47. The Parable of the Vineyard (11:27-12:12)

those stories we are in the section known as Holy Week the crisis of the kingdom I've calling it Sunday he arrives Monday trial day Tuesday announcing the verdict it begins with the basis for the verdict in terms of the authority of the one giving it and then the content of the sentence is this parable of the vineyard that we're going to look at as well before we're done so he's in Jerusalem he's in the temple area he's confronted by an official delegation this is Tuesday morning it immediately follows and marks account the fig tree incident this is in a sense taking place in the well it's taking place in the so called outer court the court of the Gentiles and it's the very place of course where yesterday this violent upsetting intrusion by Jesus occurred these guys are probably worried that the same thing is going to happen again Jesus has come back and once again he's going to interrupt the flow of business and so they come to intercept him to confront him and to hopefully prevent him from being a further source of upset the people that Mark mentions are first of all the chief priests there were actually two chief priests oddly enough at this point anise had been originally appointed was but was deposed by the Romans his son-in-law Caiaphas was serving kind of as the formal chief priests but many people regarded anise as the true chief priests because under Moses it was a lifetime appointment so you got these two guys kind of playing off of each other in that role it may have been one of the two of them or somebody on their behalf who's showing up you also have the scribes the professional scholars the Bible experts and you also have the elders that represents the Sanhedrin as it were the Parliament of Israel dating clear back to the time of Moses and the 70 elders and numbers 11 this body had persisted down through the centuries and can continue to operate to this day these people were the authorities with respect to the temple so they had a very significant and prestigious capacity they were intermediaries in a sense go-betweens between Rome on the one hand and Roman power and the Jewish people on the other they had to talk to both sides try to maintain a certain peaceable relationship there they were also over the Jewish religion of the day they were advisors in politics these were the brass these were the people who really were not questioned in terms of how the temple was to operate and as we were pointing out last week these were folks who made a whole lot of money in the meantime by virtue of their cozy relationship both with Rome and with the temple so these people come it's an official confrontation it's the culmination of a series of conflict moments that are peppered throughout Mark's Gospel it's the last of them the most severe of them and the one that really ties together a lot of what we've seen otherwise so they come along and they say you know by what authority are you doing these things who gave you this authority it's it's it's a rhetorical question they didn't expect an answer they expected to Jesus Jesus to wilt on the spot they're showing up they've got all the power at least apparently in their corner the colloquial way we would represent their question in our parlance would be something like who do you think you are what right do you have to do this stuff who gives you the right to run around upsetting the applecart around here you know it's that kind of thing they don't expect Jesus to answer they expect that he's going to kind of panic he hasn't been to Jerusalem at least as Marc tells the story in such a way that there's been this sort of public confrontation it's kind of like when Martin Luther was at the diet of forms against the Emperor the Pope all of the you know brass of the world the political and ecclesiastical Authority again one lone monk they just thought he was going to wilt and as a matter of fact it was course in that context he says you know here I stand Jesus of course vastly more than Luther is in a similar kind of situation being confronted by all of these powers so this is really the moment in which we have mark bringing together the authority theme of the whole book now at this moment of confrontation mark has been about the authority of Christ all the way through the first half the authority of his person the second half the authority of his office all of this has been the underlying kind of common denominator and now we find this Authority brought into immediate and sharp confrontation with the authority of the temple it's the authority of heaven versus the bureaucratic Authority of this world and here they are and the question is put whose authority is at work here and in a greater sense whose authority is going to prevail here as this question is put by these people to Jesus it's an interesting question they asked him in a sense who do you think you are you know who did Jesus think he was really who did he think he was you look at the things he did you look at the things he said the claims he made the unequivocal demands that he spoke you look at the testimony of history and millions of people after that life he lived who have concurred in the conviction that he thought he was God he believed he was God among us now a lot of people in history have been delusional a Madame thought that I've heard people say that I I saw a movie Shirley MacLaine stood on the beach and said I am God I don't believe her but somehow when Jesus says it I believe it what is it that he believed about himself and was so convincing that he's gotten this billions of people in the world in history now to believe it with him I love the answer from CS Lewis many of you have read this text one of his more famous paragraphs Lewis says this is a mere Christianity I'm trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher but I don't accept his claim to be God Lewis says that's the one thing we must not say a man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher he would either be a lunatic on the level of a man who says he's a poached egg or else he'd be the devil of hell you must make your choice either this man was and is the son of God or else a madman or something worse you can shut him up for a fool you can spit at him you can kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God but let's not come with any patronizing nonsense about as being a great human teacher he hasn't left that open to us he never intended to anyone who says the kind of things Jesus said is something other than simply a great moral teacher and Lewis I think has his finger right on the pulse of what Mark and of what the entire Bible is intending and insisting that we face this is a conflict moment it's the seventh of the what we've been calling conflict stories throughout Mark's Gospel mark is very tightly organized and we see now the culmination of these stories the conflict stories each of them involve Jesus and a conflict with the entrenched authority that had worked very diligently to build walls so that you could have a clear distinction between insiders and outsiders that was what they were about distinguishing those who were inside from those who were outside in an each case in these conflicts Jesus reaches across that wall he breaks down the wall reaches across the divide and pulls somebody in who was regarded by these religious elite as unworthy of coming in so the first of them Jesus reaches across the wall to the sinful the healing of the paralytic the second of them he reaches across the wall to a dishonorable person a publican Levi in the third of them he reaches across the wall to someone who doesn't take on the rigorous disciplines of religious life the question of fasting in the fourth of them he reaches across the wall to people who are burdened and heavily laden by the imposition of Sabbath rules and related kinds of legalistic standards and he pulls them in and the fifth of them he reaches across the wall to a man who's been broken in body and spirit and is regarded as unworthy of approaching into the presence of God the man with the we read with the withered hand in the sixth of them he reaches across the wall even more dramatically than any of the rest to the Gentiles when he abrogates the rules of clean and unclean mark chapter 7 but this is the culminating conflict story in a sense he reaches across the wall from the temple to the world by announcing that the temple is now going to be a very different kind of thing than anybody ever imagined before and now the true temple of God becomes an in am it in a sense the heart of the matter in this final conflict story interestingly this conflict story is in seven little pieces and we're covering the first of these two today so the first of them the authority that undergirds this true temple of God the second of them how the true temple of God must displace the temple of concrete and mortar that it's going to be left without one stone upon another the third of them the relationship between this true temple of God and civil authority in this world are we rebels how do we live in this world where there is civil government as part of this temple of God the forth of them how does the true temple of God connect to eternity the whole question of Resurrection raised by the sad you see the fifth of them the true temple of God and the heart of its ethical principle the great command love God love your neighbor the 6th of them the ruler of the true temple of God David's son who is of course Jesus himself and Jesus raises that question when he asks how is it that David will say of his son that he is also his Lord Psalm 110 and then finally as they used to say in my Baptist Church the altar called the conflict or this conflict story in seven parts ends when Jesus says there in that open setting to all of those who are standing there listening to this conversation now's your time to choose are you going to stay with a temple that's that's bound to go down are you going to stay on the ship Titanic which is doomed or are you going to align yourself and become a part of this new and true temple of God which is a living organism of which I myself am the corner stone rejected by these builders but accepted by God and are you going to become a part of that living organic temple that is no longer going to be localized in a certain place but will eventually dominate the whole world which is going to be and so that's where we are right now that's the story and we're as I say in the first two of those little sections so Jesus answers them and says ok guys I will answer your question if you answer mine it seems I suppose a little cheeky on you know Jesus part to dodge the question but actually this was considered very good style in rabbinic discourse in fact rabbis were considered very bright if they didn't simply answer a question but posed a different question that forced the conversation to go to a deeper level and so what Jesus does here is very rabbinic and they would not have been put off by that in itself they were probably surprised that he said anything but then he actually responds in such a vilandra benek way more they thought that they were going to put Jesus on the horns of a dilemma as it turns out he reverses the tables and the way that mark puts this jesus answered and said to them I will also ask you one word that's the Greek word logos I will ask you one word answer me and I'll tell you by what authority I do these things the one word John the baptism of John where'd it come from heaven or from men this is a literary synecdoche as it's called for the English folks in the room the grammarians this is where the little part stands for the whole so when Jesus talks about the baptism of John he means the entire Ministry of John he means not only his baptism but his sermons his counsel his pronouncements his claims all of that is in a sense packaged in this reference to his baptism so really the question Jesus puts to these folks at this point is tell you what you tell me your assessment of John and whether or not his ministry was with the impre Mater of heaven was he speaking God's truth was he acting with God's approval or did it simply come from men what's your view of it is it from heaven or from men you're asking a question about my authority so I asked you a question about John's authority it's not mentioned directly but clearly this reference to John is also dripping with the fact that John had publicly affirmed Jesus Jesus was baptized by John John testified to the events connected with his baptism Jesus had been anointed a dove coming down from heaven in a sense that became John's stamp of approval on Jesus so QED if they're going to affirm John then they're stuck with that after of Jesus you see and so this comes a lot more immediately to mind I suppose as the question is put to them Jesus stands for a moment in silence and then the way you might demand it of a little child he says answer me which is it well they took to reasoning among themselves if we say from heaven he's gonna say why didn't you believe him the word reason reason is dialog gives us thigh it's the word from which we get the word dialogue it's always used and Mark in a negative sense a way to wiggle out from under a problem and so that's what they're doing they're faced with a very ticklish kind of question here what are we gonna say and they're looking at probing one possibility if we say well we think John was actually a true prophet of God why didn't you believe him and implied in that question why don't you believe him especially as it regards me who's right here in the temple confronting you with this question so they don't like that option let's look at the other side how about we say it's from men well then they fear the people because everybody counted John to have been a prophet from man if we say for men it's an incomplete sentence it's as if it says let's not go there you know if we say for men the outcome there is just as bad so they're stuck in this rather tricky political balance I know many of you have read Machiavelli I suppose since I taught political theory for a few years I think I've probably read Machiavelli's The Prince at least 10 times maybe 15 times over the years I never cease to be amazed at the profundity of the man's insight he's runnin a bad rap in history to be honest with you not that I embrace his philosophy generally but he does put his finger on some very very helpful insights one of which is that anybody in political power has to appear to be a statesman but to put it in my language has to always pay attention to focus groups you know I'm saying you've got to look like leading while what you're really doing is following you've got to get the pulse of the people and then look as if you're going to lead them as a great courageous person in the very direction they wanted to go anyway and so political power really does amount to that kinds of kind of delicate tightrope walking now 2,000 years before Machiavelli said that Aristotle already had figured it out he taught that the test of a statesman is not the ability to keep his office by saying what is politically popular but the courage to put his office at risk by saying what is politically unpopular but true and that's really the test of the politician versus the Statesman interestingly our religious leaders here don't have the guts to do either one no matter which path they walk they're gonna get in trouble if they if they say the politically popular thing you see yeah John the Baptist great guy we we thought he was wonderful boy you know preach the message of God they realized that by doing that they have just torpedoed everything that makes life so good for them they have just sabotaged their their cozy situation with Rome they have just put a grenade under the lucrative business of running the temple they have just undercut their own prestige among the thing is going to be lost if they endorse John the Baptist so I'm gonna do that but of course if they discount John the Baptist then they're going to run the same risk because they as Machiavelli said need the people to respect them to keep their position if in mass the popular opinion turned against them they're in so much trouble that they're gonna lose it all either way see so what are you gonna do and they come back with this remarkably insightful answer beats me that's a good question you know we've been wondering about that but haven't quite figured out here are the the most sophisticated religious philosophical political minds in Israel asked a question about one of the most famous people in the recent history of Israel a man who had just been martyred by Herod Antipas out north not that long ago and these guys who claim to have such subtle insight into so many nuanced questions about life in Israel can't answer this one which of course we realize is not that they can't answer it it's that they won't answer it and their plea of ignorance is therefore at best dishonest hypocritical I don't know if you have ever met folks like this I have occasionally had conversations with folks who just can't quite make up their mind about Jesus they want to be open minded they still have to gather more evidence they think it's kind of a healthy skepticism they don't want to rush to an opinion prematurely you know you find this especially among certain scholars they just keep wanting to learn but never come to a knowledge of the truth as Paul says and you kind of get the flavor of that you know and these guys as well well Jesus in the spirit of his own counsel don't cast your pearls before swine says okay fine I'm not gonna answer your question either if you're not prepared to give a thoughtful responsible answer then why in the world should I you know we shouldn't as Christians running around run around calling people swine but you know I'm gonna tell you something sometimes folks will ask me a question and you had the same experience and you can tell though it may be a critical question critical of the Christian faith and some aspect or other it's nevertheless sincerely driven it's sincerely motive well if you know if if God is love then how come he destroyed all those people in the flood I don't get that well that's a question I'd like to talk about that's good let's talk about that question but sometimes it's just nitpicking carping cheap shots no interest in an answer just an interest in trying to score a few points in some interesting one-liners you know why bother why bother it's never gonna get anywhere anyway till God starts changing the heart and makes those questions something a little more sincerely motivated what's the point and so Jesus here with these guys what's the point but in spite of that he does give them the answer and in no uncertain terms but he does it in his uniquely compelling way he does it by the vehicle of a story a parable and it's the parable of the vineyard and the meaning is not even a little bit obscure 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 went away on a journey at harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard but they seized him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed then he sent another servant to them they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully he since still another that when they killed he sent many others some of them they beat others they killed finally he had left one son the one he loved he sent him last of all say surely they'll respect my son but the tenant said to one another huh this is the ire come let's kill him the inheritance will be ours so they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard what then will the owner of the vineyard do he will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others haven't you read the scripture the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone the Lord has done this it's marvelous in our eyes then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them but they were afraid of the crowd so they left him and went away familiar story isn't it it's one that's famous the parable of the vineyard it involves a vineyard it involves a hedge it involves a wine VAT it involves a tower vine dressers and an owner who's gone for an extended period of time this is the only parable that Jesus tells a true parable in Mark's Gospel outside of chapter 4 this is a parable of the kingdom for sure as were the parables in chapter 4 the differences in chapter 4 it was too soon to unwrap the nature of the kingdom yet and so jesus said to his disciples privately to you it is given to know the secrets of the kingdom and to those outside I speak in parables so that hearing they won't hear seeing they won't see the time isn't right yet but now you see where it's the moment where the kingdom is going to be established the great cutting ceremony that will bring it into effect is going to take place in just a few days the New Covenant is going to be established at this point and the kingdom is going to arise out of what will become the ashes there in that physical place the New Jerusalem rising out of the old the new temple out of the old you see and so now a parable is clear clear-cut not ambiguous not the least bit mysterious this parable probably could be best conceived of as the judicial opinion of the judge it's delivered in open court the temple in a sense was the court it's in the matter of the defendants namely the religious leaders who had breached their fiduciary obligation with respect to the temple it has a jury namely all the people who are gathered there to witness this interaction between the judge now and those who are the defendants and it appeals to a very familiar story they all recognize did virtually when Jesus said the first three words because this story of the vineyard is one of the most famous parables one of the most famous stories are metaphors found in the Old Testament and I guarantee you everybody within earshot of Jesus had read this story knew it and most had probably memorized it so they recognized it it comes from Isaiah chapter 5 if you know the Book of Isaiah you know that this great prophecy 66 chapters the first five chapters are a kind of overture in which all the major themes of Isaiah are touched on briefly when you go to a musical you'll hear the orator all the major musical themes are touched on briefly this is exactly what Isaiah does one of the themes of course is God's certain judgment based on the the idolatry and the the breach of fidelity of these people toward their God and it is called the parable or the metaphor of the vineyard listen to it both for the similarities and for the differences this is in Isaiah chapter 5 this is God speaking of course through the mouth of the Prophet now let me sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved regarding his vineyard my well beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful Hill he dug up and cleared out stones he planted it with Choices vine he built a tower in its midst and also made a winepress in it so he expected it to bring forth good grapes but it brought forth wild grapes and now inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah judge pleased between me and my vineyard what more could I have done to my vineyard that I hadn't done why then when I expected it to bring forth good grapes did it bring forth wild grapes and now please let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard I will take away its hedge and it'll be burned I will break down its wall it'll be trampled down I will lay it waste it shall not be pruned or drugged there shall be our dug rather it shall be briars and thorns I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it for the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah are his pleasant plant he looked for justice but behold oppression for righteousness but behold a cry for help so you can see the similarity it's striking really and as I say the people hearing Jesus immediately identified this as a kind of Restatement in somewhat different terms of that the the vineyard manifestly is Israel the tower would be the temple in the center of the life of Israel the hedge God's protective providential care of Israel the purpose to yield a harvest that would produce wine which was a standard metaphor for salvation to the nation's God leases as the word to the or the owner leases it to the vine dressers these are tenant farmers common practice in the ancient world they can run the place as if it were their own they can live off the produce of the labors of the land that they're expected to pay a dividend on an annual basis to the true owner of it so it's an investment on one part in a means of labor on the other clearly what's going on here is these fiduciaries these religious leaders have been entrusted with the temple they're supposed to be paying a dividend of salvation and worship and fidelity to God but they have usurped that position and taken it as if it were their own and used it as their own revenue stream at the expense of the God who actually owns it the one who owns it goes away far country allowing the tenants to become arrogant and complacent now vintage time rolls around he sends a servant to receive that dividend this is when blessings should be flowing from the vineyard to the world the servant of course standing for those many many prophets that God sent to his people down through the centuries this was the first of many the dividends were supposed to be collected and paid but what do these guys do they beat him they send him away empty-handed describing the Beus of course to which most of the prophets and Israel were treated so rather than exporting blessings the vineyard becomes a crime scene again he sent them another servant at him they threw stones wounded him send him away shamefully some have tried to identify Jesus description here with particular experiences of particular prophets I think the better view is simply it's kind of a broad generic description of what took place with most of the prophets who were treated to all kinds of different abuse Jeremiah was imprisoned as you know duh duh you know lowered into a cistern for 30 days arm you know arm deep in the mud and so on other prophets were given similar kinds of abusive treatment it's not difficult to see the documentation of this sort of thing in Israel's history again he sent another hymn they killed many others beating some killing some the Old Testament Jewish literature generally documented in some detail the abuses that were trien to those prophets that God had sent Hebrews 11 sometimes called the Hall of Fame of faith is a good place to kind of get the short version of that story so finally you know time's up now judgment is going to finally fall on these tenants the corrupt leaders who are represented by those tenant farmers are going to face the music and all of those who align themselves with them but again if you notice this the parable that was told by Isaiah talks about the destruction of the vineyard the vineyards going to be destroyed notice that's not what Jesus says Jesus says the vineyard is going to be taken from you and given to others because there is in the vineyard in this case those who are faithful they've been looking for the kingdom they've been looking for Messiah they have genuine faith they haven't bought off on this fake religion that is being peddled to them by these religious no they've been looking for the truth of God and they're not going to be destroyed they're going to be saved in this process as a matter of fact so while judgment is going to fall on those who breach their duties the vineyard itself as Jesus tells the story is going to be salvaged well this landowner still has one son he's beloved he sends him saying surely they'll respect my son Jesus again and again affirms his unique status in history this is what led CS Lewis to that remarkable statement he made notice that Jesus is not just one more prophet as he tells the story he's not just another in a long line of folks who have come appealing this is a unique individual who was styled the son there is this expectation that at least the son would be respected because he's the true heir he is the true king he is the Messiah so this overly generous prodigal father continues to show mercy and give the tenants an opportunity one last one to repent but those vine dresser set among themselves hey this is the heir let's kill him and the inheritance will be ours so they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard and again the implication of the parable is these guys knew who Jesus was they knew this was the son this wasn't some kind of surprise they recognized the heir one commentator said Jesus claims had been unambiguous his proofs of his integrity irrefutable the conclusions of his identity irresistible and so they really simply fall into delusional thinking they think they can get rid of the true heir and usurp control of the temple and all of its great productive possibilities it's been delusional thinking by everybody down through history who's tried to attach a price tag to God grace this is what Martin Luther was objecting to when he tacked 95 theses on the wooden board Wittenberg church-door Pope Leo bless his heart was trying to sell mercy see he was trying to put a price tag on forgiveness buy this piece of paper and you can be forgiven and Luther said I don't think so and down through history again and again you find folks who have tried to sort of take that which God freely gives and make it a commodity and make themselves brokers of it and it didn't work for Pope Leo the 10th it didn't work for these religious leaders it doesn't work for cult leaders or any other religious types that try to pervert God's grace into something that can be bought and sold in a marketplace so Jesus says what these guys do and they're delusional thinking is they took him and killed him and cast him out of course describing the very thing that would happen to Jesus within the next few days it's descriptive of a great deal of what has happened in religious and political reactions to Christ down through history you know history well enough to know that if you trace since the time of Christ especially in the West leaders Kings prime ministers rulers politicians dictators etc generally speaking you can put them in one or two classes those who recognize King Jesus and those who don't leaders who have at least openly publicly acknowledged King Jesus tend to do better than those who don't I realize there's exceptions to the rule and like I say I'm gonna be cautious and saying this but I think a general survey of history suggests that maybe Jesus really is ruling and does bump off upstart rulers prime ministers presidents dictators who somehow thumbed their nose at his authority it's certainly what the Bible leads us to believe Psalm 2 why do the nation's rage the people plot of aim thing why do the Kings the Prime Minister's the presidents the dictators the ten horns the people who put themselves into these political positions of power why do they set themselves up and take counsel together against the Lord and against his Messiah saying let's break their bonds to pieces and cast their Court let's throw off the strictures of the rules of this Messiah let's call evil good and good evil let's redefine the fundamental institutions of life that were given to us by God let's remake humanity in the form of what we prefer rather than and what God has ordained let's just do that and how much does the one who sits in heaven feel intimidated by this kind of behavior he who sits in heaven laughs the Lord holds them in derision then he speaks to them in his wrath and de-stresses them in his deep displeasure look I've set my king on the holy hill of Zion the true Zion I will declare the decree the Lord has said to me you are my son today I have begotten you ask of me I'll give you the nation's for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession you'll break them with a rod of iron you'll dash them to pieces like a Potter's vessel so therefore wise up Kings senators parliamentarians prime ministers and all of you who are in positions of authority take a lesson you judges of the earth serve the Lord rejoice with trembling kiss meaning the reverential recognition of authority kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way when he's just a little bit upset because that's all it takes to bump you off and to dash your authority like an empty vessel blessed are all those who put their trust in him if the New Testament is correct King Jesus is ruling today over the universe and every person in political authority in this world is obligated to serve Him and that may seem a little bit outrageous in our pluralistic society but I'm just saying you can't read the Bible very long or very far before you bump into that proposition and it's pretty much an immovable core of the biblical message and in some ways it's what these guys were bumping into now when they were confronting Jesus in a temple on a Tuesday morning therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do he will come and destroy the vine Brett dressers and give the vineyard to others notice that the vineyard taken from them given to others this whole conversation started with their rhetorical question what gives you the right Jesus now ask them a rhetorical question about what's actually going to happen Matthew actually has these people answer the question Matthew tends to emphasize the self incrimination of the unbelieving Jewish nation the culminating expression of which is Matthew 27 25 his blood be on us and on our children a verse that's been extremely difficult and troublesome down through history and again has been the basis for a certain degree of tragic anti-semitism but the fundamental idea is not an assessment against Jewish people again or any such thing but it is the unbelieving people there who were in fact committing treason against their covenant Lord Mark and Luke both have Jesus answer his own question Luke adds god forbid when Jesus answers the questions showing how clearly they understood it but the one thing that's clear from all of it the crux of the sentence of judgment pronounced by Jesus the kingdom that you should have been involved in as builders and architects taken from you you're guilty you're found guilty the sentence of execution is now being pronounced haven't you read the scriptures the stone the builders rejected has the chief Cornerstone Christ the Messiah is the cornerstone the living cornerstone it's the Lord's doing the temple that is now going to be built is not a temple of concrete and mortar of the stuff of this world it is the temple of living organic creations of God we become part of it by regeneration washed and baptism brought in made part of this temple in which Christ Himself was the original Cornerstone it's from Psalm 18 which celebrates worship in the true Messianic temple it's announcing a living cornerstone of a temple that would be rejected by the builders Paul and many others throughout the New Testament celebrate this point now therefore you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow-citizens in Israel with the Saints and members of the household of God having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets Christ Himself being the chief Cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the spirit I know I keep beating this drum but it's something that I think we need to always appreciate that this is the genius of the New Testament that we are in fact that temple and that where we gather together that is properly speaking the place of God's habitation it's the Lord's doing this is why the book of Revelation speaks of this new temple this New Jerusalem is coming from heaven because it is something God has created it's not something that's built out of the stuff of this world well they didn't like it much they sought to lay hands on it but feared the multitude for they knew he had spoken the parable against them they knew it so they left him and sent her they left him and said and went away they interesting and almost not rageous kind of way begin to plot doing the very thing the parable had predicted you see they have to do it in the shadows they have to do it secretly in a corner at night because they don't want to arouse the multitude they knew this was not an obscure thing that he'd spoken it against them the question of authority had become the basis for the pronouncement of judgment and so they left in that spirit and went away it was not an accident Jesus was nobody's victim all of these happen because God had in fact ordained it should happen that's why Peter said to some of these same people on the day of Pentecost men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a man attested by God to you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst as you yourselves know him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God you took by lawless hands and crucified putting him to death what you intended for harm however God intended for good as Joseph said to his brothers Jim Edwards on this question of the sovereignty of God in this whole business says the following the parables testimony to be to the Shore purposes of God conveyed a profound sense of hope to Mark's believe beleaguered church in Rome so ravaged by Nero's insane persecutions as it can also be in our day when the church at least in the West is often caught in the compromise and confusion and decline the existence of the vineyard is assured not only by the self aggrandizement of the tenants but by the self-sacrifice of the son I misread part of that but you got the message there all right quickly Sunday School lesson we each have a duty to speak truth for fear of God rather than obscure truth for fear of men the religious leaders didn't want to give an answer they didn't like either answer and in their cowardice they said nothing Paul and the other hand in Galatians said do I seek to please men if I still please men I would not be the bond servant of Christ we should all follow Paul's model sometimes it's popular to say something aligning yourself with Christ many more times it'll put you in the position of a kind of social pariah but one way or another the price tag should be irrelevant as we speak the truth not to please men but to please God as these guys on that occasion should have done we each have a duty to steward a vineyard the purpose of which is to produce a harvest of blessing for everyone we meet the story about a vineyard is a story about every one of us you have a vineyard I have a vineyard some of us have good-size vineyards some of us have very tiny ones you know but we all have a VIN it's not yours you are a steward you're a tenant farmer and your task is to take very good care of this that's under your stewardship so that you can honor God with the produce of it and be one of those who therefore receives his blessing rather than his judgment for malfeasance and finally we each have a duty to exercise authority whether greater small with absolute allegiance to the king who rules from the true Mount Zion the kings of the earth take their stand against the Lord and against his anointed every one of us in this room is a bit of a king or a queen over some little domain every one of us can do that where every one of us can kiss the son and recognize he is in fact the proper lord and king of all that we are and all the we own and although we hopefully hope to accomplish in all of our lives and so for all of that I hope this has been a help reminder [Music] you

Channel: Bruce Gore

Views: 3,043

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Gospel of Mark, Parable of the Vineyard, Mark 11:27-33, Mark 12:1-12), Bruce Gore, Holy Week

Id: plhLAjI-lKY

Length: 49min 14sec (2954 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 05 2017