The Wicked Tenants
Notes
Transcript
As we continue in the book of Mark, we pick up right where we left off last week. Jesus is approached by the priests and scribes and elders. And they question his authority. He refuses to answer them because they did not have the spine to answer him about how they felt about John the Baptist. So we come to a parable that Jesus gives them.
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
I have enjoyed much time studying my family history. From studying this, I have come to the conclusion that I have not come from any means of wealth. Most of my family in the last 100 years have been mill workers. With this, they did not accumulate wealth. One thing that I would not mind is coming from a family that had land. Land is one of the few things that they cannot make any more of. I would enjoy building a really small cabin and spending my days working the land. This would be a dream. But I also live in reality and know that this may not ever happen.
One thing that I notice is that when people have a good amount of land, they often lease it out. Where we live, the fields are usually leased out to farmers who rotate between cotton, soy beans, hay, and corn. For this to happen, they would strike up a contract between the land owner and the tenant for some specified amount for the year.
In our passage today, Jesus tells a story of a man who brings in people to work his land. These tenants turn into the type of tenants that you don’t want. If this were to happen today, the owner would contact law enforcement to start the process of evicting them, or in this specific case they would draw up a warrant for criminal charges.
The tenants though had a goal in mind. They wanted what the owner had. And they believed that they had a plan to gain the inheritance that was owed to someone else. I am not personally banking on a family inheritance(might end up being some dogs), but I desire an eternal inheritance and I know where that comes from.
Main Point: Eternal Inheritance Come Through Acceptance of the Son of God
Main Point: Eternal Inheritance Come Through Acceptance of the Son of God
My prayer today is that you do not see our eternal inheritance as anything that you are owed. No parent will ever be indebted to a child to leave them an inheritance. But an inheritance is given out of love.
I have 4 sub-points today from our text. They are not application driven points, but descriptive points to help us flow through this parable.
God Has Given Man Opportunity
God Has Given Man Opportunity
God is a generous God and a patient God. I am very thankful for that. He has given me more than I ever deserve because the only thing that I deserve is to spend an eternity in punishment to pay for my sins. But God has given me grace through faith in Jesus. And this is an opportunity.
He has given everyone an opportunity. He has made us stewards of many things. Jesus begins this by telling a parable to the Sanhedrin that is there with him.
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.
A parable is a story that is used to teach something. In this case, Jesus is teaching the Sanhedrin about the treatment of someone. He tells them about a man who had land that planted a vineyard. A little difference than what I was mentioning earlier about people leasing land out today, the owner of this land planted the vineyard himself. He did not rely on someone else to plant it. And he had a plan for this vineyard. We know this because he built a winepress and a tower to aid in the production of wine from the vineyard.
The man who planted this vineyard expected a bountiful crop. He put the things in place to aid in this. All the way to the point where he brought in tenants to tend to it. The tenants were to tend to the crop. The tower was to aid in protection to the crop to keep a lookout for any dangers. And the winepress would be used to render down the grapes into the wine. He did all of this so that his crop would be bountiful. Since he had all of this in place, he was able to leave and not be concerned about the potential of his crop.
2 When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.
If you have a garden, you know that the most wonderful time is when it is time to harvest. All of the investment of labor and time and effort will now pay off. Maybe you have some memories like me of this as a kid. At the time, I hated it when corn and green beans were ready. We would get up early, go and pick the garden, and then we would come back and spend a lot more time shucking and silking the corn and popping beans than we did picking it. Looking back now though, I see the wonderful picture of the kingdom of God in it. The harvest.
God’s word uses this imagery of harvesting to show us what happens when people hear God’s word and believe. Back in Mark 4, Jesus tells a story about sowing seeds. He gives 4 different scenarios of the soil that the seed can be scattered on and what the seed will produce. Some seed was thrown on the path and was picked by birds. Other seed was scattered on rocky ground and did not take but was scorched by the sun. More seed was scattered and landed in the thorns and was chocked out. All of this pictures the seed of the gospel landing on individuals who will not accept it.
But then he tells about seed that was thrown onto good soil. This soil takes root. God waters it and gives it the elements necessary for it to grow.
20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”
The harvest happens. And the seed bears fruit that is thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold. Now, I have been in and around gardens for a lot of my life. If you told me that I could plant a seed and get that much harvest, it would be a no brainer. This is a bountiful harvest. And when the planter puts in the work and relies on God to do his part, he can expect a bountiful harvest just like this man.
But the ones whom he left to tend for it did not let him partake in the harvest. This is what I mean when I say wicked. The owner had put in the work, planted, prepared, and set them up for success. All they had to do was to tend to it. And he sends a servant to bring back some fruit. But they refuse.
next point
Man Refuses to Give Fruit to God
Man Refuses to Give Fruit to God
We see this as the servant goes to the tenants and they deal with him.
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.
These were some harsh tenants. They really did not want to give up any of the grapes from the vineyard, even to the owner. Remember, these tenants were just caretakers.
Down in Royston, GA, there is a piece of land called “Camp Little Light”. They host religious groups to come down for getaways. They have taken old horse stables and turned them into bunk houses. They have built a cafeteria and dining hall. And there is a man that is there and he is always at work. And you can go and ask this man if he is the owner. And he will always give you the same answer. “No I am not. God is. I am just the caretaker.”
We are going to get into the allegory of this story in a little bit. But if you have not caught on, this story of a man owning a vineyard and leasing it to tenants is the story of God giving the land to the Israelites. The servants represent the prophets and servants that God had sent to Israel to call them back to him. Yet they beat them and they kill them and they reject the owner.
God has given us charge over much. How are we taking care of it? Are we being good stewards? I can’t say that I have ever preached a sermon just on financial giving here at our church. The texts I have preached have not lent themselves to that, and I am not doing that today. But I am going to briefly talk about it. Here is a statistic for you. If you earn an average of $60K a year, you are in the top 1% of earners in the world. What a fantastic thing. My family falls in that category. I don’t know about your families because I don’t ask you all what you earn. You guys know what I earn and I can tell you that what my wife makes puts us over that.
But how well are we taking care of what God has given us. Are we doing everything we can to keep up with the Jones’s. Are we buying expensive houses? Are we buying cars that we are having to finance for 6-7 years now that will break down and end up in the shop just like cheap ones that we can pay for with cash? Are we buying the nicest clothes and the nicest shoes to impress people who really could care less? Are we being good stewards.
Instead of buying the new car that cost $60K and we are paying for it for 5 years, why don’t we buy the 5 year old car for $20K and take that extra money each month and put it to other use. There are ministries, outside of our church, that rely on the giving of others to serve those in our community. You could give to them. Or, just hear me out, you could give it to the church. We are averaging about 600-700 dollars short each week of what we need to operate. This is not me asking for a raise. I have never done that here and I will not until we are in a better financial spot. But this is money that we can be putting towards reaching people in our community. This is money that we can be investing into discipleship material. Are we being good stewards? Is there stuff that we are doing to feed our fleshly desire that could be put to better use for the kingdom of God?
I also want to say that if you are retired and living off of social security and you are living in a paid for home and driving a 20 year old car, and you are giving all that you can that I am not talking to you. This is not a guilt trip to try to squeeze blood from a turnip. We just need to make sure we are being good stewards of what God has entrusted us with.
When the rubber meets the road, are we going to be compared to the tenants in this story or are we going to hear the words from our eternal father, “well done good and faithful servant.
Man Kills the Son
Man Kills the Son
The owner sends his servants. The tenants beat them and killed them. But, this owner was persistent. He was not going to give up on these tenants so easily.
6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
The man believes that since his servants were rejected that if he sends his son, his flesh and blood, that the tenants will be more respectful. What is the next best thing besides the father? It’s the 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.
I love movies that are about a hostage situation. One of the greatest movies along this line is the movie Taken. In this movie, a young girl and her friend go to another country on vacation. They are staying in a home and the young girl witnesses her friend get kidnapped. While this is going on, she calls her dad freaking out. He instructs her of what to do in the situation. Unbeknownst to her, he is a former Green Beret and CIA operative. He tells her to hide under the bed and to be prepared to be kidnapped. When she is taken, the kidnappers pick up the phone and, in one of the greatest pieces of cinema of all time, her dad gives the kidnapper a speech.
Liam Neeson - "I don't know who you are, I don't know what you want. If you're looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you, but if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."
This movie depicts the great lengths that a father will go to for their children. The father will do what ever it takes to save his child. I know that the men in this room would act similarly if their child were to be taken. In our passage, he did not send his son on some sort of rogue mission. The son was supposed to be respected because of who his father was. But he was killed. Not only was he killed, but they disrespected his body by throwing him out of the vineyard.
What would your father do for you? In the story, the father represents God and the son represents Jesus. The people of Israel, God’s chosen people, denied his own son. Not only that, they killed him.
What will the father do? As much as Liam Neeson’s character in the movie loved his daughter, it does not compare to the love that God has for his son, Jesus. But also, in the movie, he gave them one opportunity to make it right. Our parable that Jesus is telling shows us in great numbers the many, many times that God had given the people of Israel to turn back to him, up until the point where he sent his son and they killed him.
Why? Because the people of Israel rejected Jesus as the son of God.
The Son is Rejected
The Son is Rejected
We go back to this idea of inheritance. An inheritance is not earned. It is not taken either. The tenants thought that if they killed the son that, somehow, this display of ruthlessness and power would compel the father to give them the vineyard. The vineyard was the sons inheritance in the story. So the father would have an option. He could no longer send anyone to the tenants because they had shown their intentions. So he would have to let things be or step in himself.
9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others.
He will take the vineyard from the tenants, destroy them, and give it some others. In the allegory of this, God is going to come and take away the temple from the chief priests, destroy the temple, and give the church to the ones who accept his son. What a beautiful picture this is for us as believers. Because we have not rejected his son and we have rightly tended what God has given us, we are offered the inheritance that was wanted by those who killed his son.
Our text today has several parallels to other parts of scripture. There is a story in Isaiah 5 of a vineyard which is likely where Jesus took this story and adjusted it to point the Sanhedrin to their own rejection of the son. But Jesus now references Psalm 118.
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’?”
This is a direct quote from Psalm 118. The rejected stone is actually the cornerstone. In the time period that they are in, the cornerstone was the most important stone of the foundation of a structure. Off of this stone, all the other stones would be placed. If this stone was not true, the structure would be off and eventually it would fail.
During our Wednesday night bible study, we were looking at the book of Amos. In Amos, God gives his a vision of a plumb line which is another building tool that was important. The plumb line would help to make sure that walls were straight. Both of these are pictures of Jesus. Jesus is the perfect standard. Everything is measured and inspected off of the cornerstone. The cornerstone is the standard.
Jesus is our spiritual foundation, our perfect standard. Without Jesus, we have no structure. Without Jesus, we have no guide. Without Jesus, our foundation crumbles. He is where we get our doctrine, he is what we build our faith off of, he is what stabilizes us during bad times to make sure that we do not fall. If you build your faith off of anything but Jesus, it will fail.
This quote of Psalm 118 is not the only one that is familiar to us in the book of Mark. 2 days before this, when Jesus was riding into Jerusalem, the people were shouting Hosana. Mark 11:9–10 “9 And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!””
This is a quote from Psalm 118:25 “25 Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success!”
In the span of 2 days, Jesus himself declares that he is the cornerstone that the builders had rejected after the people declared him to be the messiah who was to come and save them. Would this last?
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 journey to the cross in furthered by this parable. The scribes and priests and elders grew in their disdain towards Jesus because they knew that he was comparing them to the tenants in the parable. But their fear of the people would hold them off in the moment from arresting him.
Conclusion
This parable is full of wonderful truths. But, as we close, I want us to focus in to two things. These are going to be our 2 application points.
The cornerstone
Jesus is our perfect cornerstone. We must not reject him. If you are here today and have never made a credible profession of faith, I am going to call you to that now. That comes from belief in the gospel. (gospel presentation) (repent and believe). See that Jesus is truly your cornerstone.
For the believer, be reminded today that Jesus is the cornerstone. Continue to build on him as the foundation in your life.
The vineyard
God has given us things to tend. Just as the owner had the tenants to take care of the vineyard, we are to take care of things that God has given over us. We have jobs, husbands and wives, children, families, homes, neighbors, a church family, and finances. How are we doing as we take care of these things? Are we building up and being good tenants or are we neglecting?
I don’t want us to get confused that these things are what builds our faith. It is the opposite. How we care for these things are products of our faith. Think of it as a vineyard. You have the elements that make it grow and then you have the fruit. The elements are things like prayer, bible reading, being involved in church. These things help you to grow. But then we have the fruit. This is when you display if you are a good tenant or a wicked tenant.
Make sure you are watering your plants so that you produce good fruit. With Jesus as our cornerstone and God as the vineyard owner, our fruit will be good and our foundation will be immovable.
God is so good. I am so thankful for each and every one of you and how you trust in Jesus. So that is how I want us to end our time in worship today. We are going to sing about how sweet it is to trust in Jesus. As we sing, spend time in reflection and spend time in worship of how great God is.
