The Rejected Cornerstone (Mark 12:1-12)

Intro/Recap

John H - looked at the prophetic action of Jesus as he went into the temple and threw out the sellers/money changers

Bruce M - looked at the Jewish authorities challenge where it was Jesus got his authority from.

Today, we see Jesus speak in a parable to make a point of what will happen to those who abuse the authority that God has given them.

We see that hostility towards Jesus has been brewing in the last few passages, and this section concludes with the religious leaders having an awareness that Jesus is speaking about them and that they need to arrest him and stop him.

Mark 12:1–12 ESV

And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this Scripture: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.

Race across the World - CANADA? Anyone watching?

2x father/daughter partnerships working together to pass through seven checkpoints from British Columbia to Newfoundland

Ladi and Monique are doing a great job of working together, listening to each other to achieve the objective

Kevin and Claudia are the complete opposite. No matter what Claudia seems to suggest, Kevin just wants to do his own thing and ignore her suggestions.

Of the two examples, we are in a Kevin and Claudia situation!

The Vineyard

In Mark 12:12 the religious leaders know that Jesus is talking about them in this parable. They are the ones who have rejected God’s initiative and chosen their own way/authority. They know this is about them because the metaphor of the vineyard relating to God’s people runs throughout scripture. Most clearly we see this in Isaiah 5.

Isaiah 5:1–7 ESV

Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!

What do we discover here?

God has gone out of his way to prepare a people who will bear fruit and bring glory to his name. Jesus speaks about this in John 15. Jesus is the vine into which God’s people are grafted in order that we might bear fruit. As the vinedresser, our heavenly Father prunes away branches/shoots which are dead and unfruitful. This is the process of sanctification—becoming more Christlike.

God’s intention from the very begining was that his people would be a people through whom all people would be blessed:

Genesis 12:1–3 ESV

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

The reality is, this didn’t happen. We know this familiar story…

Nehemiah 9:16-37 goes into great detail about the faithfulness of God to a faithless, hard hearted, rebellious and disobedient people. Time and time again he hears their cries and saves them, bringing judgment against them, and ultimately restoration.

Isaiah 5 paints a very vivid picture of God’s despair at the fruit found on the vine of his people. Where he had expected to see good fruit he finds wild grapes. Another translation for ‘wild’ could be ‘sour’ or ‘stinking’ grapes.

This is illustrated most clearly in Isaiah 5:7

Isaiah 5:7 ESV

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!

There is a play on words here which is lost in the English translation of the original Hebrew. God expected a harvest of righteousness and justice, but instead found the opposite. What this play on words does is not only illustrate the sin committed by God’s people in their failing to live up to the holy standard of righteous and just living, but that there has been a distortion of good things into evil things. The Hebrew words for Justice/Bloodshed and Righteousness/outcry are so similar they could be confused.

Isn’t this a word for today? There is a distortion of good and evil within the church.

But this was also a word for the peope Jesus was talking to: the religious leaders had taken what was intended to bring life and human flourishing to the people of God and made it a weight that people couldn’t bear to carry. Even worse, they were exploiting the system in order that they might live comfortably, with honour and reverence from the community around them. Rather than serving the people of God, they were making the people of God serve them.

So as Jesus tells this parable, the characters/situation become evident and obvious very quickly. On this occasion, rather than the sour fruit which is the problem, the wicked tenants/vinedressers are the cause for complaint.

In no uncertain terms:

Owner of the Vineyard = God

Vineyard = Israel

Tenants = Religious Leaders

Servants = Prophets

Son = Jesus

The Prophets of God REJECTED

God doesn’t act without first giving notice of his intentions. Many prophets had been sent to encourage the people of God to live like his people, to repent of their ungodly living, idol worship and hard heartedness. However, the people continue to rebel, rejecting God’s attempt at calling them to repentance.

Interestingly in Mark 12:4 “Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully.” some scholars think Jesus could be alluding to how John the Baptist had been shamefully treated by Herod who struck him the head, at the behest of Herodias’s daughter (Mark 6). The Greek verb is literally ‘wounded in the head’ - it is at least interesting to consider and is inkeeping with what Jesus is addressing.

Consistently the religious leaders rejected the prophets of God, preferring to live from their own authority, rather than God’s.

God’s Saving Grace INITIATED

I don’t know about you, but if I was dealing with rebellious tenants, I would probably not send my offspring to deal with them, but would call the appropriate authorities to have them removed from the place of occupancy.

But this is not how the gospel works… We learn from Jesus that the owner of the vineyard

God’s Son is REJECTED

The Rejected Son becomes the CORNERSTONE

Three points:

God’s response to abuse of authority

God takes the initivative in Jesus

God works in ways we don’t understand

God’s response to abuse of Authority

We have become accustomed to seeing people in positions of leadership abuse the position of authority they find themselves in. This is not exclusive to Christian leadership, but is seen across the religious and secular system. It has a led to a mass distrust of people in positions of leadership. Maybe even a disdain...

Last week Bruce helped us to think about modelling godly, Christlike authority. Jesus taught and acted with an authority given to him by God. He didn’t exercise power over people, abusing his position for his own benefit.

When Jesus speaks about meekness, he isn’t speaking about being weak people, but people who show restraint and control with their strength/authority.

As Christians seeking to follow the way of Jesus, we should live like our saviour. But unfortunately this is not always the case.

Over the last few years there have been numerous headlines about historic absuses of leadership in the Catholic Church, the Church of England as well as others. In many cases the abuse is of a physical, sexual nature. But it can also be emotional/bullying abuse, creating cultures of fear and intimidation. If you haven’t listened to the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill about the American pastor Mark Driscoll, you might find it interesting. Most recently, allegations have been brought against Mike Pilavachi, an influential British Evangelical, influential in the faith journey of many people under 45 through his ministry ‘Soul Survivor’.

Matthew 21:41–43 ESV

They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

God takes the initiative in Jesus

God works in ways we don’t understand