A Blossom Bible Podcast
A Blossom Bible Podcast
Mark 11:27-12:12 Wicked Tenants, Beloved Son: A Tale of Divine Persistence
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What happens when religious authorities challenge Jesus about His power to act? A fascinating confrontation unfolds in Mark 11-12 that reveals the heart of spiritual resistance and divine patience.
After making waves by riding into Jerusalem on a donkey and cleansing the temple, Jesus faces the indignant temple management - chief priests, scribes and elders - who demand to know His credentials. "By what authority are you doing these things?" they challenge, their faces flushed with anger. It's more than a simple question - it's a trap designed to ensnare Jesus in claims of blasphemy.
Jesus responds masterfully, countering with a question about John the Baptist that exposes their spiritual dishonesty. Unable to answer without compromising themselves, they retreat to "We don't know" - revealing how entrenched positions often prevent spiritual growth.
Rather than abandoning these resistant leaders, Jesus shares the Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers - a story about tenants who beat and kill the landowner's representatives and ultimately murder his beloved son to seize his inheritance. The religious leaders would have recognized the reference to Isaiah's vineyard metaphor for Israel, now adapted to confront their rejection of God's messengers and foreshadow their coming rejection of Jesus himself.
This episode unveils a profound spiritual principle: sometimes God keeps bringing us back to the same issue until we properly address it. Like Jonah who couldn't receive new direction until obeying God's original command, we often remain spiritually stalled because we haven't dealt with what God has already spoken to us.
Have you been resisting God's authority in some area of your life? Are you wanting His blessings without His leadership? Consider where you might need to surrender today and discover the paradoxical truth that in yielding to His authority, we find true freedom.
All right, mark, chapter 11, that's where we'll be. Mark, chapter 11, oh, verse 27,. Moving right along, mark 11, verse 27. Well, in our account, jesus making the final descent to the cross. I don't know if that makes sense, but that's what I got. It's the Passover season, so very similar time of year we're talking spring and through his actions, jesus has made very distinct statements. By riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, distinct statement by riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, he has come as the promised Savior, the Messiah. The next day, you'll remember, he goes into the temple and cleans house. A real ruckus there. Jesus has overturned tables, money changers and doves, and the people are intrigued, right, the religious leaders are disturbed, the management is disturbed.
Speaker 1:Consider how our story begins today in verse 27. Then they came again to Jerusalem and as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes and the elders came to him and they said to him by what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do these things? But Jesus answered and said to them I will ask you one question, then answer me and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Verse 30, the baptism of John. Was it from heaven or from men? Answer me. And they reasoned among themselves, saying if we say from heaven, he will say well, why didn't you believe him? If we say from men, they fear the people. For they all counted John to have been a prophet indeed. So they answered and said to Jesus we do not know. Jesus answered and said to them neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. So picture the religious leaders, the management of the temple, again coming to Jesus that day. I picture them with their faces a little flushed right With anger. Their voices may be shaking a little bit. And they come to him and they say who gave you this authority? What gives you the right to turn over our tables and to clear out our money changers? Who gave you this authority? And his authority is questioned. So authority is kind of the big thing here today. Authority is the word of the day. I guess you could say the word in the Greek is ex. Yeah, it's a great word. I can't say it, I'm not Greek, but it means a great word. I can't say it, I'm not great, but it means power to act or right to act. The chief priests and the scribes and the elders were the management. You could see it. Right, it was their job to keep things going.
Speaker 1:Now you might think that this is the dreaded Pharisees. Right, if you've been around church, you know the Pharisees. They're the ones we all dread. You know the Pharisees are evil. These aren't the Pharisees. These are the religious leaders. These are the Sadducees.
Speaker 1:It's important to kind of know where they come from. They were put there by Rome it was like a political position right by Rome to rule the temple and all the ceremonies. They were good friends with Rome because they thought, like Romans, the Sadducees, you know, didn't believe in the afterlife or spirits or angels. You lived and you died and that was it right. And you got to wonder, well, why, what's the point? Right, but that's who these guys were, the religious leaders. They were materialists, they were into politics, they were into big money and having the power. Right.
Speaker 1:So they see Jesus coming here. They've been given the authority by Rome to take care of the temple. And here's Jesus taking authority in the temple, cleaning house. John says this in John 5, 26. The father gave the son authority to execute judgment. The father gave the son authority to execute judgment Matthew 7, 29,.
Speaker 1:The people notice with Jesus that he, unlike the scribes, taught with authority, right? So here we see authority coming into this. The management feels threatened and so they come to Jesus with their finger out saying what is this authority all about? Where do you get this authority? So Jesus knows that this is a little bit of a trap, right, it's a trap. They are trying to trap him in this answer that, if he does say the truth, my authority comes from the father. Blasphemy, they would say You're blaspheming, you're saying things you shouldn't be saying, and that was a capital offense.
Speaker 1:Realizing the trap, jesus answers their question with another question. We read it, but he says there, john's ministry. I'll ask you this question. We read it, but he says there, john's ministry. I'll ask you this question Verse 30, the baptism of John. Was it from heaven or from men? John's ministry, was it from God or just from human ideas? And this is a flashback for them, right? So the screen gets all wavy and there's a flashback and they remember John. We remember John, john the baptizer, right?
Speaker 1:A very eccentric guy in our sense of things. He wore camel hair garments, he had a big old belt around his waist. The weirdest thing, of course, is what he ate Grasshoppers covered in honey. Why honey? Because it makes the grasshoppers easier to swallow. But he was a real fire and brimstone kind of preacher, right, you remember him. He would point at people, he pointed at the religious leaders and he said who warned you? You brood of vipers, you little snakes, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? You need to repent, like everybody else. You need to turn from your sin and turn to God. And John didn't mince words, right, john told it like it was repent, turn or burn.
Speaker 1:Right Now, as they're remembering this, they're remembering how they responded to John. They didn't need to repent. What did they need to repent for? They didn't need to admit their sin and their need for God. They were the righteous ones, right. And so they rejected John. But look at verse 31. They realize they reason among themselves.
Speaker 1:If we say that John's ministry was from heaven, jesus will say why didn't you believe him? If you say it was from men, they feared the people. So here they're reasoning it out. If we say that John's ministry was a godly ministry, he was a prophet sent by God, they would get in trouble for rejecting him. But if they said it was man's ministry. The people loved John and they would have stoned him. Luke actually says that they were afraid they would get stoned by the people, killed by the people if they turned against John. So they're back in the same old spot turned against John. So they're back in the same old spot. Right, they're still left with this idea of what do we do with what John said?
Speaker 1:And we see something here that's true in life that sometimes God tells us the same thing again. We have to return to that same story, us the same thing again. We have to return to that same story Repent, turn from your sin. And sometimes we think, well, why doesn't God tell me something new? Right, I don't hear new things. People hear things all the time. God told me that. You know, I have a heart for the people in Africa. God told me. God told me you know to do this in my life. And we go. Well, why doesn't God tell me new things? But sometimes, until we deal with the old things that God's been saying to us, there aren't new things. Right, think about Jonah. Right, jonah blows me away. Right, you know that.
Speaker 1:But Jonah is told at the beginning of the book go to Nineveh and Jonah says right, go to Tarshish. Right. And he goes the opposite direction. And and yet Jonah doesn't get any new information until he turns and does what God told him to do in the first place. In fact, after the fish swallows him, after three days going up and down in the sea and all that goes along with it, jonah says I'm sorry, god.
Speaker 1:And the very first thing that God says in Jonah, chapter three now go to Nineveh. And so again you see this thing that until we deal with the thing that God's told us, we won't hear anything new. Think about it. What has God told you in your life? Maybe it's a certain sin that you've dealt with since you were little and it's just so hard to turn from it because it's my sin, it's what I want. God might not tell you anything new. Listen, god might not tell you anything new until you deal with that thing that he's already told you Again. Maybe it's a relational thing. He's already told you Again. Maybe it's a relational thing. Until we forgive or deal with it, come to the person. We may not hear anything else until we deal with that first thing.
Speaker 1:The point here is deal with the thing that God's already told us. Think about that. What has God already told you? And have you dealt with it? Deal with it. So, back in our story, jesus brings it back to John's baptism and verse 33, they cop out, right, we can't say this, we can't say that. So we'll just say I don't know Now. They did know, but I don't know Now. Verse 33, jesus here says neither then will I tell you what authority I do these things. But at that point I would think Jesus would just drop it right. What's the point of talking to these guys? They're not listening, they don't care.
Speaker 1:But notice chapter 12, no chapter break in the original Chapter 12, then he began to speak to them in parables. Who's the them? I would say it's probably the religious leaders. That was the last them we were talking about, right. So Jesus turns to the religious leaders and speaks to the last them we were talking about, right. So Jesus turns to the religious leaders and speaks to them in parables.
Speaker 1:Isn't it wonderful that God never gives up on us. He never does. We are so stubborn, but like Saul, aka Paul, jesus says Saul, it's hard for you to kick against the goats. You're being real stubborn. I'm poking you with this stick. I'm not giving up, and God doesn't give up on us. And here he turns to telling parables. He tells a rather pointed story to them and stories, of course, can be disarming. We see our issue on someone else and here it's just another tactic of God reaching out to us. Let's read it, the parable A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the vine, the wine vat, and built a tower, and he leased it to vine dressers who went to a far country.
Speaker 1:Now, at vintage time, he sent a servant to the vine dressers that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent another servant and him they threw stones, wounded him in the head and sent him away, shamefully treated. And again he sent another. Him they killed and many others, beating some, killing some. Therefore, still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying they will respect my son. But those vinedressers said amongst themselves this is the heir, come, let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours. So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. Therefore, what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine dressers and give the vineyard to others.
Speaker 1:So here the story is pretty graphic, right, it's about a guy who owns a landowner who owns a vineyard. He rents it out to tenants. When it's time to harvest, the tenants get to harvest it, but they give a portion of it back to the landowner. It's a business. It's how you paid your rent. Typical thing that happened in those days with land and farming and all these different things.
Speaker 1:But here's the thing to know that these religious leaders understanding the Bible would immediately flash back to Isaiah, chapter 5. Isaiah, chapter 5. If you can turn there, let's turn there. Isaiah, chapter 5, verse 1. Isaiah 5, verse 1. A lot of the same points but a little different story here. Isaiah 5, verse 1. A lot of the same points but a little different story here. Isaiah 5, verse 1.
Speaker 1: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 it up and cleared out its stones. He planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst. He also made a wine press in it.
Speaker 1:So he expected to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. So here it's another vineyard. A man plants a vineyard with good stuff and gets wild grapes, right. So what's the big deal? Wild grapes. He's done everything he can to get the good stuff and he gets wild grapes. But wild grapes, they're dangerous, right. Why are they dangerous? Well, because they can be mistaken for poisonous plants. Look a little bit like grapes, but these wild grapes things like Virginia creeper you can look it up or moon seed they have little berries on them that look a little bit like grapes, but you can eat that fruit and it can make you real sick. It can even kill you, right. So the point here is wild grapes, dangerous things, not what he was looking for. This vineyard is not bringing forth good fruit.
Speaker 1:But look look at verse three. And now, o inhabitants of Jerusalem, men of Judah, judge, please between me and my vineyard. What more could I have done to my vineyard that I have not done in it? 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 this vineyard. I will take away its hedge and it shall be burned. I will break down its wall and it shall be trampled down. I will lay it waste. It shall not be pruned or dug and there will come up briars and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they may they that they rain. No rain on it.
Speaker 1:For verse 7 the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah are his pleasant plant. I look for justice, but behold oppression. So here we see the key to this story. The vineyard is the nation of Israel, the people of Judah right, it's God's people. And God here says look, I've done everything to help you grow, but all I get is bad fruit. I'm going to judge you. And that's the picture here in Isaiah. So check it out back in Mark, chapter 12.
Speaker 1:When Jesus starts talking about vineyards and grapes, they would have flashed back to Isaiah, chapter 5. They would have flashed back to it and they would have known. In fact, we're told that these religious leaders knew that he was talking about them. So what happens in Mark, chapter 12? That's a little different, is it's these tenants, right? These tenants come and they're nasty, they're wicked tenants. I mean, you don't want to rent to people like this. We rent property from time to time. You don't want to rent to people like this. We rent property from time to time. You don't want to rent to people like this. You send a representative to them, knocking on the door and they beat them up. You send another representative and they kill them here. Finally, the landowner says I know, I'll send my beloved son, they'll listen to him, but the story just goes downhill. These wicked tenants take the beloved son, they drag him out of the vineyard and they kill him for the sake of getting his inheritance is what they think.
Speaker 1:Now we know the picture here. Jesus is talking about these tenants, the religious leaders who were supposed to take care of the vineyard. What would they do? They would reject the prophets, they would kill the prophets. It was the way they did it. It's the way they worked. They would kill the son, they would resist him and kill him. And so here we see this going down in front of our eyes right, they're resisting Jesus. What authority do you have to tell us what to do? Who do you think? You are the son, but they wouldn't have it. They wouldn't have it. And less than a week later, just days later, they would drag him out of the city and they would kill him. Now this is their response right A way to judgment. Now Jesus makes it even clearer. Look at verse 10. He says he gives a cross to judgment. Now Jesus makes it even clearer. Look at verse 10. He says he gives a cross reference. Here, have you not even read the scripture? The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing. It was marvelous in our eyes. So this is Psalm 118.
Speaker 1:That's what we're quoting here in this passage Psalm 118. Well, you know what? Psalm 118 was a popular song that week? Because just a few days earlier, they quoted a different part of Psalm 118, verse 25. It says this save now. The Hebrew word is Hosanna I pray, o Lord, o Lord, I pray. Send now prosperity. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. So check it out.
Speaker 1:Psalm 118, popular song that week. So check it out. Psalm 118, popular song that week. The people all sang it as Jesus rode into Jerusalem. Save now, be our king, has become the chief cornerstone, the most important block to the foundation of a building. The cornerstone is rejected.
Speaker 1:And here we see Jesus taking this passage and using it to predict this is exactly what God said was gonna happen. You would reject the cornerstone, you would reject me. There's no building of salvation without Jesus, right? There's no body of the church without the head, without Jesus. And yet they didn't want him. The religious leaders wanted the kingdom, but they didn't want him. The religious leaders wanted the kingdom, but they didn't want Jesus.
Speaker 1:And notice, there it says this is the Lord's doing. What's the Lord's doing? We can get all theological. Was the rejection the Lord's doing? I don't think so. But let's just say was the rejection the Lord's doing? Well, that rejection throwing the son out of the vineyard, killing him that's where we find salvation.
Speaker 1:It's kind of crazy, isn't it? The low point of the story, jesus is crucified and beaten and rejected. That's where salvation comes from. It was the plan of God all along. But perhaps it's the salvation itself that was the Lord's doing that. All we, like sheep, have gone astray, as Isaiah says in chapter 53, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. So here's the story.
Speaker 1:By nature, we all reject God's authority in our life. We can think we got it, we're good. We're good people, but in our own way we all reject God's authority in our life. But in that rejection, god offers us salvation and forgiveness, redemption, peace and check it out an inheritance the one thing that we were looking for. We'll kill him, we'll get the inheritance, we'll receive him. We get the inheritance. We become children, we're part of his kingdom. And so it's a marvelous, amazing thing.
Speaker 1:I love that passage there in verse 11. It was marvelous in our eyes when you look at what God's done for us, rebellious sinners who reject God, who spend so much time at war with God. Yet he loves us and the beloved son comes, lays down his life for us. But we're always back to this idea of authority. Right, he's not just our savior, he really has to be our Lord. Right, he has the authority and he deserves the authority to every part of our life. What a great savior he is, what a great ruler he is to love us like he does.
Speaker 1:God, it's the same old story. It seems that here we are in our lives. It's totally rebellious to you, but even in our rebellion, our God, you love us and you offer us life and everything. Good, god, we're not good, but you definitely are now. We just thank you so much for this, but we pray. I ask that you would help us to not just receive you as Savior, but submit to you as our Lord, god, that we would just even lay our life down. God, we pray for those things that are the same old things that you've told us for years Issues of sin or pride. We want to be our own master. God, help us this week to come back to that point and turn from those things and turn to you, because you are just so good and you're so worthy of all of our life. In Jesus' name, amen.