Faithful Farmers in God’s Vineyard - Mark 12:1-12

Faithful Farmers in God’s Vineyard

Mark 12:1-12

       Sharecroppers were families who lived on and farmed land that didn’t belong to them. They plowed the owner’s land, planted the owner’s seeds, and picked the owner’s harvest. In return for their hard work, they kept some of the food they produced and gave the rest to the landowner.  In a sense, each one of us is a sharecropper for the Lord. We don’t own anything; we just manage a part of God’s creation. But sometimes we make the same mistake the tenants in this parable made. We start imagining we own the vineyard! Truth: God owns it all!

 Context: The passion week, confrontation in Jerusalem with the Jewish leaders.

Literary and Conceptual Background: The parable Jesus tells draws on Isa 5:1-7.

Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.  ² 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.  ³ And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.  ⁴ What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? [Like the fruitless fig tree!]  ⁵ And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.  ⁶ I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.  ⁷ For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!

Introduction: Every human is responsible for their response to the Son (John 3:35,36). Every Christian is responsible for their stewardship of the message (I Cor 4:1,2).  Yes, Jesus is talking to and about the spiritually blind leaders of Israel. They were the ones who were leading the rejection of the Messiah, rather than embracing Him as the Hope of the nation. But remember that we too are responsible for our response to Him, and we too are responsible for our stewardship of what God has entrusted to us. Remember Paul’s warning,  

¹⁹ Then you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in."  ²⁰ That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe.  ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. (Romans 11:19-21).

As we read this passage, lets see the stubbornness of the leaders, and also be warned about guarding our own hearts! Jesus is Lord. Believe Him, follow Him!

The Maine* Idea: God requires us to be faithful with the message and the mission He has entrusted to us, those who hear are responsible for their response to the message.

I. The Master has entrusted the ministry to those He calls (12:1).

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...” 

       Jesus told parables both to illumine truth and to expose unbelief. This scene shows that understanding the sense of the words Jesus spoke, getting the meaning of the story, was not to say that it was necessarily received with faith. The parables clearly called for a response. In this case the leaders perceived that He [Jesus] spoke this parable against them, but they did not receive it with repentance and faith. Remember when Nathan told David the parable of the rich man who took the poor man’s beloved lamb, and prepared it for his guests’ dinner? David burned with anger against the man, but he didn’t understand that He was the man – at least not until Nathan told him! The difference was, that David was convicted, and by God’s grace, he came to repentance and faith. He received the message of the parable. These leaders don’t need anyone to interpret the parable for them. It may be that their familiarity of Isaiah 5 helped them to put the pieces together.  But they were determined in their rejection of Jesus, they would not repent, they would not believe.

       We have been entrusted with the truth. As we share the message, some will believe. Still, today, not all will receive the message of His grace. For our part, God requires us to be faithful with the message and the mission He has entrusted to us. Those who hear are responsible for their response to the message.

II. Israel’s leaders repeatedly rejected the messengers sent by God (2-5).

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. ⁵And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed.

      The history of Israel was marked by rejection of prophets and deliverers sent by God. Both Matthew and Luke report the emotional cry of Jesus as He approached the city on this final pilgrimage,

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!” (Mt 23:37; cf. Lk 13:34).

As I read this, I thought of Stephen’s final speech before his persecutors. He made the same point that the nation had repeated rejected the deliverers and prophets God had sent to them, including Moses himself. We read in Acts 7:35-39,

³⁵ "This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?'- this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.  ³⁶ This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.  ³⁷ This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, 'God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.'  ³⁸ This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us.  ³⁹ Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt…

The leaders could not escape their own history, they could not deny the repeated exposure of the hardness of heart of their ancestors. You can almost see the crowd nodding in agreement as Stephen indicts the fathers for their unbelief… until he turns the tables and says, “You are just like your fathers!” Then their anger boils over, and they stone him. Jesus tells this parable, and the leaders, familiar with the language of Isaiah, knowing their own history, understand. The nation had rejected prophets and judges sent in times past by God. Yet they could not accept this this was the climax of that pattern!  In times past God spoke to the fathers through the prophets… in these last days, he spoke in the Son (Heb 1:1).

       Why then are we surprised when people resist the Gospel message? It is nothing new! Still, God requires us to be faithful with the message and the mission He has entrusted to us, those who hear are responsible for their response to the message.

III. Jesus prophesies the rejection and murder of the Son (6-8).

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 .

       The leaders who were challenging Jesus were the core of His audience as He  told this story.  They were already plotting to kill Him. Did it cross their minds, “Wait a minute, how does this guy know what we are thinking? How does He know our plans?” They “perceived that He told this parable against them” but they did not deal with what Jesus’ omniscience revealed about His person! Their blindness to the truth is exposed by their unwillingness to believe.

       How could the rulers have been so blind, so hardened against even acknowledging the possibility that Jesus might be the One for whom the nation had so long waited? Psalm 2 opens describing the stubborn resistance of humans to the authority and sovereignty of God. We read in Psalm 2:1-6,  

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?  ² The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his anointed, saying,  ³ "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us."  ⁴ He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.  ⁵ Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,  ⁶"As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill."

Before we are too hard on the leaders, let’s remember that the psalmist is describing both the people and the “nations,” i.e., the gentiles, resisting the reign of God and His anointed. That continues to be the attitude of humanity today. Fallen humans are not neutral. They are at enmity with God. R.C. Sproul said,

When the Son of God walked the earth, from the time of His birth until the time of His execution, there was never a moment when His life was safe among human beings. Our fallen nature is such that we are not simply indifferent to God, we hate God. God is our mortal enemy, and fallen humans will stop at nothing in their attempts to throw off the sovereignty of their Creator. We should not believe that the world is truly indifferent to God, as it professes to be. If God Himself came to earth today, and people were given power to destroy Him, He would surely be put to death…

Could it be? Are human hearts that hardened against God? Think about what happened with Jesus! Humans are not neutral, open to reason, searching for truth. They stubbornly resist the idea that another has authority over them.  God requires us to be faithful with the message and the mission He has entrusted to us, those who hear are responsible for their response to the message.

IV. He graciously warns the leaders of judgement if they persist in their rejection (9-11).

 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'?" 

       If the actions of the tenants in this parable illustrate the resistance to the rule of God described in the beginning of Psalm 2, the judgement brought by the father in the parable describes the second part of the psalm. We read in Psalm 2:5-11,   

⁵ Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, ⁶ "As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill."  ⁷ I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you.  ⁸ Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.  ⁹ You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."  ¹⁰ Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.  ¹¹ Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling…

Jesus first asks His hearers a question, “What will the owner of the vineyard do?” The leaders know the imagery from Isaiah. They perceive that He is speaking this parable against them. In asking the question He is inviting them to consider their actions, and to re-consider their plans. Remember Gamaliel, when the Sanhedrin is taking counsel together against the disciples he warned,

³⁸ So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail;  ³⁹ but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!" (Acts 5:38-39).

Do you really want to risk opposing the Master of the vineyard? But even as He asked the question, He already knew the hearts of the leaders. Yet, still, He shows his patience, giving opportunity for repentance. What will the Master do?

       Without hesitation Jesus offers another line of evidence, quoting from Psalm 118. This psalm was quoted a few days earlier by the crowd as Jesus entered the city: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Mark 11:9f.; cf. Ps 118:25,26).  Now, from just a few verses earlier in the psalm, Jesus switches from the metaphor of a vineyard, to that of a building, as He quotes from Psalm 118:22,23, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” Still, the eyes of the leaders are not opened, seeing they do not see, hearing they do not hear. Do you ever feel that way when you seek to share the Gospel message? Don’t be discouraged.  God requires us to be faithful with the message and the mission He has entrusted to us, those who hear are responsible for their response to the message.

V. The leaders understand, but do not repent and believe (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.

       In the preceding dialog about “authority” the fear of the people put the murderous intentions of the leaders on hold, and it happens again here. They get the point of Jesus’ parable, and they understand that He is casting them as among the wicked tenants. Ironically, they are ready to carry out the same evil against the Son as predicted in the parable!  Their evil intentions expose them as wicked tenants. Rather than repenting and seeking the truth about Him, they want to do away with Him. For the moment, they are afraid of the people, and leave.

      There are those who have never heard the gospel message presented in a way they could understand. And so, we can be encouraged, that as we faithfully share the message some will receive it with joy, and turn to Christ in repentance and faith. These leaders understood what Jesus was saying. And yet rather than receiving Him, they reject Him, and even conspire together to kill Him. This shows us the depravity of unregenerate humans. It exposes the stubborn unwillingness of unbelievers to come to the Lord on His terms. Don’t take it personally when the message is not received! It is not you they are rejecting. For our part…

What is God saying to me in this passage? God requires us to be faithful with the message and the mission He has entrusted to us, those who hear are responsible for their response to the message.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? One theme in this story is the grace and patience of God. As God patiently dealt with Israel in times past, despite their stiff necks and hard hearts, so He is long-suffering, patient, toward us. Toward believers, leading, convicting, chastening, molding us. He is patient too toward the world, giving men time to hear the message and repent. One unbeliever stood up in a meeting challenged God, if He was real, to strike him dead in the next ten seconds. When nothing happened, he scoffed, “How can you believe in God now?” Another man spoke up, “Do you think you could exhaust the patience of God in only 10 seconds?” While it is still day, share the Gospel!

       God is the Creator and the owner of the universe. He created the first man and placed him in the garden with a mandate to exercise dominion. He called on Adam to be a steward of what had been entrusted to him. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he was calling for his readers to embrace that same perspective. We read in 1 Corinthians 4:1-2, “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.  ² Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.” It seems to me that implies faithfully guarding the truth, protecting it from error and false teaching. It also speaks to faithfully sharing the truth, as we have been called to do. God has strategically placed each of us where we are, and has sovereignly placed a group of people around us. It is His message and His mission. We are stewards. We have been entrusted by the Master with a message and a mission. May we be found faithful!   AMEN.