This is Mark chapter 12, verses 1 through 12. This is God’s holy word. 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.
Thus far, God’s holy, inspired, and infallible word. It will please the Lord to take his word, use it in our lives into service for himself. Thanks be to God. Heavenly Father, we pray now for a good study together here. We know it’s easy to be distracted, to think about the rest of the day and tomorrow and various things that are on our minds and hearts. But take our lives, Lord, and focus them, and then mold them to your plan and purpose. Help us to be your faithful servants, because in part, we know the Scriptures. We know what God’s Word teaches. Let that now happen. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
Jesus’ parables usually were meant to reach a variety of people, but this story about the wicked sharecroppers, I know they call them tenants, but in Texas they call them sharecroppers. The story is about the wicked sharecroppers, and it’s aimed straight at the chief priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees. He began to speak to them, Of course, there was a larger audience, and the parable might well be meant for them as well as the angry religious leaders.
But at this point, Jesus the Son is still alive. In other words, he hasn’t been arrested and crucified at this point. But much hatred and plotting against is going on. Chief priests and their co-conspirators are looking for a way to arrest him. And all the more, once it becomes evident that this parable of the greedy murderous tenants is all about them. Now, hold on to your seat here. I have six points this morning. But I can move fast when I have to.
First, we have the plan of God’s wonderful kingdom. That’s the vineyard. We have the Israelites, to whom has been entrusted the care of this vineyard and this kingdom. We have the owner’s one beloved son. Of course, that’s going to be an important point.
Then we are confronted with the unthinkable crime The other crimes were not so thinkable, but to kill the son, that was something. Then we have the fulfillment of Scripture, which is taken from Psalms. And finally, the bittersweet ending to the whole situation here. Well, let’s start with the plan for God’s wonderful kingdom.
This wasn’t just any old vineyard. This was a carefully built vineyard. The owner set up an impressive operation that needed experienced and trusted renters. I already mentioned Texas this morning, but when I was a boy, we lived in Texas on a farm that was mainly a dairy farm. But when I first got there, they did all the milking by hand, but then they modernized. They got these electric milkers. I don’t know if they have a name or not, but man, it sped up things. Well, this vineyard, you see, this was a new and improved model. And he goes into detail here about all the different parts of it. I think they’re in there. But the fact that he was impressed, wow, what a vineyard this is.
We never had these when I was a boy, you see. But like everything, you have to have some human contact. And as I said, it needed experienced and trusted renters. The idea you get here is that the owner of this vineyard always had in mind that it would be rented out to people and they would get their own crops in and then give him a portion of it. According to the parable, these tenants were well-trained. In other words, you wouldn’t turn this new modern facility over to people that would scratch their heads and say, we don’t quite know what all this means here. According to the parable, these tenants were well-trained, but they were also greedy. And they decided to keep the grapes, all the grapes, for themselves and not give any of it to the owner.
Well, God’s kingdom is the best. Whatever kingdoms there are in this world, whatever kingdoms you may imagine, they can’t top the kingdom of God. The kingdom is the best. And God apparently chose some talented people, not necessarily the finest people in the world, but talented people to oversee it.
And you have to go all the way back into the Old Testament. You see, starting with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their descendants, and they knew their business. They were supposed to take care of this vineyard that God had created. And we might say also that even before Abraham, certain ones had been trained, not so much for farm work, but they had been trained to do the will of the Lord. And not all of them, of course, but certainly the ones that are mentioned in the Bible as walking with the Lord. God’s kingdom is the best. And it was tended by the best in terms of Moses, And as we said, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah, and some of the great kings like David, and so forth.
This was God’s kingdom, and the vineyard is supposed to represent the kingdom of God. Not just heaven, but the kingdom as it manifests itself on earth here. And it’s God’s plan for a wonderful kingdom that begins here. It will end up in heaven, of course. But it was something to see. Now, you say, that’s fiction, of course. Well, maybe. Or maybe Jesus knew all the vineyards of Galilee and Judea, and he knew which one was best. And maybe as he described it here, the people of the area there said, oh, I know that one. or maybe they had different ideas of this one and that one, but you get the point.
This is a wonderful kingdom and it’s set forth here as a part of the plan of God. Now let’s think a bit about the Israelites. The Israelites were not always good folks, but the ones especially with which God endued His Spirit, they were wonderful caretakers and users, and they took, even for the unbelievers, they took some of the produce for themselves, but really all of it was to be rendered up to God as His purpose was to save a great host of people, not just the Israelites. but anyone who would hear and believe the word of God. So that the Israelites, we might say, were assumed to be trustworthy, and they were meant to share in the bounty of the kingdom. The Jews, as heirs of the covenant, had much going for them.
I just want to read from Romans 9, verse 4. In this passage, Paul is saying how much he loves the Israelites. What a great blessing it was for he himself to be an Israelite. And if anybody thought differently, just ask anyone, isn’t this the best place to be?
Well, the Israelites were heirs, and this is that passage from Romans here, they are Israelites and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. You can see they were certainly a blessed people. And they should have been working, it should have been their main goal in life to work for the glory of God. Jesus put it this way later on, He said, seek first the kingdom of God, the vineyard if you will, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things that you long for, riches and fame, and so this will be added to you, but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
So in effect then, we might say that the Israelites had a contract with the Lord.” Now, again, we use this word covenant. It amounts to the same thing. They had a contract with the Lord to make the kingdom flourish and to bring praise to Him. Now, were they capable of that on their own? Of course not. They had to have God’s help. They had to have His Spirit to work with them. But insofar as they were willing and they were receptive of the Spirit of God, they were supposed to make this kingdom flourish. And from time to time, it did that. The Israelites also had a very spotted history.
Let’s say this history was filled with disobedience, murder, idolatry, and forgetting God who actually chose them and said, I’m going to use you in a great way in this kingdom. Sadly, they failed God in so many ways. And yet, how patient God is. How willing to put up with a lot of nonsense on our part.
Nevertheless, there’s a lot to be discouraged about as you read about these unfaithful Israelites who are thus pictured in the parable as the tenants, as those who had been given charge of this beautiful, modern, up-to-date, state-of-the-art vineyard.
We come thirdly then to the owner’s one beloved son. Now, why has the focus come to him? Well, because the owner of the vineyard had all these slaves or servants, and one by one, he sent them, I think to a certain point, it doesn’t say that in the passage, but I think he said, I can’t send any more of these guys. I won’t have anybody to keep my household or to be my valet or whatever job they had there. But this owner had sent servant after servant. Some of them made it out just by being banged up and bruised and a good number of them evidently were killed by these greedy, murderous tenants that had been allowed to keep the vineyard.
Now we just have to pause here and ask, you know, if God knew that the Israelites were going to be so disobedient and so uncommitted to the things of His kingdom, why would He do it in the first place? Well, we can’t always answer why God does things. We just know that a part of His dealing with people is to say, here’s a responsibility, now it’s up to you to keep it, and if you don’t, you’re going to have to face the consequences.
Well, after all of these servants had been meal treated and so forth, there was one other possibility that this owner could use. He could say, well, where’s the owner all this time? Well, he’s some kind of absentee landlord in the parable. And we can think of God in heaven. the distance between him and us and so forth, but also we can rejoice that God has come down to us. And that’s what happened in the story. The owner sent his son. Now, did the son live with him in some faraway place or did he live in the neighborhood there?
And he said, okay, you go and talk to them. Surely they will respect you. What was in the mind of these tenants? How did they think they would inherit the vineyard? Well, you have to know a little bit about the law in those days. And it was this, that if a man had an estate and he died, well, it would go to his heirs if he had children. Well, this man only had one. And if that one died, if that one inheritor, in the legal sense, died, then Who would get the estate? Well, the funny law, and I don’t know all the fine points of the law, but basically it amounted to this.
Whoever got there first after the legal heir died, it was handed over to him. You remember Abraham had a servant, and Abraham said to that servant, he said, if I die childless, you’re going to be the inheritor. But all these other servants had been killed.
But the son was still alive here. And so the son is going to go and take the initiative in rectifying things. He’s the last best hope, we might say, in this situation. The owner’s one beloved son. I think he had hesitated to send him. He’s my only son. But he says, now I’ve got to send him. I don’t really have any choice if we’re going to get control of things there at the vineyard.
Well, as far as Israel was concerned, God had sent many prophets already. In fact, He says this in a number of places, even in the Old Testament. I’ve sent you prophet after prophet after prophet, and you still don’t listen. You’re still disobedient. He had sent them many prophets, but these servants of His who were tenants in the vineyard, they beat them up, as we said.
They killed some. And they schemed all along the way, how can we get hold of the vineyard? And they may have been rough and mean, but they were smart cookies. They said, if we can get rid of everyone who legally can inherit here, then it’ll come to us. So that’s why you have the situation that develops here.
Well, I think that you see the Scripture is saying that Israelites or any of us who think that we’re going to inherit things and get God out of the way, we are very wrong. We have the fullness of time, let us say. That’s biblical words there. In the fullness of time, God sent His only begotten Son. Jesus.
Now, if you know John 3.16, this is not unusual. For God so loved the world that He gave, or He sent, His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So in the fullness of time, God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, to do what?
To preach repentance, certainly that’s what these vineyard keepers needed, that’s what the Israelites needed, that’s what all of us need. He came to preach repentance, and you read the Bible, the first thing it says, He preached a gospel of repentance, along with John the Baptist. And having sent Him, expected the order to be restored, that people would repent and turn back to the service to which they had been called.
But we might say true to form, the Israelites rejected the Son. And that was what was happening in that situation where Jesus went from town to town and place to place. Some places He was well-received, other places not so much. But he sent his son, and those who rejected the son, which seems to have been the case a lot of the time, they plotted to take everything.
I’m going to live my life, and I’m going to have my things. God can do whatever He wants to, but I’m in control now. I’m in charge. I have these things. That was the thinking in the vineyard, and it’s the thinking of a lot of people in the world today. And I just challenge you, God has sent His beloved Son that you might not perish, but have everlasting life, that you might have a purpose to glorify Him and serve Him and to be as fulfilled as is possible to be, to be as up-to-date and renewed as the vineyard itself. The question is, will you receive Him or will you not?
Well, fourthly, we have the unthinkable crime. They murdered the owner’s son, and they showed no regret in doing it, and they showed no fear of judgment. In fact, they took the dead body of the son and threw him over the wall, threw him out of the vineyard, thinking, They’ll never get us. They’ll never keep us from what we have in mind. These tenants, sharecroppers, had lost all sense of duty, loyalty, and obligation.
And when it came to committing this crime, they rejoiced in doing that too. My wife and I have read several books about different mission fields, but one of the things you see, even in one part of the world, another part of the world, is that the people rejoice in how sly and devious they can be, and how many of the enemy they have killed, and they put up trophies, sometimes the heads of the people that they have fought with. the iniquity that’s in the hearts of mankind. They rejoiced in committing a heinous crime like this. And Jesus, you see, is not making this up. Yes, it’s fiction. Yes, there’s a bit of truth in there. But the heart of the matter is that in men and women, there’s that evil that if it’s not checked and if it’s not overcome by the power of God, it can lead us to do terrible things.
The chief priests and the scribes and Pharisees withdrew, as it were, into a world where only they counted and that all threats of any kind to that world that they lived in had to be eliminated. And so that’s why almost from the beginning, when it became clear what Jesus was saying and what He was claiming and what He intended to do, they said, let’s kill Him.
Let’s eliminate Him. He doesn’t fit into our world. That is the world that they had withdrawn into. I’m reading from 1 Corinthians 2, verse 8. None of the rulers of this age understood, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” What’s he saying there? Paul is saying most people have built this world that they live in and there’s no room for God in it.
And the sooner He’s gone, the better as far as they’re concerned. Well, come to then the fulfillment of Scripture here. After Jesus has rendered this parable, He refers to the Psalms, Psalm 118 in particular, And he says that in spite of all the opposition and the plotting and the threats and the actual killing and resistance, nevertheless, the Son prevails.
How is that possible? That’s what Jesus is trying to get across to these people. You can kill the Son, but it’s all in the plan of God. It’s all in the plan of God that this Son will survive even death. How so? Because God will raise him from the dead, you see. But here’s the passage from the Psalms here, Psalm 118.
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The stone that the builders crushed or killed or got rid of, thought we don’t have to fool with that anymore, or him anymore, he becomes the cornerstone. That’s the most important stone in the building. If you withdraw that one, it all falls down. The cornerstone is that which keeps things straight. Or if it’s the keystone, it’s the thing that holds the ark in place. That’s the idea. The builders reject it and say, we don’t need Jesus.
And God says He’s going to be the head of the corner in spite of your efforts to get rid of Him. And the passage goes on to say, this was the Lord’s doing. And it is marvelous in our eyes. Think how marvelous it is. From the standpoint of the world, these tenants killed the son, and there was nobody else to claim the vineyard, and they were going to get it for themselves, and yet, they did not succeed. And that’s what God is saying.
That all this rejection of Jesus and turning for Him and keeping Him out of your world, it’s all for nothing. Because the stone the builders rejected will be the head of the corner, the cornerstone. And that will be marvelous. Because you see, the rejected stone makes possible the forgiveness of sins. If Christ had not died on the cross, If all the conspirators together had not succeeded in getting Him put to death, there would be no forgiveness of sins. We might go to God and claim to be just the best that there was, just the most up-to-date people, and God says, you’re nowhere near that. The stone the builders rejected makes possible the forgiveness of sins and the establishment of Christ’s kingdom.
Christ’s enemies thought themselves victorious, but in truth, this was the Lord’s doing. They thought they had it all figured out, but God had figured it out long before them. And though they had given themselves the assurance that now they could have what they wanted, God said, no, we’re going to have what I want.
But if you come to Me, if you repent of what you have done, if you seek My face, then you’ll have more and more satisfaction, more completeness than ever you thought you could have without Me. Christ’s enemies thought themselves victorious, but in truth, this was the Lord’s doing and marvelous.
I hope when you think of the plan of salvation, God giving His Son, God sending Him to the cross, God raising Him from the dead, that this is marvelous. This is marvelous. Unbelievers will say, oh, it’s a fairy tale, or oh, I want nothing to do with that. God says it’s marvelous. And all My people think it’s marvelous as well.
And again, the resurrection, you see, completes this saving work. They said we’ve killed the Son, but here comes the Son again, and how is that possible? By the resurrection of the dead. The resurrection completes the saving work and leaves only the kingdom in gathering, the bringing of more and more people into the kingdom to make it a glorious, fantastic kingdom in gathering of those who believe. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? said the Philippian jailer. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your house.
Well, we come finally to the bittersweet ending here. I say bittersweet because there’s a lot to really agonize about and yet so much that is sweet here. The takeover, as it were, is fatal to the tenants, but it is glorious for the owner and for the son and for all those who belong to the son. God’s enemies will not escape the judgment. That’s one of the things of this parable.
What happened to these tenants? They were taken and destroyed in the end. They thought they were going to get away with it. They thought they were going to have the vineyard. They thought they had succeeded, but in the end, there was destruction. There’s a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. God’s enemies will not escape judgment, but the vineyard survives and the wicked are removed.” The vineyard then is given to, quote, others.
Who are the others? Those who repent, those who believe, those who offer their lives to God in His way according to His Word and purpose. In fact, they have chosen to be on the Lord’s side. Who is on the Lord’s side? Who will serve the King? Those who believe. by embracing Jesus Christ. So, it is left to us to write the end of the story. And so far, it is our story. Who is on the Lord’s side? Who will serve the King?
If you keep saying, we don’t want Him, we don’t want Jesus, we don’t want the solutions of the owner, we want the vineyard and we want it for ourselves, and we want everything, God says you get nothing. But if you turn to Christ, if you’re on the Lord’s side, then you get the vineyard, and you get the fruit, and you get the life, and you get the future, And the vineyard just keeps getting better and better.
God help us to be on the Lord’s side. Heavenly Father, we pray that we would offer ourselves to you. Savior, we are thine. We pray that we would let nothing lure us away, even our own thoughts and intents and conspiracies, let nothing lure us away from serving him who, chose us and put us in the vineyard and gave us purpose and much fruit. Lord, work such in our lives today. Never let us choose the other side, but your side. We ask in Jesus’ name, amen.