Mark 12:13-17

Mark 12:13-17. FIRST ASSAULT. The question concerning tribute to Cesar. See on Matthew 22:15-22; comp. Luke 20:20-26. The parable of the wedding garment precedes in Matthew's account. The narrative of Mark is graphic, but presents no new details.

To catch him by speech (Mark 12:13), lit., ‘by word;' to lay hold of Him by means of their word as a snare. Some word of His, in answer to their questions, would be laid hold of, but the figure requires a reference to their discourse.

They marvelled greatly at him (Mark 12:17). The original is stronger than in the parallel passages. It also intimates that they continued to do so. The other accounts are fuller as to the effect of His answer. These young Pharisees (Matthew) and Herodians with feigned scruples of conscience, the flower of the youth of Jerusalem, scarcely expected such a blow from a Galilean, and their astonishment was more than momentary. No wonder: the answer of Christ is the wisest ever given to an entangling question, and contains in principle the solution of the great problem of church and state, or the relation of the spiritual and secular power.