Host

Chaplain William Weedon — Rev. William Weedon

The Rev. William C. Weedon accepted the call to serve as The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s (LCMS) Director of Worship and International Center Chaplain and was installed on May 7, 2012. In his director of Worship role, Weedon is responsible for proposing and creating programs that carry out the purposes and aims of the LCMS in matters of worship. As chaplain at the LCMS’ International Center in St. Louis, he works with the president’s office in planning and supervising all chapel services held there, as well as offering informal chaplaincy and counseling services to employees as requested.

A 1982 graduate of Concordia College—New York, in Bronxville, N.Y., Weedon earned Master of Divinity and Master of Sacred Theology degrees from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, in 1986 and 1998, respectively. Prior to joining the staff at the LCMS International Center, Weedon served as pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Hamel, Ill., since 1992. From 1986 until 1992, he was pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church, Burlington, N.C.

On August 4, 2014, Rev. Will Weedon joined the Worldwide KFUO Radio team as the program host for Thy Strong Word, a bible study series that examines each book and chapter of the Bible in depth.

Rev. William Weedon

We have the distinct privilege of borrowing LCMS Director of Worship and International Center Chaplain Rev. William Chancellor Weedon for an hour a day to add Host of Thy Strong Word to his list of titles. Native to the central Maryland area just outside of Washington D.C., he enthusiastically enjoys his coffee, playing piano, and singing heartily, as well as spending time in the pool with his wife Cindi, three children and their spouses, and seven grandchildren. He’s one of those people that listens to Christmas music year-round, but we still let him in our studios. You may find him reading a good murder mystery or some writing by Johann Gerhard, Joseph Ratzinger, or Alexander Schmemann while eating a chocolate torte made by his wife Cindi. When he’s read all the books he can manage, he escapes outside to hike, bike, or even run in his Vivobarefoot shoes that Andy Bates, his favorite famous person, told him to buy.