“Pay Your Taxes & Marriage Isn’t Forever” Mark 12:13-27

An Expositional Sermon
Money, identity, government, and a spouse. It’s hard to think of much that people cherish more than these. For many these four things are things that many worship in our culture. It’s no surprise that in the culture of “Iowa-Nice” that we live in, that there are two basic cultural expectations – don’t talk about politics or religion. We can talk about what we value, especially if it has to do with money and materialism. We can talk about our perceived identity as long as it’s only connected to our work or our hobbies. But when things start to stray into what we think about government or our religious identity to the exclusion of others, people get offended and you face the threat of becoming a social outcast. This may not always be the case, but it is often true. Jesus doesn’t hold back. He breaks the social stigma of “Iowa-Nice”. And he broke through the social stigma of his time too.