Mark 11:27-33
The Gospel opf Mark • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Good afternoon everybody! It’s great to get to be in here again, getting to open up God’s Word with you again.
If you remember, we have recently covered the Triumphal Entry, and then we covered Jesus cursing the fig tree as well as Jesus upending the Temple because of the religious leaders allowance of making the Gentile court into this monetary produce area.
We saw there how Jesus is this servant judge.
Kind of brings to the fore front this part of Jesus that many people like to forget about. Nonetheless, it’s there. He is the SERVANT JUDGE to those who have not humbled themselves and come to Him.
Next we’re covering Mark 11:27-12:12.
The next section is 11:27-12:44 in which Jesus shows us that he is the Servant Prophet. He tells them these things of the kingdom that has to do with authority, responsibility, priority, and identity.
The representatives of the religious and political establishment descended on Jesus as He ministers in the temple.
They try their best to trip Him up with their questions. He answered four questions, and then asked them a question that silenced them for good.
So tonight we look at Jesus addressing their question of authority.
27 And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, 28 and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.” 31 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 32 But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet. 33 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” 1 And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. 2 When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this Scripture: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 11 this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” 12 And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.
11:27-33
As the official guardians of the Law, the members of the Sanhedrin had both the right and the responsibility to investigate anyone who claimed to be sent by God; and that included Jesus (see Deut. 18:15–22).
However, these men did not have open minds or sincere motives. They were not seeking truth; they were looking for evidence to use to destroy Him (Mark 11:18).
(They did not come asking these questions in a, “we’re really wondering” type of attitude.)
Jesus knew what they were doing, so He countered their question with another question and exposed their hypocrisy.
Why take them all the way back to John the Baptist?
For a very good reason: God does not teach us new truth if we have rejected the truth He has already revealed.
This basic principle is expressed in John 7:17:
17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.
If you have already been doing God’s will, then you’re going to know if i’m spitting lies or facts.
“Obedience is the organ of spiritual knowledge,” -British preacher F.W. Robertson.
The Jewish religious leaders had not accepted what John had taught, so why should God say anything more to them?
Had they obeyed John’s message, they would have gladly submitted to Christ’s authority, for John came to present the Messiah to the nation.
The Jewish leaders were caught in a dilemma of their own making.
They were not asking “What is true?” or “What is right?” but “What is safe?”
This is the question people within our culture are so often caught in, that is… asking what is safe rather than what is true or what is right.
And honestly I just can’t understand it. Is what is true and right always safe? NO! Usually it’s actually the opposite.
What is true and right, actually brings with it more than anything trials and persecution. But scripture tells us that by standing up for these things… we will be rewarded when the time comes.
Commentator - “This is always the approach of the hypocrite and the crowd-pleaser.”
(OUCH, how many times have I made a decision to not show Jesus because of it being a safe decision.)
It certainly was not the approach of either Jesus (Mark 12:14) or John the Baptist (Matt. 11:7–10). Jesus did not refuse to answer their question; He only refused to accept and endorse their hypocrisy. He was not being evasive; He was being honest.
12:1-12
Before they had opportunity to escape, He told them a parable that revealed where their sins were leading them. They had already permitted John the Baptist to be killed, but soon they would ask for the crucifixion of God’s Son!
The vineyard was a familiar image of Israel (Ps. 80:8–16; Isa. 5:1–7).
According to Leviticus 19:23–25, a farmer would not use the fruit until the fifth year, though we are not sure the Jews were obeying this regulation at that time.
In order to retain his legal rights to the property, the owner had to receive produce from the tenants, even if it was only some of the vegetables that grew between the rows of trees or vines.
This explains why the tenants refused to give him anything: they wanted to claim the vineyard for themselves. It also explains why the owner continued to send agents to them;
It was purely a question of authority and ownership.
If Mark 12:2–5 covers the three years when the fruit was not used, then it was in the fourth year that the beloved Son was sent.
The 4th year:
This is the year when the fruit was devoted to the Lord (Lev. 19:24),
24 And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord.
This makes the sending of the Son even more meaningful.
If the tenants could do away with the heir, they would have a clear claim to the property; so they cast him out (see Heb. 13:12–13) and killed him.
12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.
They wanted to preserve their own position and were willing even to kill to accomplish their evil purpose (John 11:47–53).
The Question:
Jesus then asked,
“What will the owner of the vineyard do?”
The leaders answered the question first and thereby condemned themselves (Matt. 21:41),
41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”
...and then Jesus repeated their answer as a solemn verdict from the Judge in Mark.
But before they could appeal the case, He quoted what they knew was a messianic prophecy, Psalm 118:22–23.
22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 23 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
We met this same psalm at His triumphal entry (Mark 11:9–10).
“The Stone” was a well-known symbol for the Messiah
6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.
7 Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’ ”
32 Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. 33 As it is written, Look, I am putting a stone in Zion to stumble over and a rock to trip over, and the one who believes on him will not be put to shame.
4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
6 For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
The Servant-Judge announced a double verdict: they had not only rejected the Son, but they had also refused the Stone!
There could be only one consequence—judgment (Matt. 22:1–14).