BACK UP
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 10 viewsNotes
Transcript
Questioning the Questioners (Answer Me)
When we introduced this book we highlighted that it is a book full of question. As Jesus travels about doing the works and ministry that God had called Him to do, people were shocked and amazed, and filled with wonder and that wonder many times came out in question form. Who is this that can forgive sins, give sight to the blind, heal people with lame legs? Who is this that winds and waves obey Him? Questions pepper the landscape of this Gospel and in the middle of the Gospel Jesus has a question for His followers and it is one that we all must answer.
Who do you say that He is? Imagine Him looking you dead in the eye and asking you this in the first person, “Who do you that I Am?”
We all better come up with the right answer for that one.
In the text today, Jesus and His actions are once again the source of bewilderment. The religious authorities are going to ask a straightforward question hoping that He might say something that they could use to implicate Him, but He brilliantly responds to their question by asking a question. These “competent religious authorities” are forced into displaying their foolishness that was fed by their fear of the people they were failing to lead.
Their none answer to Jesus question reveals why the temple and it’s authorities were under just judgement like a non-producing fig tree.
And then following up their silence, Jesus tells a plain parable that doesn’t take many brain cells exercising the powers of discernment to know who is being implicated for their failure to live up to God’s intentions.
This is a powerful passage and sobering as well.
And to understand the weightiness of these matters, we need to do a quick Greek Grammar lesson, because there is a highlighted grammatical point that happens twice in the text that Mark doesn’t want us to miss.
that is made in the Greek text as I read through this passage.
In English you have to read the context of a sentence in order to determine the mood.
So if I say, “The dog ran.” I am stating a fact. That dog is running. Indicative mood.
If I say, “the dog is chasing you, RUN!” I am giving you a command that would be good for you to obey.
In the Greek, the mood isn’t conceived by the context necessary, it shows up in how the word is spelled itself.
There are only two “imperative” verbs in this entire passage that I am about to read, but it occurs twice, so I think we better have ears to hear and use all our powers of discernment to hear what is being said to us.
27 And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, 28 and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.” 31 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 32 But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet. 33 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” 1 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. 2 When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this Scripture: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 11 this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” 12 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.
Pray
Did you pick out the “imperative verbs?”
Answer me! Can you imagine the all-seeing, Almighty, Holy, Creator God of the universe looking you dead in the eye after you had offended Him with your sin, questioning you and then demanding you to “Answer Him?”
This is intense and this is all of our reality. We will have to stand before Him someday. This will be the reality for every single one of us, there is no escape and then day when this will take place will come without notice.
We will give an account for our words.
36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,
We will give an account for our actions that we have been called to bear according to Gal. 6:5 and
12 So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
For believers…
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
And for the unbelievers in this room or within earshot of this message as it is streaming either now or in the future,
He'll render to each person according to their deeds
22 For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son,
27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.
Jesus as Just Judge will either condemn or justify each one of us.
And for those who are not believers. There is an awful judgement that awaits those who are unsaved.
5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
You may die, but that won’t be your end. He will rise you up out of the tomb someday and you will have to appear before Him and give an account before you are banished to hell.
Oh sinner, consider the fearful danger that you are in
It is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over by the hand of God. - Edwards
Answer me! Sobering enough? Is your heart pounding a little? Do you feel nervous to swallow? Good, then we are listening to the message rightly today.
Hear me when I say…
Everyone will answer to Jesus.
Everyone will answer to Jesus.
All authority has been given to Him.
We will either receive His blessing, of come under the crushing weight of His curse.
We will either be organically connected with Him allowing His fruit to be born in us or we will have the roots of our lives wither up under His condemning curse.
Let’s set the scene…
Mark 11:27–28 (ESV)
27 And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, 28 and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?”
This is so boss of Jesus. This is so bold. Do you remember what He did the day before? He flipped over tables, drove people out, gave a tongue lashing to nearly everyone. He wouldn’t allow people to carry things through the outer courtyard. It was a wild, disruptive to the status quo scene. This wasn’t Jesus cleansing the temple, it was Him cursing it and creating chaos and then leaving.
And now He is back the next day? You would think the security cameras and the security detail would have picked up on Him. But Jesus strolls in, unafraid and more embolden than ever to let His truth be known.
He walks back into the temple, knowing it will create a stir, but the stir created will be a long more than the day before because the rulers of the temple will be called out in parable form for committing the worst cosmic crime of all history.
The chief priest, the scribes and the elders were the ones with the highest authority and they didn’t authorize Jesus words or actions the day before so they question Him about His derived “authority.”
The only ones that could supersede their authority would be a king coming from the Line of David's as the Messiah, so their question is likely an indirect way of asking if He is God's Anointed One.
They knew that the Lord of Host said through His prophet Zechariah that…
Zechariah 6:12–13 (ESV)
12 ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. 13 It is he who shall build the temple of the Lord and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne.
They are wondering if Jesus, by His actions is claiming to be this coming one. They are hoping He will take their bait so that the could go about destroying Him for blasphemy, but Jesus is smart enough to discern their motives and poses a question to His questioners.
Mark 11:29–30 (ESV)
29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.”
This is quite the conundrum. Jesus is challenging their authority, by asserting His own. Jesus is so bold here. He doesn’t sidestep their question, but depending on how they answer His question will determine if and how He might respond to theirs.
I can’t stress how bold this is. They ask Jesus two questions and He respond by demanding that they answer Him. Twice. Answer me! Answer me!
The religious leaders are in an embarrassing dilemma as we see in the next verses.
Mark 11:31–32 (ESV)
31 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 32 But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet.
Here is the dilemma, if they acknowledged John’s prophetic authority was from God they would expose themselves to the charge of unbelief. Why, if John was from God, did they not listen to Him?
They didn’t want to expose their failure, so they decide to conceal it and double down on it and add to it.
Bad idea.
13 Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.
They chose very poorly. They chose to conceal their failures to recognize one of God’s prophets and try to maintain their false front of living up to the intentions God’s had for them as leaders and shepherds of the nation.
Also, if they acknowledge that John’s authority came from God, they would have to also be compelled to acknowledge that Jesus’ authority comes from God.
Even if they had a hint that, this might be the case, they wouldn’t admit it publically because, “if they affirm that John’s authority was from men (i.e. not from God), they will discredit themselves in the eyes of the people, who could turn against them because both John and Jesus were regarded by the people as genuine prophets.”
They feared “the people.”
Side note: When we fear people more than we fear God, we make a whole bunch of mistakes that have long term impacts on our lives and the lives of the people we love.
So instead of giving the right answer, they give the they give the political one.
Mark 11:33 (ESV)
33 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”
They feared the people and so they take a mental poll on the situation and try to figure out what might be best for them instead of stating what is apparently the obvious truth. They try to save face so they can keep up their appearance of piety and so they plead ignorance and fail to “answer” Jesus question.
Mark 11:33 (ESV)
33 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
They don’t give a definitive and fail to acknowlege the truth and so Jesus conceals the truth from them and then proceeds to tells them a parable based out of one of the writing of Isaiah the prophet. It was a famous passage of Scrpture that they would hvae had memorized and one that really doesn’t really take a lot of work to interpret.
1 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.
Mark 12:2 (ESV)
2 When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.
The owner of the vineyard rightfully expected a harvest of fruit (kind of like the fig tree in the last passage), and so “He sent a servant” to “get from them (the tenants of the vineyard) some of the “fruit of the vineyard.”
One thing that I want us all to notice as we talk through this parable is the incredible amount of longsuffering and patients displayed by the owner of the vineyard.
Mark 12:3–4 (ESV)
3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully.
They treated the servant “shamefully” but it was their behavior that was incredibly shameful. What audacity to treat anyone this way, let alone someone merely doing the work that God called them to do. These servants came to collect, and the tenants beat them, struck them and killed them.
Any yet Jesus keeps telling the story.
Mark 12:5 (ESV)
5 And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed.
This is almost absurd. He sent another and “many others.”
It makes me want to write a letter:
Dear vineyard owner, do you see what is happening? Stop sending your precious people to these pathetic pariahs. They are bent on evil and care nothing about you and only about themselves.
And yet Jesus keeps telling the story.
Mark 12:6 (ESV)
6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
We can see the longsuffering, and patience and others centered love that was compelling this vineyard owner to send a “beloved son,” to do the work of fruit collection, but we almost don’t even need to finish the parable to figure out what the tenants were going to do to Him, but let’s read the parental advised content and then make a comment.
Mark 12:7–8 (ESV)
7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.
It goes from almost absurd to completely absurd. The behavior is absolutely contrary to all reason and common sense. There is no way they will get away with this.
There will be hell to pay, and Jesus finishes the story by asking yet another question to those who questioned His authority, but this time He doesn’t ask them to answer the question, He uses all His God given authorty as God in the Flesh and definitevley answers it for them. He says:
Mark 12:9 (ESV)
9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others.
In the last chapter the leaders of the temple were trying to figure out how they might “destroy Jesus,” but in telling this parable, in this way, in this public setting, Jesus just “destroyed” them.
He follows it up with a quote from Psalm 118, which is a passage that the crowds were shouting from a few days earlier as He was presented as a humble king riding into Jerusalem on a cult.
They were quoting verses 25-26
25 Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.
But He quotes the context of those verses starting at verse 22.
22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 23 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
But even though they were the religous leaders they failed to see and marvel at the majesty of the man right in front of them.
And Mark finishes this section by saying.
12 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.
The whole parable…is a short summary of the grand story of the Bible. God chose Israel out of the world to be his own people. He cared for and protected them. He sent his prophets to proclaim his word, offer his promises, render his judgments, and predict the future. But so often throughout Israels history the leaders of God's people rejected, persecuted, and even killed the prophets. Finally, God thus loved his people, even though they had rebelled against him, that he sent his own beloved Son. But then the unthinkable happened. The irrational. The inexplicable. God's people killed God's own Son.
"They took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.” He is buried in a borrowed tomb outside of Jerusalem.
How then does the story end?
Vindication of the rejected but now risen son! J
udgment and salvation.
Those who reject Jesus will be destroyed while those who accept him will share in his inheritance (both now and forever).
They finally discenred the truth…thye were udner His judgement wheter they wanted to be or not.
shawn:
tJesus is not a useless stone Jesus is not a useless stone
Shawn:
Permanent foundation stone. 1 cor. 3:11 eph 2:20
Don’t be Defiante
He will question the questionnaires. This is massive boldness. Imagine the boldness of going back to a place the next day after creating such chaos and uphealve
he is under no obligation and feels no pressure to answer your questions. He isn’t threatened by you.
This parable almost needs no explanation.
Benediction
The Gospel of Mark 5. The Authority of Jesus. Ch. 11:27–33
Jesus’ authority presupposes a divine commission and authorization with power; the specific feature of this authority is that it is inseparable from the proclamation that the Kingdom of God has drawn near (see on Ch. 1:15).
