Okay, if you would open up your Bibles to Mark chapter 12.
It's on page 1008 of your Pew Bible.
And I'm going to read this passage for us.
So this is Mark chapter 12, 1 through 12.
And he, Jesus, began to speak to them in parables.
Quote,
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.
May God bless the hearing of his word.
Are you familiar with the fable of the tortoise and the hare?
It is a great little story,
and it teaches that slow and steady is better in the long run
than fast and sporadic.
We're familiar with stories that teach lessons.
And that's exactly what a parable is.
It's a made-up story that teaches a lesson.
The difference between a parable and a fable
is a fable usually uses, like, animals as its main characters,
but a parable usually uses people as their main characters.
And Jesus was the parable speaker extraordinaire.
He is well known for his parables.
Maybe you remember this one.
The parable of the treasure hidden in the field.
It's Matthew 13, 44.
There's a guy that goes out in the field,
and he's digging in the field,
and ding, ding, ding, he hits something,
and he finds treasure.
And then Jesus is very clear.
In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has
in order to make that parcel of land and treasure his own.
It's a parable of the kingdom of God about finding salvation.
Maybe you're familiar with Luke 10,
the parable of the Good Samaritan.
It teaches us what a neighbor is, really.
Maybe you've heard Luke 15,
the parable of the prodigal son.
There's a reference to it in one of the songs we sang.
I mean, we're all prodigals, right?
And our great God is a father who's waiting
and then runs to us.
The parable of the soils in Mark chapter 4,
where this sower sows the seed,
and it's the word of the kingdom.
And it falls upon four different kinds of soils.
Three having like no response, no fruit,
and the fourth being incredibly fruitful.
Jesus was the consummate parable teller.
He used parables to teach people
about God and humanity and salvation,
the kingdom of God.
So the parable of the tenants
is a parable made up by Jesus
to teach a lesson.
One of the things about reading our Bibles
is that sometimes we get bored reading our Bibles.
And one of the solutions to Bible reading boredom
is asking a lot of questions, to be curious.
So let's ask some questions this morning
of the parable of the tenants.
We're going to ask,
when did Jesus speak this parable?
It matters.
Where did Jesus speak this parable?
You're going to be surprised.
Who did Jesus speak this parable to?
And you're going to find out that it was aimed.
And one of the questions maybe you're asking right now
is like, what was this parable all about?
What represents what?
We'll get into the weeds of that.
Why did Jesus speak this parable?
What's he going after?
But there's one other question
that we're going to close on.
That's one of the most important questions
we must answer.
How do we respond to this parable today?
What we're going to see in the parable of the tenants
is actually good news.
This is a gospel parable.
A beloved son is killed for a vineyard.
And it's marvelous in our eyes.
So let's hit question number one.
When did Jesus speak this parable?
And you might be familiar enough
with the life of Jesus
to be able to say,
well, probably March, April 33 AD.
Okay, let's move on.
Well, true.
But the question I'm asking is more,
when in the gospel of Mark
did Jesus speak this parable?
Well, it is towards the end.
True.
There's a word in the gospel of Mark
that gets repeated 41 times.
It's the word immediately.
In terms of the New Testament,
immediately shows up 51 times,
including Mark.
So this is the 80% use
of the word immediately
is in the gospel of Mark.
And it's not distributed evenly
in the gospel of Mark.
The first half of the gospel of Mark,
the word immediately shows up 30 times.
Do you know what that means?
When you're reading through
the gospel of Mark,
you're feeling like you're just being
kind of like moved along
from one thing to the next.
And then in chapter 8,
immediately stops showing up
as frequently.
In fact, in chapters 8 through 11,
it shows up five times.
In chapters 12 through 16,
it shows up six times.
Interestingly enough,
it shows up less
when Jesus starts talking about
in Mark chapter 8,
that the Son of Man must suffer,
be rejected,
be killed, and be raised.
And the effect of that is this.
As you're reading through
the gospel of Mark,
even though you may not realize it,
you sense the story slowing down.
And as the story slows down,
it actually is designed to
start to emphasize
what you're reading.
And that's where this parable falls.
Chapter 12.
This is a climactic parable.
It's accumulative,
cumulating.
This is going to be
a confrontational parable.
So when did Jesus speak
this parable?
Well, towards the end of his life,
he will see where
in just a second.
But it's significant.
Where did Jesus speak the parable?
Well, you'll notice
chapter 12,
1 through 12,
it's like there's no explicit reference
to where Jesus is
speaking this parable.
So what does that mean?
You need to be a sleuth of sorts,
a contextual sleuth.
And so you start looking
for passages before and after
that may give hints
of where this is taking place.
And if you look up
into chapter 11, verse 27,
you're given a huge clue
of where this is happening.
First is this,
and they came again
into Jerusalem.
It's they as Jesus
and his disciples.
They're going in and out
of Jerusalem.
And they've come back in.
And then we read,
and as he was walking
in the temple,
the chief priests,
scribes, and elders
come up and say something to him.
So not only in Jerusalem,
which is kind of the center
of Israel,
he's in the temple.
So he's going to speak
this parable in the temple
in Jerusalem.
Now here's what you need
to understand.
There's actually something
more significant going on here.
If you would flip your Bible
over to chapter 11,
verse 15,
something else has happened
here.
And Jesus and his disciples
came to Jerusalem,
and he entered the temple
and began to drive out
those who sold
and those who bought
in the temple.
And he overturned
the tables of the money changers
and the seats of those
who sold pigeons.
And he would not allow
anyone to carry anything
through the temple.
You see,
what happened the day
before he speaks this parable
is he cleanses the temple.
Remember when he comes in
in chapter 1,
1 through 11,
and he comes in on a colt.
In verse 11,
he goes right into the temple.
He's there late.
He looks around
and he leaves without a word.
Do you know why
he leaves without a word?
Because he sees
what's going on
in the temple.
He sees
that the place
of God's dwelling
has been made
into a den of robbers.
Look at verse 17.
And he was teaching them
and saying to them,
again, this is in the temple.
Is it not written,
my house shall be called
a house of prayer
for all the nations,
but you have made it
a den of robbers.
Amen.
The temple had been defiled.
It's being used for things
that it was never intended for.
In fact,
if you take a step back
and you're familiar
with the history of Israel,
the people of Israel
were to be a light
to the nations.
All the nations of the world
were to learn about
the God of Israel
and come to worship Him.
And so when God says,
my house is a house
of the nations,
God has always intended
the nations to come
and worship Him
as the one true God.
But they were using it
for something else.
Money-making venture.
Defiled it.
Greed.
But the thing you need
to understand is that
in order for these businesses
to be taking place
in the temple,
someone had to have approved it.
It had to have been okayed.
So we've seen who or when,
we've seen where,
and now let's talk about
who Jesus is speaking
this parable to.
Jesus has just cleansed
the temple,
and again,
we're not talking
broom and dustpan,
Windex and mop.
What He's doing is
He's getting rid
of the greedy filth
in the temple
for using it
for something
it was never meant
to be used for.
And what happens
in verse 18
is that
after He cleanses
the temple,
the chief priests,
the scribes,
they heard about it,
and they were seeking
a way to destroy Him.
Now who does Jesus
speak this parable to?
Chapter 12, verse 1,
and He began to speak
to them in parables.
Well, who is that?
It's the same people
in verse 10.
Have you not read
the Scripture?
It's the same people
in verse 27 and 28
of chapter 11.
The scribes
and the chief priests
and the elders,
they had just come up
to Him and said,
by what authority
are you doing this?
Who gives you the right
to cleanse the temple?
To mess up our operations?
Jesus is speaking
the parable of the tenants
to the Jewish leadership.
The Sanhedrin.
the leaders of Israel,
its shepherds,
they okayed
the temple to be used
for greedy purposes.
We're not told explicitly
they were getting kickbacks,
but it's not hard to imagine.
God wants the nations
coming to worship Him,
but the Sanhedrin
has seemed
to have made
the temple complex
more into a lucrative
business venture.
So the parable
of the tenants,
Jesus is speaking
to a select group
of people.
It's aimed.
It's got judgment.
And the Sanhedrin,
you can see in verse 12,
they knew it.
And they were seeking
to arrest Him,
but feared the people,
for they,
the chief priests,
scribes,
and elders,
perceived that He
had told the parable
against them.
So,
this was not good news
to the Sanhedrin,
but what we're going to see,
this is actually marvelous
in our sight.
So we've seen the when,
we've seen the where,
we've seen the who.
Now let's talk about
what is this parable about?
Well,
on the most basic level,
the parable is about
a property dispute.
between a vineyard owner
and tenant farmers
over a vineyard.
The conflict is over
who the vineyard belongs to
and who has rights
to the fruit.
That's,
on the basic level,
surface level,
that's what this is about.
And Jesus has made this up.
He's absolutely brilliant.
So let's walk through it.
Verse 1,
there's this guy
who develops
a bunch of land
into a vineyard
to grow grape vines.
He puts a wine press
in the middle of it.
That's in order
to produce wine.
And so he has kind of
made a turnkey business
opportunity for someone.
And he leases the vineyard
to some tenant vineyard farmers.
These are people
who don't own a vineyard,
but kind of lease it
to use it
to make money.
And there are to be
caretakers
to produce
a grape harvest
in wine.
So that's where
Jesus starts.
In verse 2,
we get a hint
of the agreement.
When the season comes,
the harvest season comes,
he sends a servant
to the tenants
to get from them
some of the fruit
of the vineyard.
So the agreement
between the vineyard owner
and the tenant farmers
would be,
hey,
when the harvest comes,
you give him,
the vineyard owner,
a portion of the harvest
as payment
for the use
of the vineyard.
Because the vineyard
belongs to the vineyard owner.
Okay, so let's
check out the cast
of character so far
in this parable.
It's an elaborate parable.
We have the vineyard owner.
Do you know
who that represents?
God the Father.
We have the bad guys.
The tenant farmers.
Do you know
who they represent?
The scribes,
chief priests,
and elders.
And then there's
the vineyard itself.
Do you know
what the vineyard represents?
If you were to go
in your Bible
to Isaiah chapter 5,
1 through 7,
you will see
Isaiah speaking
a passage
about Israel
that uses
a lot of the same language.
God's people.
That's the vineyard.
And so the cast so far
is
a vineyard owner,
God the Father,
the vineyard,
God's people,
and the tenant farmers
who were
the leadership
of God's people.
And then in
verses 3 through 5,
things start getting tense.
Jesus
inserts tension
into this parable.
Verse 3,
the owner sends
a servant
to collect
some of the produce.
That servant
gets beat up
and sent home
empty-handed.
no fruit
for you.
So the tenant farmers
are actually denying
the vineyard owner
what's due him.
It appears
they're beginning
to think
that the vineyard
actually belongs
to them.
Verse 4,
the owner sends
another servant
who is humiliated
and presumably
sent back
empty-handed.
No fruit
for you.
Denied.
Verse 5,
the vineyard owner
sends
another servant
who's killed.
And then he sends
more servants
who are also
beaten
and killed.
So the cast
of characters
expands.
So,
who are these servants?
Anybody want
to venture a guess?
The prophets.
The prophets
of the Old Testament.
They're sent
by God
to his disobedient
people,
to the leaders
of his disobedient
people,
to call them
again and again
back to him.
Back to him.
What Jesus
is doing here
is absolutely
remarkable.
He's presenting
a parabolic
picture
of Israel's
unfaithfulness
and God's
faithfulness.
Jesus is skillfully
linking
the Sanhedrin,
the present
leaders of Israel,
to the past
shepherds
of Israel.
There's a passage
in Jeremiah
chapter 23.
I'm going to read
it for you.
It's verses 1
through 6.
Jeremiah,
God through
Jeremiah
is speaking
to Israel's
leadership.
He's not
calling them
tenant farmers
though.
He's calling
them shepherds.
Hear this.
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.
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.
New 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.
Behold,
the days are
coming,
declares the
Lord,
when I
will raise
up for
David a
righteous
branch,
the Messiah,
the good
shepherd,
the son of
man,
the son of
God,
the Christ.
God's
been sending
prophets to
his disobedient
shepherds for
a long time,
God.
And Jesus
is just
very skillfully
making all
these connections
in parabolic
form while
he's in the
temple in
Jerusalem.
God has
sent Isaiah,
Jeremiah,
Ezekiel,
Hosea,
Amos,
Zechariah,
Malachi,
just to name
a few.
They were
beaten,
they were
killed,
they were
humiliated.
They were
God's servants
faithfully
proclaiming God's
word to a
disobedient
people.
So like
Israel's
leaders of
old,
Israel's
present
leaders,
the Sanhedrin,
had claimed
God's
people for
themselves,
the vineyard
czars.
Forgetting that
they were
caretakers,
they thought
they were
owners.
And so
in verse
six,
we have
a dramatic
shift in
the story.
He had
still one
other,
the vineyard
owner had
one more,
a beloved
son.
We've
come across
those two
words in
Mark before.
The first
time is
chapter one,
verse 11,
at Jesus'
baptism,
the heavens
open up,
the Spirit
of God
descends on
Jesus,
and then
there is
this voice
as loud
as thunder,
this is
my beloved
son,
in whom I
delight.
The gospel
of Mark
has already
told us
who this
is.
And the
other time
it's
Mark chapter
nine,
verse seven,
Jesus'
transfiguration.
God
has been
transfigured,
his disciples
are dumbfounded,
they're saying
weird things,
cloud,
and out of
the cloud,
God speaks
again.
This is my
beloved son.
Listen to
him.
God the
father asserts
the authority
of God the
son.
Respect
him.
Obey
him.
And
so this
beloved son,
we've
already
heard about.
Isn't it
ironic?
Here is
Jesus,
the beloved
son of God
declared by
God himself,
speaking a
parable,
referring to
himself in
the third
person as
a beloved
son.
And he's
going to
talk about
himself as
being sent
to the
vineyard
by his
father,
and he
will be
killed by
the tenant
farmers.
See what
Jesus is
doing here?
This is
the gospel.
The vineyard
owner in
verse 6
says,
he sends
him,
they will
respect my
son.
Verse 7,
the complete
opposite
happens.
The
tenants,
they see
him,
this is
the heir,
come let
us kill
him,
they do
not respect
his son,
and the
inheritance
will be
ours.
This is a
property
dispute.
This parable
is a
property
dispute
between
the owner
and the
tenant
farmers,
and the
owner has
gone to
great lengths
in order
to appeal
to the
tenant
farmers,
hey,
just give
me some
fruit.
It's my
vineyard.
What a
contrast
between
respect
my son
and the
heir,
let's
kill him.
Verse 8,
they take
him,
they kill
him,
they cast
him out
of his
inheritance.
Jesus
is a
master
worker.
He's
essentially
re-speaking
what he's
been saying
multiple
times all
along.
The son
of man
must suffer,
be rejected,
be killed,
and be
raised.
831,
same thing
in 931,
same thing
in 1033
and 34.
This is
a parable
about God
sending his
son to
reclaim a
people.
Sophisticated.
And it
culminates in
the sending
of the
beloved son.
And you'll
be killed
for the
vineyard.
It's a
gospel
parable.
It's good
news.
It's good
news for
us because
we see
in this
a persistent
loving
God going
after what
is his,
his vineyard.
But it's
not good
news for
the Sanhedrin.
So if
you're to
ask what
is this
parable
about,
on one
level,
hey,
it's a
property
dispute,
but really?
this
parable
is
God's
plan
for
salvation
that
culminates
in the
sending of
his son,
Jesus,
to die
for his
people.
And it's
taking place
in Jerusalem
in the
temple.
And he's
speaking it
to the
very people
who are
going to
kill him.
So why
did Jesus
speak this
parable?
In verse
9,
Jesus asks
a rhetorical
question.
In the
parable,
he's kind
of bringing
it home.
He says,
what will
the owner
of the
vineyard
do?
He will
come and
destroy the
tenants and
give the
vineyard to
others.
So he's
going to
do two
things.
The owner
is going
to visit
judgment
and destruction
on the
tenant
farmers.
And the
second thing
he's going
to do
is he's
going to
entrust
the
vineyard
to
another.
Do you
know what
happened in
70 AD?
judgment came
to Jerusalem.
The Roman
general
Titus
destroyed the
city,
raised the
temple,
scattered
countless
Jews to
the nation's
judgment.
It happened.
But God's
people weren't
destroyed.
The vineyard
wasn't
destroyed.
Now prior
to 70 AD,
God began
planting and
growing a
new and
expanded
vineyard of
Jews and
Gentiles who
had been
radically changed
by the risen
Jesus Christ.
In April
33 AD,
Pentecost
happened.
And the
new vineyard
was born.
The church.
God's
vineyard in
Jesus.
And God
has been
growing and
expanding this
vineyard ever
since.
If you want to
line that up with
some other things
of the kingdom
of God we've
been learning,
this is Daniel
chapter 7,
13 and 14.
This is the
son of man who
has been given
a dominion,
a kingdom,
kingdom that
is everlasting
and indestructible,
made up of
people from
all nations.
Why did
Jesus speak
this parable?
To show
he has
authority.
In verse 28,
by what
authority do
you do these
things?
It's being
asked by the
chief priests,
scribes,
and elders,
and Jesus
answers them
with a
parable.
I'm the
son.
I'm the
beloved son.
He's saying,
I have
authority because
I was sent
by the
vineyard owner.
Second,
this is,
why did Jesus
speak this
parable?
It's judgment.
Judgment on
the disobedient,
evil shepherds
of the day.
Third,
it's
fulfillment.
Did you
see Psalm
118,
22,
and 23?
Speaking to
these religious
leaders,
he says,
do you not
know what
your Bible
says?
The stone
that the
builders rejected
has become
the cornerstone.
He's referring
to himself,
and so there's
been a metaphor
changed.
Jesus is now
talking,
no longer
talking about
himself as a
beloved son,
but now is
some kind
of a stone
that gets
rejected by
the builders,
the builders
being the
leaders,
Jesus being
the stone.
His rejection
ultimately culminates
in his
crucifixion.
That's the
stone that
was rejected.
But that
doesn't end
there,
because that
stone that
was rejected
has become
the cornerstone.
And if we
apply it to
the gospel,
do you know
what the
becoming of
the cornerstone
is?
His
resurrection.
And being
placed
placed as
the most
important stone
to build a
new building,
the people
of God.
This is a
gospel parable.
It's a
gospel.
It turns out
that this
parable,
though bad
news for
the Sanhedrin,
for us,
it is really
good news.
this Jewish
Messiah
is our
king.
He died
and was
raised so
that we
could be
grafted
into his
vineyard.
Why did
Jesus speak
this parable?
Well,
there's multiple
reasons.
But it's
marvelous in
our eyes.
It's
how do
we
respond?
Here's the
big question
for us.
How are you
going to
respond to
this this
morning?
We're
2,000 years
after Jesus
spoke this.
Does it
matter?
What
difference does
this make?
I mean,
does it
make any
difference for
us today
that Jesus
spoke this
parable?
Yes.
First is
behold your
king.
Behold
him.
Behold
him in
the temple
in Jerusalem
speaking these
words to
these men
that he'd be
rejected and
killed and
eventually raised
for the
vineyard.
That the
new leadership
would be the
apostolic
shepherds.
we marvel.
We marvel
at him.
If you
have yet to
become a
Christian, a
follower of
Jesus, it's
simply acknowledging
your sin and
acknowledging what
God through
Christ has done.
He was killed
and he was
raised to
bring you into
his family.
And what you
do is you
simply say,
I will receive
your gift and
I will
gladly enter
your family
and I
will follow
you.
So behold
your king,
he's the
beloved son.
The second
way we
respond to
this is we
follow the
beloved son.
We follow
our king.
This Jesus
who's saying
boldly these
things,
you know
what?
he's worth
everything.
He's worth
everything to
follow.
He's worthy
of it all.
He's the
treasure hidden
in the field.
And in joy,
we give
everything we
can have to
acquire it.
He is,
he's,
he's it.
Did you
notice all the
suffering that
happens in this
parable?
All the
servants,
they suffer.
So the
servants are
like small
s suffering
servants.
But Jesus,
a beloved
son,
is the
capital
s suffering
servant.
Which means
if you're
going to
follow Jesus,
expect to
suffer for
Jesus.
People make
fun of you
for being
narrow-minded.
People make
fun of you
for basing
your life
on a book.
People think
that you're
ignorant.
People think
that your
religion is
a crutch.
Jesus is
totally worth
it.
Third,
behold your
king,
follow your
king,
take heart
wayward
one.
Was anyone
shocked
shocked by
God's
faithful and
persistent
sending of
prophets to
his wayward
people?
Is anybody
else shocked
by that?
What a
God in
his steadfast
love and
faithfulness.
So if you
were a
wayward
Christian who
happened in
into the
sanctuary,
I am really
glad that you
came.
God,
he wants
you back.
He wants
you back
and he
wants you
back with
his people.
So come,
let's follow
Jesus together.
Together
following Jesus.
Finally,
last application
is for the
Christian leaders
in the room.
Be sober,
Christian
leader.
The most
grievous
mistake in
this parable,
the sin,
are these
tenant
farmers who
mistakenly
thought that
the vineyard
belonged to
them.
It's
presumptuous
and prideful.
Christian
leadership is
like tenant
farming.
We don't
own the
vineyard.
Christ the
King Church
doesn't belong
to the
pastors and
elders of
Christ the
King Church.
The church
doesn't exist
to serve
its leadership.
The church's
leadership
exists to
serve
Christ's
vineyard,
his church.
So elders,
deacons,
life group
leaders,
ministry
directors,
and teams,
we are
caretakers
of God's
people,
of the
vineyard,
the blood
bought of
Jesus.
It's a joy
and a
privilege.
And we
will be held
accountable
for it.
Let's take
that to
heart.
the
tortoise
and the
hare is
a fable
about being
slow and
steady.
The
parable of
the tenants
is a
parable of
the gospel.
A beloved
son
killed
to reclaim
his vineyard.
stone.
He's the
stone that
the builders
rejected and
he's become
the corner
stone.
Our
corner
stone.
So this
morning,
Christ the
King
Church,
behold your
king.
God's plan
of salvation
has always
been to
send his
beloved son
for us.
And it is
marvelous in
our eyes.
Let's pray
together.
God in
heaven,
thank you
for this
parable.
And we
take it
as from
you
into our
hearts.
We want
to be
good soil
that this
seed falls
into.
God,
would you
make us
fruitful?
Would you
help us to
live for
you,
Lord Jesus?
Live for
you humbly.
You are
marvelous in
our eyes.
In your
name we
pray.
Amen.