Mark 12:1-12, CEB - Jesus spoke to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a tower. Then he rented it to tenant farmers and took a trip. When it was time, he sent a servant to collect from the tenants his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But they grabbed the servant, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Again the landowner sent another servant to them, but they struck him on the head and treated him disgracefully. He sent another one; that one they killed. The landlord sent many other servants, but the tenants beat some and killed others. Now the landowner had one son whom he loved dearly. He sent him last, thinking, They will respect my son. But those tenant farmers said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ They grabbed him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
“So what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come
and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others. Haven’t you read this scripture, The stone
that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Lord has done this, and it’s amazing in
our eyes?”
They wanted to arrest Jesus because they knew that he had
told the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left
him and went away.
Jesus continues his challenge to
the religious leaders at the temple with the telling of this story which is obviously
about them. Almost complete scholarly
interpretation makes the following connections between the parable and reality:
God = Landowner
Vineyard = Israel
Tenant Farmers = Religious leaders
Servants sent to tenants = Prophets
Son = Jesus
The parable is both convicting and prophetic. The religious leaders knew the story was told
against them and they do not try to argue.
In fact, they proceed to continue down the path that the parable
predicts; they set out to throw the Son/Jesus out of the Vineyard/Israel and
kill him.
Jesus’s
commentary on the parable is the centerpiece of this passage. The “vineyard” will be taken away from the “tenants”
and given to others. Mark makes it
obvious that those “others” are the church formed after Jesus’s death, resurrection
and ascension. Jesus then quotes Psalm
118 to make a further connection with the parable and further prophecy on what
is about to happen. The Stone/Son that
was rejected has become the Cornerstone.
The Lord will make the crucified Jesus the center of the in-breaking
Kingdom of God.
The
takeaway for the twenty-first century church is that those who lead Jesus’s
church are now the tenant farmers. If
they are not good stewards of the vineyard/church, the same fate should be
expected as the first-century temple leaders;
the vineyard will be handed over to others. The message is to be good stewards of all
that God has given us influence over and be faithful in offering fruit back to
God. The church provides our spiritual
(and in some cases, even physical) livelihood, but its purpose is to provide a
harvest for God. We forget or forsake
that at own peril.
Question: How
effective is the church where you belong at producing a harvest for God? What is your role in that purpose?
Prayer: Lord of the
Harvest, as leaders and laborers in Your Vineyard, give us clear awareness of the
fruit You expect to see from the investment You have made in us. Forgive us for the ways in which we have
strayed from Your purposes. Give us the
wisdom and strength to be good stewards of all that you have given. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for two specific people today. First,
pray for someone you know you can learn from right now. Second, pray for someone you can help right
now.
Song: Cornerstone – Hillsong
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