Fox Street Church of God

Note from Pastor Chad- It may help you to know that the Gospel of Mark was written in the year 70 AD.  While we record the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in the same year, that destruction actually began in the year 63 AD with the Roman general Pompey captured Jerusalem.  In 66 AD, a group of Zealots attempted a coup d’état and the Caesar Nero sent Vespasian and he pushed the Jewish army into Jerusalem and Vespasian was then proclaimed emperor in 69 AD.  In April of 70 AD, Roman general Titus besieged Jerusalem during Passover.  What Titus did was allow pilgrims in to celebrate Passover but didn’t let them leave, depleting the food and water that the Jewish army of Zealots needed and basically starved them out.

Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”

One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.