Mark 12:1-8

Passage

Once more Jesus teaches the crowd in a parable.  Jesus tells of a man who planted a vineyard, put up a fence, dug a pit for the winepress, put up a tower, and leased it to tenants while He went away.  When it came time for the harvest, the man sent a servant to collect some of the fruit.  The tenants beat the servant and sent the servant away empty handed.  Again the man sends a servant, and this one they strike on the head and treated him shamefully.  The man sent even more servants.  The tenants began to beat them more and even kill some.  Eventually the man decides to send his son, thinking that they will respect the son of the owner.  The tenants decide among themselves to kill the son so that they can take possession of the land themselves having done away with the heir.  That is exactly what they do. 

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Clearly, this is a parable about God’s relationship with the Hebrew people.  God set them up in the Promised Land.  They had it good.  When God sent prophets and priests among them to check for spiritual fruit, the people rebelled.  They abused most of the prophets.  Some of the prophets even died for the cause.  Eventually, God sent His own Son, Jesus.  But the Hebrew leaders would not receive Him, either.  They would kill Him and throw Him out of the holy city of Jerusalem. 

How does reading this parable in light of the relationship between God and the Hebrew people affect you?  How do you think this arrangement made God feel towards His people?

Second Thought:

 Let’s go back into the parable and examine a few things more closely now that we have the generalization out of the way.  Notice what the man in the parable (God) does.  The man takes every precaution to make sure that the land can produce fruit.  The man digs the vineyard himself.  He puts up a wall to protect it.  He builds a winepress so that the harvest can be successfully managed.  He builds a tower so that dangers can be known before they come.  He does absolutely everything within His power to make the process of producing a harvest possible.  All the hard work was done by God.

Do you believe this is true about your life?  Who does all the hard work in your life?  What has God really done in your life?

Third Thought:

All the tenants had to do was to simply tend the vines, collect the fruit, and make wine.  Of course, they had to do it with some sense of gratitude and understanding of how gracious the owner of the vineyard had been.  That is where they fail.  They do not recognize the work of the owner.  All they see is the labor of their own hands.  So when it comes time to relate to the man who owned the vineyard, the tenants ignored him.  They beat his servants.  They killed his son.  They did all of these things simply because they fell out of relationship with the owner (God).

How grateful are you towards God?  Are you willing to work in God’s harvest and give back to Him?

Passage for Tomorrow: Mark 12:9-12