Authority

Intro

Authority

Responsibility

Productivity

Conclusion

Introduction

?

Outline

Authority

This passage starts out with Pharisees questioning Jesus’ authority

They weren’t wrong in asking, they were wrong in being close- minded!

Not seeking the truth

Looking for evidence to kill him!

Why take back authority to John?

John was teaching who Jesus was!

The rudimentary was not listened to either!

Jesus’ baptism was from God and from heaven!

See Mark 1:9–11 “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.””

Interestingly, the authorities are afraid of the people so they don’t answer him. Jesus, not afraid of the authorities does give them an answer through the use of John the Baptist

MTR- God has authority (Bible, how we live, what we do with our live; do we listen to him?)

Responsibility

Nuts and bolts of discipleship

As Jesus often does, he explains his points with the use of another parable to where their sins were taking them to.

Parable

Context

Paraphrase

Add Isaiah talking about Israel as vineyard

This time there is an addition of tenants (authorities)

Stone is Psalm 118 that was already used in the triumphal entry speech

Explain meaning

Vineyard is Israel

Tenants are authorities who have rejected the Son

Psalm 118: they have rejected the Son

The Leaders were responsible for the health of Israel but rejected God himself

Introduction

In U.S. Navel Institute Proceedings, the magazine of the Naval Institute, Frank Koch illustrates the importance of obeying the Laws of the Lighthouse. Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. I was serving on the lead battleship and was on watch on the bridge as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities.

Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing reported, "Light, bearing on the starboard bow." "Is it steady or moving astern?" the captain called out. The lookout replied, "Steady, Captain," which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship. The captain then called to the signalman, "Signal that ship: 'We are on a collision course, advise you change course twenty degrees.'" Back came the signal, "Advisable for you to change course twenty degrees." The captain said, "Send: "I'm a captain, change course twenty degrees.'" "I'm a seaman second-class," came the reply. "You had better change course twenty degrees." By that time the captain was furious. He spat out, "Send: 'I'm a battleship. Change course twenty degrees.'" Back came the flashing light, "I'm a lighthouse." We changed course.

Max Lucado, In the Eye of the Storm, Word Publishing, 1991, p. 153.

In our busy lives, there is so much information out there, and so many voices telling us what authority we should listen to. There are so many advertisements that cross our eyes about what status car or house we should own. We see TikTokers show us what clothing or supplies to buy (or to dress to impress). We see podcasts and celebrities show us how to live correctly with raising a family and how our marriage should be run. Sometimes this advice can come from our own family and friends that mean well. With so much information out there, who should we listen to or run from. Or better yet, whose authority is important enough to listen to and obey now?

For this answer, we can turn to the gospel of Mark 11:27-12:12. Here, we will view how the religious authorities were trying to deny Christ’s authority and how we must avoid their sinful choice in our own lives. To do this, we will look at 3 different phases of this passage: God’s Authority, Man’s Responsibility, and Our Productivity.

Authority

We first come on the scene here in this pericope to notice what actions are under way. The authorities show up and question Jesus on his authority. Should be a no-brainer right? ILL: I mean, the religious authorities should ask and care about those who claim to be someone. If someone walk into a church that you were helping to lead and claimed to be the owner of the property or the new pastor, I would hope someone would question this outsider on his authority! However, they were much different than this hypothetical scenario I just talked about… they were uncaring and only looking for a way to trick Jesus into stumbling so that they can kill him.

Context: For context, Jesus has just walked into Jerusalem and enter by way of a “Triumphal Entry” where people knew who he was!

Mark 11:9–10 “And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!””

They have no need to be reminded of who Jesus is, they only care to trap him in his words! Also note that this isn’t just the Pharisees either! This is all the religious leaders attempting to trap him! They all are wanting him dead which is climaxing to the soon Passover where Christ will die! There seems to be a small rumble as the catastrophe of the next few days looms large!

Now we see the question they pose: where does his authority lie? In saying this, they accuse Jesus that he never asked them for his authority! They seem to say, “We are the authority that allows all to be done- you didn’t go through us!” Sort of like how some corporations seem to impose on us today! Yet, Jesus doesn’t answer these religious leaders but poses his own question to them. He asks to them- (Mark 11:29).

In doing this question, Jesus is in fact answering their question. Jesus’ authority is found in the prophecy of John the Baptist.

See Mark 1:9–11 “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.””

He is leading the authorities back to where his authority comes from: heaven and God himself! Yet the elders return to him and can’t answer him because they fear the people. They worry that they are stuck in answering Jesus’ question to them. They return and say they don’t know- and Jesus doesn’t answer them either.

MTR- Do we question God or his authority in our lives? Is your time spent in conversation with God through his word and prayer or do other media influences steal your time from him?

Responsibility

Yet, in fact, Jesus teaches a parable to them next- and uses this illustration to prove his authority anyway. This parable is known as the parable of the tenants and it is important to keep in mind the thought that Jesus uses this parable to explain how the authority of the religious people is being used sinfully- especially when it comes to their own decision to try to kill Christ.

Paraphrase the Parable: A man plans a vineyard with all needed supplies and equipment to make it function well. He then left it to some tenants who were leasing it from him. When the season came for reaping, he sent some men to retrieve his produce but the man was beaten, a second man came and was wounded on his head, and a third messenger was killed. The owner then send his son since he thought they would respect the heir but they killed him so that the tenant might have the property instead. However, the owner would return and destroy the tenant for their actions.

By the way the religious authorities respond after the parable, it is clear that they could see the message of it, but it might be important for our far removed culture to take a look at what responsibilities were neglected in the parable.

First, this seems to be a reference back to Isaiah 5 that references Israel as the vineyard of God along with other passages. The difference is that there are tenants over Israel in this parable.

According to the law, the land was supposed to be vacant for several years (which many may not have listened to). If the owner had done such, a commentator noted that it may have been around the third year that the Son was sent when the food reaped should be given to God.

As it is also clear to see, the evil done to the messengers of the owner gets worse- sent empty, beaten, killed. Things are getting worse not better for them!

Sending his own son is pretty self explanatory- yet Jesus is putting himself into the narrative.

Christ ends this parable with a pointed application to the authorities. He references Psalm 118 that was previously used in his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Here, he is stating that unlike the crowds, these men have rejected Christ the Son of God to their own downfall. They had a responsibility to teach/tend Israel to prepare fruit for the owner/God when he comes. Yet they have rejected the prophets and on all the way to the Son of God! Talk about a stern rebuke.

MTR- We also have a responsibility before God. As we are leaders in our home, hall, or work, we should realize that our authority is gifted from God and we are to tend to the proverbial plants of those we lead so that we can all welcome Christ when he returns for us. In this way, we can give back to God what was given to us knowing we only have it on lean for now.

Productivity

There is still a glimmer of hope at the end. The owner has seen to the destruction of the evil tenants that have rejected him, but will lend out the field to others. He will lend it to others who will glean the harvest and return it to their true owner. While we are not longer in the Old Covenant, there are New Covenant expectations to consider. The harvest is no longer contained to the vineyard of Israel but now the whole of the world is to be gleaned for the harvest of all to believe in their true authority and owner in God.

While it is so easy to see how bad the authorities fell when rejecting God in their lives, we must also take a step back and consider in our own lives how God may not be our true authority in our lives. Do we truly listen to God by devoting time to being productive for the sake of the kingdom or are we living lives dedicated to ourselves? Would our phones tell us how little we read our Bible vs. the newest sports or news that just came out. Do we pray to God before we fall prey to our phones? We must realize we have one life that will soon leave us either happy for God or wishing that we spent more time with him?

Conclusion

With so much that we have gone through, we must make sure that our lives are focus on God’s authority while seeing man’s responsibility to tend the garden given us, and see how we can be productive to give God glory.

SA: I’ll leave with one pointed application to bring this home. Look today on how much time was spent on wasted time (either social media, browsing, or watching) and seek to spend that exact time this next week every day spending time with God instead. By doing this small step, we can change who is our authority- God or ourselves.