The Wicked Tenants

Good morning, welcome to NHCC. Please open your Bibles to Mark 12.

When we last left off, Jesus had been questioned by the religious authorities concerning the authority with which He was doing and saying what we have been reading about.

We saw that Jesus refused an answer and I actually need to clarify something that I said a few times last week.

I used the language that Jesus “walked away” from the religious authorities, but as we will soon see in our text today, He continues to engage them in conversation.

What I should have said is that ended that particular conversation. By seeing the unwillingness of the religious leaders to get serious about John the Baptist, Jesus became unwilling to answer the questions that they had for Him.

What we will find this morning is that Jesus does continue in conversation with the Jewish leaders, further igniting their drive to put Him to death.

Let’s see what Jesus communicates in this continued conversation.

Read Mark 12:1-12- 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.

Pray.

Jesus has returned to teaching by way of parable, and unlike some of the parables that have been offered before, He gives no explanation to His disciples.

It seems clear enough from the text that no explanation was necessary, as the religious leaders understood exactly what it was that Jesus was teaching.

But the reason that everyone understood what was being taught is because they heard the parable through the lens of the Old Testament.

While He quotes directly from Psalm 118 at the end, many of the images that He employs are taken directly from the OT. Let’s walk through the parable and explain how the Jewish leaders and the crowds would have heard and understood the words of Jesus.

First, a man plants a vineyard.

Isaiah 5:1-2- 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.

God is the planter of the vineyard, and Israel is the vineyard that is planted.

The vineyard was leased to tenants who were given the responsibility of caring for it and helping it to produce good fruit.

Clearly this is an allusion to God’s putting in place the priests of the OT, those who were responsible for the spiritual maturity of the people of Israel.

We read throughout the OT that the religious leaders of Israel were constantly failing the people of Israel.

Jeremiah 23:1-4- “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the LORD. Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the LORD.

The Old Testament backdrop thus shows us that these tenants did not care well for the vineyard, so that it never produced the way one would expect.

But Jesus draws our attention to a larger issue- the tenants refuse the wishes of the owner of the vineyard.

It is His vineyard, yet they want to keep all of it for themselves.

So the owner sends servants, a word that is used in connection with the prophets in the OT.

Amos 3:7-8- “For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy?”

Over and over these servants are sent with multiple purposes. They are sent to reap the harvest, to collect on what belongs to the landlord.

But they are also sent as a warning that the landlord continues to have expectations of His tenants.

John Calvin writes of the role the prophets played- “The priests were certainly appointed at first on the condition of thoroughly cultivating the Church by sound doctrine; but as they neglected the work assigned them, either through carelessness or ignorance, the prophets were sent as an extraordinary supply, to clear the vine from weeds, to lop off the superfluous wood, and in other ways to make up for the neglect of the priests; and, at the same time, severely to reprove the people, to raise up decayed piety, to awaken drowsy souls, and to bring back the worship of God and a new life.”

Each of these messengers are met not only with disrespect, but are beaten and even killed.

In fact, we see a progression. The first servant they beat, the second they strike on the head, and the third is killed.

This reminds us of the persecution suffered by the prophets, persecution that we mentioned by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

Finally, the landowner sends his son.

Clearly, this refers to Jesus. The tenants kill the son and throw his body out of the vineyard. In the same way, the Jewish leaders will be responsible for the death of Jesus outside the walls of Jerusalem.

But notice the motivation here- the tenants want the vineyard for themselves. By killing the son, they believe that they will now own the vineyard and everything that comes from it.

Lastly, we see the owner’s wrath and judgement brought against the wicked tenants.

So this is the parable and all of the pieces within it, but now we must ask what we can learn from such a parable.

If parables are stories that are meant to reveal significant spiritual truths, what are the truths and how might they be understood and applied today?

1. God’s kindness and patience are on display.

It is easy to read this parable and immediately jump to the final mindset and actions of the landowner, representing God.

We see Him as angry, filled with wrath towards the tenants who are supposed to be caring for His vineyard.

But we need to take a moment to see the attitude of God throughout 90% of the parable.

His attitude is not one of anger or wrath, but instead of patience and kindness. How can we find this made plain?

First, God sets up the vineyard with great care.

Notice the details that are given here. A vineyard is planted, a fence is put around it in order to protect it from outside threats.

A winepress is created so that the fruit from the vineyard can be put to great use.

And a tower is installed, so that people can keep watch over the vineyard.

Even the leasing to tenants shows His care. He puts people in charge of it to tend it and care for it, not expecting it to simply grow and produce fruit on its own.

We are reminded here that God’s desire is for the health of the vineyard, and that He has put in place what is necessary for it to flourish.

If the vineyard is Israel, notice just one example of how God has cared for His people.

The fence might represent the law- necessary boundaries given for the protection of God’s people.

The law was given in order to keep threats outside the camp. It defines the life of blessing by showing the destructive nature of what is outside of such life.

But we also know that the law was given to reveal the fallenness of man, that left to ourselves, we are not good enough.

Thus, we see the kindness of God shown through how He sets up the vineyard for success.

But God shows kindness and patience in another way as well.

God reveals Himself and His plan.

I’m blown away by the patience of the landowner here. This seems like it should be a classic one strike and you’re out sort of scenario.

Think of what has transpired throughout the duration of this parable. One servant after another being sent and returned beaten or killed. Over and over. One warning after another.

And finally, once the servants have been unable to retrieve the fruit, what does the owner do? He sends his son.

Would our anger, our wrath, be pushed back so far?

We are reminded of the patience of the owner, shown through his many attempts.

Consider what Peter wrote of God’s patience- 2 Peter 3:9- The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Long before we ever find our way to the judgement of God, we see patience and mercy on display. The parable of the wicked tenants shows initially a peaceful and patient God, set against the wrathful and brutal tenants.

Now, let’s focus our attention on what we might learn of ourselves from the tenants.

2. The tenants reveal the nature of our sinful condition.

The tenants are seen as sinful, or wicked, but what about their behavior proves their wickedness?

As a sinner who is seeking to put to death the sin that is in me, my desire is to understand my own sinful condition as well as possible. What is it that makes me wicked, just like the tenants are wicked?

It is more than just their treatment of the servants and the son. In fact, we would likely say that there is a larger offense BEHIND their treatment of the servants and son.

Their attitude toward the owner of the vineyard is what drives their treatment of the messengers.

Stated just a bit differently, their treatment of the messengers is a symptom of the disease which is their view of the landlord.

The root condition being exposed in this parable is the tenant’s thinking that what they had was theirs and did not belong to the owner of the vineyard.

This is why they beat and killed the servants and the son, they didn’t want to give up any of what they had. They wanted to keep it for themselves. This was communicated most clearly in their killing of the son.

So what is the issue here? What is so bad about the tenants wanting everything that the vineyard might produce?

The issue is that what they have doesn’t belong to them, but instead has been entrusted to them. They are meant to give an account for what they have done with what they do have.

The tenants believe that they are not responsible for the vineyard according to the owner’s purposes for it. They want to do with it whatever they desire.

This is directly applicable to the lives of each and every one of us.

This defines the very nature of a sinful person- our desire is for zero accountability and complete control over our own lives.

So we hear the mottos of our sinfulness- you do you, follow your heart, do what makes you happy, its your life. All of these lead to ruin, and we find it displayed clearly in the tenants and their coming judgement.

But we also find here a warning to those who are in the body of Christ.

Notice what Paul writes to the Christians at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 4:6-7- I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

Christians are in danger of becoming puffed up or arrogant when we neglect to see what we have as given to us by God.

This is the nature of sin, what we must always beware, and what we most often need to repent of.

We are tempted to ignore God’s usefulness for that with which He has blessed us and instead to apply our own usefulness. Are we seeking out the will of God in everything that we have or are we living our lives according to how we want to live our lives?

This is the issue with the tenants, with the Jewish leaders, and we find it to be a struggle in our own lives as well.

3. God’s punishment makes logical sense.

Let’s revisit why Jesus teaches in parables.

Jesus takes observable realities in the surrounding world and communicates spiritual truths with them.

Parable of the soils; Good Samaritan; Prodigal son.

Jesus, thus, uses something that likely people would have experienced in their lifetime. This practice of having tenants oversee a vineyard would have been a lived experience for many. They would understand the tenants wanting to cheat the owner. They had likely seen it before.

But there was another purpose to the parables. To show the reasonableness of the outcome.

House built on sand, built on rock.

There is a way that we expect the parables to play out.

The same could easily be said of our text.

Is anyone truly surprised by the coming judgement against the tenants? If we are surprised at all, it is because of how long justice has been delayed.

So one thing that this parable teaches us is that judgement against those who would do what the tenants did is completely reasonable and justified.

Why is this such a big deal? Because few think this way today, including in the Church!

We think that somehow a judging God is somehow beneath His character.

Conclusion- Psalm 118.

Everything is built on Christ. Everything in our life has Him as the foundation.

This isn’t meant to be an empty platitude, I mean what I say.

Each decision we make is meant to reflect the character and nature of Christ. Or, stated more plainly, is meant to originate from Christ’s life in us.

The direction of our lives is meant to be aimed with Christ in mind.

What we do with what we have is meant to reflect a trust in God’s direction for our lives, exemplified for us in the life of Jesus.

This is what it means to have Christ as the cornerstone. Everything in our life is built in line with that stone.

Azariah.