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Mark

About this book
Chapter 12

1 Then he began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it,⁠ dug a pit for its winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went on a journey. 2 At harvest time he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them his portion of the crop. 3 But those tenants seized his slave, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. 4 So he sent another slave to them again. This one they struck on the head and treated outrageously. 5 He sent another, and that one they killed. This happened to many others, some of whom were beaten, others killed. 6 He had one left, his one dear son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’⁠ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and the inheritance will be ours!’ 8 So they seized him, killed him, and threw his body out of the vineyard. 9 What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.⁠ 10 Have you not read this scripture:⁠ “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.⁠ 11 This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” 12 Now they wanted to arrest him (but they feared the crowd), because they realized that he told this parable against them. So they left him and went away. 13 Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to trap him with his own words. 14 When they came they said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful and do not court anyone’s favor because you show no partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?” 15 But he saw through their hypocrisy and said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.”⁠ 16 So they brought one, and he said to them, “Whose image is this, and whose inscription?” They replied, “Caesar’s.” 17 Then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”⁠ And they were utterly amazed at him. 18 Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) also came to him and asked him, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us: ‘If a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, that man must marry the widow and father children for his brother.’⁠ 20 There were seven brothers. The first one married, and when he died he had no children. 21 The second married her and died without any children, and likewise the third. 22 None of the seven had children. Finally, the woman died too. 23 In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For all seven had married her.” 24 Jesus said to them, “Aren’t you deceived for this reason because you don’t know the scriptures or the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.⁠ 26 Now as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27 He is not the God of the dead but of the living. You are badly mistaken!” 28 Now one of the experts in the law came and heard them debating. When he saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’⁠ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 The expert in the law said to him, “That is true, Teacher; you are right to say that he is one, and there is no one else besides him. 33 And to love him with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he had answered thoughtfully, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Then no one dared any longer to question him. 35 While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he said, “How is it that the experts in the law say that the Christ is David’s son? 36 David himself, by the Holy Spirit, said, “‘The Lord said to my lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.”’ 37 If David himself calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” And the large crowd was listening to him with delight.⁠ 38 In his teaching Jesus also said, “Watch out for the experts in the law. They like walking around in long robes and elaborate greetings in the marketplaces, 39 and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40 They devour widows’ property, and as a show make long prayers. These men will receive a more severe punishment.” 41 Then he sat down opposite the offering box, and watched the crowd putting coins into it. Many rich people were throwing in large amounts.⁠ 42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, worth less than a penny. 43 He called his disciples and said to them, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the offering box than all the others. 44 For they all gave out of their wealth. But she, out of her poverty, put in what she had to live on, everything she had.”⁠

Texts in conversation

Angels Who Do Not Marry in Mark 12:25 and 1 Enoch 15

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

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Summary

In Mark, Jesus says that those resurrected at the end of the age will not marry, following a Jewish apocalyptic tradition based on texts like 1 Enoch where heavenly beings are similarly described as unmarried.
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Passages

1 Enoch 15:7

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
5 Therefore I have given them wives also that they might impregnate them, and beget children by them, that thus nothing might be lacking to them on earth. 6 But you were formerly spiritual, living the eternal life, and immortal for all generations of the world. 7 And therefore I have not appointed wives for you; for the spiritual ones of heaven, in heaven is their dwelling. 8 And now, the giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon the earth, and their dwelling shall be on the earth.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Mark 12:25

New Testament
24 Jesus said to them, “Aren’t you deceived for this reason because you don’t know the scriptures or the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26 Now as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?
60–75 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Mark

References

"... It is strange and even anachronistic to argue that Jesus or his apostles endorsed any biblical canon. In what follows, I will use the terms “canonical” and “noncanonical” to identify literature that did and did not eventually find a place in the current Hebrew Bible or Protestant Old Testament, but I am fully aware that these are anachronistic designations later imposed on the ancient religious texts that informed early Christianity. Such designations admittedly are imposed back on the religious writings that had no such designations in the time of Jesus. I use them in what follows for the sake of identifying the literature that now comprises the church’s Bible and the literature that was not later accepted as canonical literature in the churches. ... The following examples show other parallels in word and thought ... (Sirach 29:10-11 with Matthew 6:20; Sirach 51:23 with Matthew 11:28; Sirach 52:26-27 with Matthew 11:19; Wisdom of Solomon 6:18 with John 14:15; Psalms of Solomon 5:3 with Mark 3:27; 5:9-11 with Matthew 6:26; 1 Enoch 15:6-7 with Mark 12:25 - The similarity here is in thought rather than verbal parallels, namely angels do not marry and neither do those who go from this life to the next; 1 Enoch 16:1 with Matthew 13:39; 1 Enoch 22:9-10 with Luke 16:26 ...) ..."
Lee Martin McDonald, Before There Was a Bible: Authorities in Early Christianity (London: T&T Clark, 2023), 71–73.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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1 Enoch 15:7 and Mark 12:25

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