Sermon Tone Analysis
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We last left Jesus heading back to Bethany discussing the withered fig tree with his disciples.
When in the temple Jesus turned over the tables in the temple and called it a den of robbers.
So after talking about the fig tree and the temple with his disciples he went back to Bethany for the night.
Now they are back in Jerusalem the next day and walking around in the temple.
Jesus’ Authority Challenged
By What Authority?
Mark 11:27-
Verse one tell us that they are walking around in the temple.
Jesus had just made a commotion the day before when he was in the temple by his acted parable communicating that the temple was to be destroyed.
And if you remember the Chief Priest and the scribes were not fans of Jesus actions
mark 11:
You see, the chief priests and the scribes were the authority in the temple.
They thought the temple was there to serve them, rather for them to serve God.
So when Jesus says the temple is going away, that evokes some emotion in the leadership of the temple
One, who does Jesus think he is? he is not a high priest, he is not a great prophet, he doesn’t come with authority from Herod or from Rome.
Who does he think he is?
So they ask him...
Mark 11:
The leadership of the temple, the chief priests, the scribes and the elders came to him...
And ask, by what authority are you doing these things?
or… “who gave you this authority to do them?”
Jesus then offers to make a deal with them.
Mark 11:
Jesus knows the religious leaders are trying to trap him in giving the wrong answer and goes on the offensive
You know, we would do well to follow Jesus’ example in this sort of situation.
Christians are often posed questions for the purpose of trying to trick us into saying something that is not politically correct.
Do you think its ok for two people to love one another as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else?
Do you not think that a woman has any freedom to do what she wants with her own body?
If we followed Jesus example we would be able to discern when questions are being posed in order to trap us.
As King Solomon says,
prov.
13
Jesus was wise, and he was not about to be trapped by the evil religious leaders.
And Jesus’ response accomplished what he wanted to accomplish
mark 11:31
Now, Jesus was not about to plainly tell them where his authority comes from, because if he did that they would have arrested right there on the spot, and Jesus’ time had not yet fully come.
But Jesus does tell them about his authority in the form of a parable.
(which historically really frustrated the religious leaders)
The Parable
Jesus has told three other parables in Marks gospel up until this point
We also have Jesus enacting a parables with the fig tree and turning the tables over in the temple
And now we come to Jesus fourth spoken parable
Parables are some of the greatest sections in the gospels - we have Jesus flexing his ability to tell stories that teach and convict, that love and encourage, that challenge and outrage.
1-
This parables has elements that echo all throughout the OT
one such echo is the story of Nathan coming to David and telling him the story of the ewe lamb in
There were two men in a city - one rich and one poor
The rich man had many flocks and herds and the poor man only had one lamb
The poor man raised the lamb in his home
It grew up with him and his children
Fed it from his table
And treated it like it was his daughter
one day the rich man had some guests come to his house and instead of taking from his own flocks to prepare a dinner for the guests he took the poor man lamb and killed it and served it to his guests.
When David heard this story he was outraged and said the rich man must pay!
Nathan then said to David, “you are the man” for taking Uriah’s wife.
David realizes his sin and repents
likewise at the end of the parable the the chief priests and the scribes realized that he was talking about them - look at Mark 12.12
The difference is that David repented after hearing the story, where the religious leaders do not repent, rather they want to kill Jesus all the more.
So in what way does this parable speak about the religious leaders?
Lets look.
So when looking at parables and allegories we need to understand the different elements and characters (this is a multi-layered parables which makes a complex parable)
mark 12
A man planted a vineyard
The Owner of the vineyard built the vineyard himself, he formed it, he planted it, he did everything he needed to do to harvest good grapes in order to turn into wine.
the man is the owner of the vineyard which is referenced in verse 9
The vineyard is very important to the owner, in fact it is to be the inheritance he gives his son.
(which we see in verse 7)
The owner leases the vineyards to some tenants
The tenants are supposed to take care of the vineyard, prune and cultivate healthy grapes in order to make wine with the winepress the owner built.
after leasing the vineyard to these tenants the owner goes away to a far country.
The owner sends his servants to the vineyard
When the season came to enjoy the fruit of the vineyard the owner sent some of his servants to get the fruit
When the owner sends his servants to his vineyard to get some of the fruit, the tenants should have obliged because that was their job.
The tenants were to watch over the vineyard for the owner and give him anything he wanted from the vineyard.
When the season came to enjoy the fruit of the vineyard the owner sent some of his servants to get the fruit
However we find that the tenants were wicked tenants
The wicked Tenants
However, the tenants were wicked and instead of giving the grapes and wine to the owners servant they beat him up and send him away with nothing.
and this doesn’t just happen once, but three times
Look at vv. 4-5
Notice that each time the owner sends a servant he is treated worse than the last time.
The tenants are not faithful or good, they are wicked, evil and violent.
finally the owner stops sending his servants because they keep dying, and he sends his son thinking they will surely listen to him
The owner sends his own son
Mark 12.6
Notices that the son is a “Beloved Son” - we’ll come back that
So he sends his son hoping they will respect him
So he sends his son hoping they will respect him
7-8
The tenants, rather than respect the son of the owner, plot with one another how to destroy him.
They recognize that the son is the heir of the vineyard, so if the Son is coming, surely the owner has died and the son has come for his inheritance.
So if they kill the son they will have the inheritance for themselves
So they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.
Now Jesus steps outside the parable to ask the people a question
mark 12 9-
Jesus tells them that the owner is coming, and he is going to destroy the tenants and he will entrust the vineyard to others.
The tenants foolish assumption that the owner was dead and his property available for seizure would be shattered on the hard rock of reality.
the Owner was not dead, and he was coming to make right the wrong that had been done.
And he was coming to save his vineyard from wicked tenants.
Now for this parable to really make sense as to why the chief priests and scribes thought he was talking about them.
we need to look at the symbolic meaning of the parable.
It’s not just a moral tale about being good employees or about how to avoid trusting your possessions to the wrong people.
So lets look at the different elements of the parables and try and bring some clarity as to what Jesus means by telling this story.
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