The Rejected King Mark 12:1-11

1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching Christmas: The Harbinger of Peace

Christ of the Andes is an impressive symbol of peace. Once Chile and Argentina were enemies and fought constantly. At last they decided it was in their mutual interest to live in peace. So, high upon their natural boundaries, the Andes Mountains, they erected a great statue of Christ with outstretched arms. The inscription reads: “Sooner shall these mountains crumble into dust than the Argentines and Chileans break the peace sworn at the feet of Christ the Redeemer.” Christmas reminds us of the coming of peace to earth.

-Christmas is an invitation to share in Christ’s Kingdom

Christmas is a story of:

I. God’s Persistent Pursuit vv. 1-5

In the story that Jesus tells this week, we see a group of people who are settled in the Lord’s vineyard; in fact, it feels like they are so close to God’s Kingdom that it would be impossible to miss it!

Think about the picture painted here:

The Lord places them under His protection

The Lord provides for their every need

All He asks in return is that a small portion of the produce be returned to Him, an acknowledgment of His Lordship over them

The people respond with rebellion and abuse

Rather than a joy-filled obedience, they reject every messenger that comes their way

In spite of this, the Lord patiently persists in pursuing them with His love and desire to bring them to Himself

This is part of the known character of God, a characteristic that is fully expressed to us at Christmas!

Psalm 103:8–12

[8] The LORD is merciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

[9] He will not always chide,

nor will he keep his anger forever.

[10] He does not deal with us according to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities.

[11] For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

[12] as far as the east is from the west,

so far does he remove our transgressions from us. (ESV)

II. The Prince’s Presence vv. 6-8

The critical step forward is incarnational: the Lord no longer sends His servants, but instead sends His Son

This is the most dramatic demonstration of His desire for reconciliation

He cared enough to make an incarnational investment!

Now the man to whom I’m going to introduce you was not a scrooge, he was a kind, decent, mostly good man. Generous to his family, upright in his dealings with other men. But he just didn’t believe all that incarnation stuff which the churches proclaim at Christmas Time. It just didn’t make sense and he was too honest to pretend otherwise. He just couldn’t swallow the Jesus Story, about God coming to Earth as a man. “I’m truly sorry to distress you,” he told his wife, “but I’m not going with you to church this Christmas Eve.” He said he’d feel like a hypocrite. That he’d much rather just stay at home, but that he would wait up for them. And so he stayed and they went to the midnight service. Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. He went to the window to watch the flurries getting heavier and heavier and then went back to his fireside chair and began to read his newspaper. Minutes later he was startled by a thudding sound. Then another, and then another. Sort of a thump or a thud. At first he thought someone must be throwing snowballs against his living room window. But when he went to the front door to investigate he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow. They’d been caught in the storm and, in a desperate search for shelter, had tried to fly through his large landscape window. Well, he couldn’t let the poor creatures lie there and freeze, so he remembered the barn where his children stabled their pony. That would provide a warm shelter, if he could direct the birds to it. Quickly he put on a coat, galoshes, tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on a light, but the birds did not come in. He figured food would entice them in. So he hurried back to the house, fetched bread crumbs, sprinkled them on the snow, making a trail to the yellow-lighted wide open doorway of the stable. But to his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs, and continued to flap around helplessly in the snow. He tried catching them. He tried shooing them into the barn by walking around them waving his arms. Instead, they scattered in every direction, except into the warm, lighted barn. And then, he realized, that they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, I am a strange and terrifying creature. If only I could think of some way to let them know that they can trust me. That I am not trying to hurt them, but to help them. But how? Because any move he made tended to frighten them, confuse them. They just would not follow. They would not be led or shooed because they feared him. “If only I could be a bird,” he thought to himself, “and mingle with them and speak their language. Then I could tell them not to be afraid. Then I could show them the way to safe, warm …to the safe warm barn. But I would have to be one of them so they could see, and hear and understand.” At that moment the church bells began to ring. The sound reached his ears above the sounds of the wind. And he stood there listening to the bells – Adeste Fidelis – listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. And he sank to his knees in the snow.

That is what makes their response so shocking

They reject the heir and they kill Him; they believe that this is the way to have the vineyard for themselves

Like so many of us today, they want the Kingdom, the blessings of God’s provision and protection, without the authority of the King

Yet, in the wisdom of God, the death of the prince is the ultimate expression of God’s love for rebellious people

He died so that they could live

Their wicked action was used of God so that a way of salvation could be made for them

None of this caught God off guard or surprised Him, it only worked to fulfill His perfect will

Galatians 4:4–7

[4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. (ESV)

III. Our Personal Peril vv. 9-12

In the wake of this rejection, however, the response is final and fatal

He removes the tenants and makes a way for others to come into His kingdom

They may have rejected the Law and the Prophets, but they cannot reject His Son and remain in the provision and protection of the Lord

As impossible as it seems, God’s whole plan is all about Jesus. It should be absolutely marvelous to us!

He is God’s Son, present with us

He is God’s agent of reconciliation and the only way to eternal life

He is God’s cornerstone, the foundational piece on which the whole house is built

We cannot find hope any other way and we must not push it to the side, Christians and try to find hope any other place

The story that we hear today is a story about all of us!

The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott Building the Home around the Christ Child

It is said that in Switzerland while a newly planned wooden chalet is only a skeleton, a little trimmed Christmas tree is brought and placed up in [the] roof among the rafters. The little Christmas tree is a symbol of the Christ child, and as the house is built up around the tree, so the future occupants declare their resolve to build their home around the Christ child and let him have the prominent place.

Every parable is about Jesus and you: where are you in this story?