Jesus is still teaching in the temple courts at Jerusalem. Today He tells what is known as the parable of the tenants. When Mark says Jesus speaks to "them", he means that Jesus' words are aimed at His enemies who have just finished questioning His authority.
"Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: 'A man planted a vineyard. He built 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) Jesus' listeners would have recognized the similarity between His words and those of the prophet Isaiah, who used a vineyard to symbolize the nation of Israel when he said, "I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest of 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." (Isaiah 5:1-2) In both these parables the man who planted the vineyard is God and the vineyard represents the nation of Israel. The tenant farmers who are tending the vineyard symbolize the religious leaders of the nation.
In Jesus' parable God has sent a servant to collect from the tenant farmers, and He says, "But they seized him, 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 sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed." (Mark 12:3-5) These servants are the prophets God sent to the nation, many of whom were ridiculed and shamefully treated. Some were even martyred for their faithfulness to the word of God. The tenant farmers (the Pharisees, chief priests, and scribes) should have wanted the best for the vineyard, but they have rejected the servants sent by God. In rejecting the prophets, they have harmed their own people by keeping them from hearing and obeying the truth.
"He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, 'They will respect my son.'" (Mark 12:6) Jesus is obviously speaking of Himself. The tenant farmers have shamefully treated all the prophets, so now at last the owner of the vineyard sends his son. Or as the Apostle Paul puts it, "In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom also He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word." (Hebrews 1:1-3a) In Jesus' parable the owner of the vineyard is distressed by the way the tenant farmers have treated his servants, but he thinks perhaps they will respect his son. An adult son sent on business for his father possesses all the authority and status of his father. A son is to be treated with the same respect with which anyone would treat his father. But we find the tenant farmers unwilling to accord the son any respect. They treat him as poorly as they've treated all those who came before him
"But the tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard." (Mark 12:7-8) The tenants in this parable may have assumed the owner of the vineyard was dead and that the son had inherited the land. Or they may have believed the owner was unable or unwilling to come and take possession of his land, hence the sending of his son. Or they may think that once the son is killed, the owner will give up his claims on the land because he is grief-stricken and defeated. In killing the son, the tenants hope to keep the vineyard for themselves. Jesus' enemies are well represented by these tenant farmers, for they resent the authority Jesus holds. They fear the disruption of their own power over the people. They want the vineyard for themselves, and if it takes killing Jesus to keep it, they consider that a small price to pay.
God, the owner of the vineyard, is not dead. He will come in judgment against the tenant farmers. "What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others." (Mark 12:9) The giving of the vineyard to others may represent the gospel going out to the Gentile world. Or it may foretell of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by Rome, which will mean the collapse of the power and authority the religious leaders hold over the citizens. We find the prophet Isaiah speaking the word of the Lord in regard to a coming judgment upon the vineyard. In Isaiah's day the northern kingdom of Israel had already fallen to Assyria as a judgment for idolatry; the southern kingdom of Judah was soon to fall to Babylon. The Lord says through Isaiah, "What more could have been done for My vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Now I will tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it." (Isaiah 5:4-6) Isaiah prophesied the destruction of the nation and the temple if the people kept rejecting his words and refusing to repent. This came true when Babylon defeated the nation, destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, and took most of the citizens captive to a foreign land. Jesus is prophesying another destruction of the nation and the temple after He has been rejected. This came true about forty years after the crucifixion when Rome defeated an uprising, destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, and took many citizens captive as slaves or to be used in the arenas for sport.
"Haven't you read this passage of Scripture: 'The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?" (Mark 12:10) Jesus is the stone the builders rejected, but God the Father intends for all things to hinge on Him. Killing Him won't put an end to Him, though His enemies think it will. Killing Him will have the opposite result: He will become the cornerstone upon which everything that matters is going to be built. He is the foundation of our faith (1 Corinthians 3:11), the author of eternal salvation (Hebrews 5:9), and the Living One who was dead but now is alive forevermore. (Revelation 1:18)
Jesus' enemies have already decided to kill him. They would prefer not to do it at Passover while Jerusalem is bulging at the seams with pilgrims, but they make up their minds they must act quickly to find some charges to bring against Him. "Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders 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." (Mark 12:12) They want to arrest Him privately, away from the crowds whom they fear will attack them if they lay hands on Him. An opportunity will soon present itself, for there is a traitor among the disciples who will be willing to sell out his Master for thirty pieces of silver as foretold by the prophet Zechariah. (Zechariah 11:12) The traitor will lead them to a garden at night where Jesus goes to pray, and they will arrest Him there. They will present false charges against Him before Pontius Pilate, who will find no evidence to substantiate their claims, but he will eventually give in to their demands because he is a politician concerned more with his position than with truth and justice. The religious leaders understand that Jesus has spoken the parable about them, but they fail to understand that in killing Him the parable will come true: their authority will be taken away and given to Him. They will not take the vineyard for themselves, for He is the heir. He will become the cornerstone, the very thing His enemies never wanted Him to be.
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