{"id":199,"date":"2013-02-17T22:42:38","date_gmt":"2013-02-17T21:42:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=199"},"modified":"2013-02-17T22:42:38","modified_gmt":"2013-02-17T21:42:38","slug":"the-tenants-in-the-vineyard-mark-121-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=199","title":{"rendered":"The Tenants in the Vineyard Mark 12:1-12"},"content":{"rendered":"

I want to share a secret with you this morning. In all our sermons from Mark\u2019s Gospel it is a secret which has been revealed to just a few people. It is a secret which has been closely guarded. Until now.
\nWe could call it the Messianic Secret, or the \u201cSon of God\u201d secret. Have you noticed how all through the three years of His public ministry, Jesus kept his identity as the Son of God secret as far as possible? When He cast out demons, Jesus commanded them to be silent because they knew who He really was. When he healed people, and even raised Jairus\u2019s daughter from the dead, Jesus always said, \u201cDon\u2019t tell anyone what has happened.\u201d At Caesaria Philippi when Jesus asked his disciples, \u201cWho do men say that I am?\u201d and then asked them, \u201cAnd who do you say that I am?\u201d Peter gave that marvellous answer, \u201cYou are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.\u201d And Jesus immediately told them, \u201cDon\u2019t tell anyone.\u201d After the transfiguration, when Peter James and John had seen Jesus in all his glory, the command was the same. Don\u2019t tell anyone.\u201d
\nYou may have been wondering \u2013 why all this secret? Why did Jesus want to keep His true identity secret from everybody except his closest disciples?
\nThe first reason was because of the risk of rejection. You remember Jesus\u2019s first sermon at Nazareth. \u201cThe Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.\u201d The crowd was preparing to throw Jesus off the cliff because they thought he was blaspheming. And at least twice when Jesus taught the people, when He said, \u201cBefore Abraham was, I am\u201d and then when He said, \u201cI and the father are one,\u201d at least twice the people picked up stones to stone him for blasphemy. Jesus recognised that as soon as the secret of who He really was came out, very soon afterwards He would be dead.
\nBut then there was a second reason for all the secrecy which was the risk of misunderstanding. The Jews were expecting the Messiah to be a great military leader to set them free from the Roman occupation. After Jesus fed the 5000 He had to hide away because all the people wanted to make Him King, by force if necessary. But Jesus did not come as a military king or a political leader. It took three years to prepare the way before Jesus could reveal who He was without everybody misunderstanding. Only at the very end, in the last week of His life, did Jesus let the secret out. And even then He did not do so in public statements and explicit claims but rather in two significant ACTIONS and one powerful PARABLE. Let\u2019s start with that parable \u2013 the parable of the Tenants in the Vineyard. This tells us very clearly,
\nJESUS IS THE SON OF GOD.
\nMost parable make a single point \u2013 this makes many. It is an allegory. Jesus tells the parable to make the Jewish leaders realise just exactly who they were trying to kill \u2013 the Son of God.
\nMark 12:1 He then began to speak to them in parables: \u201cA 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 went away on a journey.
\nIn the parable the Vineyard owner represents God, and the Vineyard represents the nation of Israel, God\u2019s chosen people. This was a common picture that every Israelite would understand, taken from Isaiah chapter 5.
\n5:1 I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. 2\tHe dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. \u2026 The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. <\/p>\n

In Jesus\u2019s parable the tenants put in charge of the vineyard but who failed to pay the rent are the Leaders of Israel. And the Pharisees and the Sadducees realised that they were represented by the tenants. 12 Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them.
\nThe Messengers sent by the Owner to the Tenants represent the Old Testament Prophets, the servants of God who had often been rejected and even killed by the Israelites.
\nBut then the last person who is sent to the Tenants in the story is not just another servant. It is none other than the Owner\u2019s dear Son.
\n6 \u201cHe had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, \u2018They will respect my son.\u2019
\n7 \u201cBut the tenants said to one another, \u2018This is the heir. Come, let\u2019s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.\u2019 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. <\/p>\n

And that Owner\u2019s Son who the Tenants were planning to kill represents Jesus himself. The Jewish Leaders realised that. The whole crowd would realise that. In this parable Jesus is claiming to be none other than the Messiah, the Son of God, the One who would fulfil the prophecy in Psalm 118 and be the cornerstone of the rebuilding of the nation.
\n9 \u201cWhat then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Haven\u2019t you read this scripture: \u201c \u2018The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; 11\tthe Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes\u2019?\u201d
\nIf Jesus had been any more explicit he would have been stoned for blasphemy there and then, or else it would have started a revolution. The parable of the Tenants in the Vineyard lets the cat out of the bag. The big secret is finally revealed. Jesus is indeed the Son of God.
\nBut then Jesus had already revealed who He was just days before, in two events which I am sure we know well although we may not have realised their significance. By the way that He had entered into Jerusalem Jesus had already made a powerful claim.
\nJESUS is THE SON OF GOD WHO REVOLUTIONISES OUR LIVES
\n11 7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, \u201cHosanna!\u201d \u201cBlessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!\u201d 10\u201cBlessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!\u201d \u201cHosanna in the highest!\u201d <\/p>\n

But what is so unusual about arriving in Jerusalem on a donkey, you might ask? The thing is, nobody would. Well expecting mothers and very old people might. But not at Passover time. At Passover time however far they had travelled all Jewish pilgrims would enter Jerusalem on foot. Important leaders and Roman soldiers might ride horses. But nobody would enter Jerusalem on a donkey. Nobody but one person. The person the Jews had been waiting for for centuries. Only one person would enter Jerusalem riding a donkey and that person would be the Messiah. That was the prophecy everybody was waiting to be fulfilled!
\nZechariah 9 9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10\tI will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.
\nThe Messiah would arrive in Jerusalem at Passover, not on a horse for battle but on a donkey announcing peace. By riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, Jesus was proclaiming that the Kingdom of God had come. And by riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, Jesus was claiming that He Himself was God\u2019s chosen one, the Messiah. God\u2019s chosen King greater than every other ruler and every other king.
\nThe crowds recognised the significance of Jesus\u2019s action. That is why they shouted \u201cHosanna!\u201d \u201cBlessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!\u201d 10\u201cBlessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!\u201d \u201cHosanna in the highest!\u201d
\nThe crowds recognised Jesus as the one who comes in the name of the Lord, the Messiah.
\nAnd then the next day Jesus did something else which revealed who He really was.
\nJESUS is THE SON OF GOD WHO REVOLUTIONISES RELIGION
\nMark 11 15 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17 And as he taught them, he said, \u201cIs it not written:
\n\u201c \u2018My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations\u2019? But you have made it \u2018a den of robbers.\u2019\u201d
\n18 The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.
\nWe call this incident \u201cthe cleansing of the Temple.\u201d But we miss the point of the story if we think it was about corruption. The moneychangers and those selling sacrificial animals weren\u2019t crooks. They were a normal and official part of the Temple system, especially at Passover time. To understand what is going on here you have to realise just how big the Temple was. The moneychangers and the stalls were in the outermost court, the Court of the Gentiles. Best guess is that this area was as long and as wide as at least four football pitches. There is no way that Jesus threw out all the moneychangers and all the sellers. He could not have turned over all their tables. That would have led to a riot and Jesus would have been arrested immediately. What Jesus did was on a small scale, in one corner of the vast Court of the Gentiles. It was a symbolic demonstration which again fulfilled prophecies of what would happen when the Messiah would come.
\nZechariah 6 12 Tell him this is what the LORD Almighty says: \u2018Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the LORD. 13 It is he who will build the temple of the LORD, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.\u2019
\nThe Jews had been waiting for centuries for their Messiah to come and rebuild the Temple. To make his claim clearer, Jesus then quoted from Isaiah.
\nIsaiah 56 6 And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant \u2014 7these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.\u201d
\nThis was what the Jews had been waiting for \u2013 for their Messiah to purify the Temple and its worship.
\nMalachi 3:1 \t\u201cSee, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,\u201d says the LORD Almighty. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner\u2019s fire or a launderer\u2019s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness.
\nSo this \u201ccleansing of the temple\u201d had deep spiritual significance. Jesus was not only calling for purification and renewal of Temple worship. Jesus was claiming to be the promised One who would bring that purification and renewal, indeed claiming to be God Himself.
\nSo the secret is out. Jesus is indeed the Son of God, the last messenger sent by the Owner to the Tenants in the Vineyard \u2013 even though He knew they would kill Him. Jesus is the Son of God who revolutionises life and bring God\u2019s Kingly Rule. And Jesus is the Son of God who revolutionises religion.
\nHas Jesus revolutionised your life? Has He revolutionised your religion?
\nBow down and worship \u2013 for this is your God!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I want to share a secret with you this morning. In all our sermons from Mark\u2019s Gospel it is a secret which has been…<\/span><\/p>\n

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