A Journey to Easter - Day 38

Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.”

(Mark 12:1-2 NIV)

The closer Jesus journeyed to the cross, the more intense things became. His ministry intensified. Emotions intensified. Even His parables got more intense. Gone were the days of parables about lost sheep, mustard seeds, prodigals, and praying widows. Jesus’ later parables included The Parable of the Wedding Feast (Matthew 22:1-14) and The Parable of the Wicked Tenants (Matthew 21:33-44; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-18). Considered parables of judgment directed at the chief priests, scribes, and members of the Sanhedrin, they only intensified their hostility. But to those with ears to hear, Jesus’ parables could have been allowed to do their intended work. But the accused stood rigid… immovable… steadfast in their fury and malicious intent.

The audience of Mark 12 would have recognized that Jesus employed a common metaphor for Israel when He spoke of the vineyard (Isaiah 5:1-2). God established the land, blessed and provided for it (Mark 12:1). And appointed leaders, identified in the parable as tenants, to steward and tend it. God sent His servants, the prophets, to collect payment from the harvested fruit. The opening seems pleasant enough. It would have all sounded familiar, and plausible, to those listening. But then Jesus rent the veil and revealed the evil lying in wait in the tenant’s hearts. They beat the first servant, abused the second, and killed the third (Mark 12:3-5).

Jesus already pointed to Israel’s abominable history regarding God’s prophets in another parable (Matthew 22:1-14). It was common knowledge that Isaiah, Zechariah, Micah, and Amos were all martyred by Israel’s leaders—something Jesus lamented before entering Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37). I imagine nostrils flared and temperatures rose with such a stark reminder.

But the escalation of the tenant’s wickedness had not yet reached its climax. The owner of the vineyard would provide another opportunity for them to do right, however. He would send his beloved son. Greed had so gripped their hearts, they conspired to murder him and steal his inheritance (Mark 12:7).

It’s gut-wrenching to read. But you come away with the impression that the hearers had no such response.

The chief priests, scribes, and elders perceived that Jesus’ parable was about them (Mark 12:12). But it didn’t raise any red flags. It didn’t change their hearts. It didn’t convict them of their greater responsibility as leaders. Or help them realize their accountability to God as stewards of His people. All of which was possible. It just made them more determined to arrest Jesus. To silence Him. To oversee the vineyard their way.

May the Spirit keep our hearts soft—to listen and to learn. And to respond to the teachings of our Lord in the kingdom’s revolutionary ways.

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