Mark 12:1-12

Intro

Read Mark 12:1-5

Mark 12:1–5 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.

Transition

vs. 1a Parables

A short moral story that was often expressed with imagery and metaphor.

An understanding of parables is essential if one is to understand the teaching of Jesus, since the parables make up approximately 35 percent of his recorded sayings

Matthew 13:10–11 ESV

Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

Several times the Disciples had to ask Jesus the meaning of the parable

Parables aren’t illustrations for Jesus’ teachings, they are his teaching

Our job is to discern and learn the point of the parable

Parable of the soils

Farmer is sowing seed

Some fall on hard soil, some on rocky soil, others fell amongst the thorns

All of those plants failed

The good soil produced 100 fold

You learn that the soil is a representative of our hearts

vs. 1b Owner Leases Vineyard

Tonight’s parable is about a vineyard

A wealthy owner bought some land, planted a vineyard, and built a supporting structure for it to be successful

He leased the land to some locals and went on his way to another country

The owner has put all of the investment into the property

He owns the land and as part of the lease has made arrangements with the tenants for some of the fruit at harvest time

This is a very normal arrangement for tenant farmers

They obviously agreed to the arrangement before the owner left of another country

vs. 2-5 Servants Treated Shamefully

At harvest time the owner sent a servant to get some of the fruit

They took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed

This was a pretty gutsy move, probably brought on by the knowledge that the owner was in a far away country

Somewhere between signing the lease and the harvest the tenants started to look at the vineyard as theirs

Maybe they were thinking they had done all of the hard work and deserved to keep the fruit of their labor

Maybe the owner’s cut was going to cut into their profits

Whatever the case the tenants had made no investment outside of their labor, but felt justified in keeping the grapes and wine

The owner sent many other servants

Some they beat, some they treated shamefully, and one was killed

It here we need to stop and determine the metaphor of the story

Who do you think the Owner is?

God

What do you think the vineyard represents?

The promised land: Israel

The Tenants were Israel

The servants were the prophets who had been mistreated over the centuries

This parable is to show Israel, and especially it’s leaders, that they had abused and misused God’ gift with no fruit to show for it

vs. 6-9 Owner’s Son Killed

The owner had one more he could send, His Son

His reasoning was that they wouldn’t reject his own son

The tenants wrongfully thought that if they killed the son the land and vineyard would become theirs

They killed the son and threw him out of the vineyard

The owner will come and destroy the tenants and give it to others

The son here obviously represents Jesus

This parable is to show that the leaders of Israel rejected God’s own son and God is going to deal with them

That actually happened in AD 70 when the Romans kicked out all of the Jews out of Jerusalem and burned it to the ground

vs. 10-12 Cornerstone

Jesus finishes up his mini sermon by quoting Psalm 118

Psalm 118:22–23 (ESV)

The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.

back in Jesus’ day they didn’t build with wood, they built with stone

The most important stone was the cornerstone

It had to have a perfect 90 degree angle or else they house would be unstable

They would lay the cornerstone at one of the corners of the house and then measure everything else off of that corner

If the cornerstone was off by even one degree it would throw the walls off

This would make the whole house unstable against the elements

Jesus is the chief cornerstone

The leaders rejected him, but God built his church upon him