The stone the builders rejected (mark 12a)

 

Mark 12:1-12

Key Verse 12:10 Haven't you read this passage of Scripture: "'The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 11 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?" (Mar 12:10 NIV)

Introduction

Immediately after Peter’s confession that Jesus was the Savior of the nation Israel, Jesus revealed what he had to do to consummate his mission as the Savior. It was suffering, death, and resurrection in Jerusalem. Though it was too hard for the disciples to reason and to accept Jesus’ way to his kingship,  Jesus taught his disciples three times of this; what he would do in Jerusalem, rejection by the religious leaders, suffering, death, and rise from the dead. It was Jesus’ will to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Simply the journey that was filled with that spirit and with that spirit Jesus entered Jerusalem and was welcomed by the people of humble origin. The spirit of life-giving love accorded with the need and hope for those who were suffering under the power of sin. But the leaders of the nation did not welcome Jesus because they hated to see that many followed Jesus than them and because they saw Jesus exercising his power and authority above theirs. Simply they were afraid to lose their establishment as the authority of the nation not only as the source of truth for life but also as the power of the nation.

While they were busy exercising their authority, Jesus came and condemned what they were doing; making the temple of the Lord a den of robbers, while pointing out their failure to do the thing that God purported to do in and through the sacrificial system; that is to bring His salvation to the people of the world.

Here, the spirit to give his life as a ransom for many collided with the spirit to uphold their authority as the holder of the truth and life. In this way, the conflict began between Jesus’ way as a humble king, and the way of the Leaders, the authority of the nation to enforce the law that they could not keep, to uphold their power, honor while exploiting those who could not keep up with the law.

The leaders of the nation raised a question concerning Jesus’ identity as well as the source of his authority. They thought and did not doubt that they were the only source of God’s truth and the only one authorized to dispense and implement that truth. No men can and shall challenge that authority for it was from the Lord.  Who is right, Jesus, or religious leaders?

Jesus gave the crowd a parable that illustrated the entire work of the Lord in and through Israel. In this parable were the religious leaders, and Jesus placing in a proper context according to God’s plan of salvation for the world.

Jesus called us to follow him. We are to live by His spirit as we follow him. But as Jesus faced the opposition of the religious authority, we face similar opposition and antagonism from those who think that they hold the ultimate authority to rule and implement what is right and just.   

As we go through this passage, I pray that we come to understand and accept God’s utmost purpose in this conflict.

 

to explain what Jesus was doing.  – to explore the deep things in one’s mind ; not explicit but intuitive insight: reveal the truth, what is right and just.

1.      A man who planted a vineyard and rented out the vineyard to farmers while he was away with the hope of harvesting abundance(1-2)

2.      The tenant/farmers treated the servants of the owner and did not give the owner any harvest (3-5)

3.      As the last resort, the owner sent his son hoping that the tenant would give proper respect and give some of the harvest; but they killed the son. (7-8)

4.      What will the owner do (9-10)?

5.      The Lord’s will prevailed in and through His son Jesus (11-12)

Jesus started a journey to Jerusalem from Caesarea Philippi. On his way to Jerusalem three times, Jesus told his disciples that he had to suffer, to die by the hands of the religious leaders, and then to resurrect.  Finally, Jesus arrived at Jerusalem and entered it with a great welcome from common people as king and Savior of Israel. The next day, Jesus overturned the tables of the money-changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts (11:15b-16) This was a great challenge to the temple authority, i.e., Sanhedrin, 71 members composed of priests, teachers of the Law and elders. They asked where or from whom Jesus got such authority. But they were not able to get an answer from Jesus because they were not willing to commit themselves to the truth. Today’s passage is Jesus’ teaching by a parable.  This parable is more of allegory, a telling of a story of the current situation just with replaced characters.  The characters in this allegory represented God the Father, His son Jesus, and the religious leaders within the context of Israel's history. In other words, the entire story is about God: His hope, and His plan for the nation Israel and then for the world. The theme was about how or through whom God’s purpose will be fulfilled.

 

1.      A man who planted a vineyard and rented out the vineyard to farmers while he was away with hope of harvesting abundance (1-2)

11:27 They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him.—the representatives of the nation; Sanhedrin; they questioned the authority of Jesus and demanded an answer.

They were not willing to accept Jesus’ authority as the Son of God, which was conveyed through John and his baptism. Also was well demonstrated his power to heal and to drive out demons, so on. Here we see two things about them; first, they were not willing to commit their hearts to one thing, either right or wrong. Such a non-committal attitude is a posturing to advance their point regardless of what they heard for the counterpart.  To such a mindset, it is impossible to reason or argue truthfully. To them, Jesus gave a parable.

 

A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a watchtower (v1).

This parable is about a man who planted a vineyard and his handling of the vineyard and its care, eventually harvest from the vineyard. He planted a vineyard. Then he put a wall around it and dug a pit for the winepress for the harvesting of the grape. He also built a watchtower. Since it is a parable, what the man did would be taken to mean figuratively.

First, he planted a vineyard. It includes the preparation of a piece of land, cultivates it, and spreading of seed. This denotes what God did in establishing a nation and then a kingdom in the land of God’s promise of blessing. We would say that this includes the history of Israel from the time of the slavery in Egypt to the time when David became king in Palestine. This history can be divided into three stages; preparing his people (Exodus to Deuteronomy), preparing the land (Joshua’s conquering of the land), and preparing the kingdom (from Judges to 2 Samuel). Literally, God’s hand was on every stage of Israel.

Second, he planted the choicest vine (Isa 5:6). God chose the best vine seed among the people. He chose a man of faith Abraham from Ur of Chaldeans over all other people of the time. He chose Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, and then Judah over the 11 brothers as the seed of God’s blessing. They were chosen not because they were better than others, but because they put their faith in the Lord. So, in choosing or selecting and deselecting, the Lord looked at one thing, their faith that pleased the Lord.

Third, he put a wall around it. Actually, there was no visible wall around the land of Israel. They never built one like that in China. The wall was God himself; an invisible wall of God’s protection and power shielding the nation Israel.

Fourth, he dug a pit for the winepress. Grapevine produces grapes. The pit for winepress was for producing wine. In other words, the ultimate purpose of the owner was to produce wine in abundance. This was alluded in Gen 49:11 He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.  

Fifth, he built a watchtower. Here watchtower was them to keep an eye on the vineyard itself as well as to see if any thieves or robbers are coming. Probably God himself was a watchtower who gave warnings of His punishment by their neighbors. He did this by sending his prophets.

The Lord did all and Israel must know this and she should never forget what the Lord did and the hope that the Lord had for them (see also Duet 32:8-14).

 

Simply the owner prepared all things that were necessary for farming the vineyard for good harvesting. Having all the necessary things to grow and harvest, he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. The owner entrusted his vineyard to the hands of the farmers while he was away. Since he had made a full provision that was necessary for a good and abundant harvest, the owner gave the farmers some autonomy or leeway to operate as they would do.

 

Who is the owner and who are farmers?  About 750 years before Jesus, the Lord sent a prophet Isaiah and gave the song of vineyard in ch. 5. V1-2a reads:

Isaiah 5:1 I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. 2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well.

In this verse, it is not clear who was “my loved one” was. But v5:7 says that it was the vineyard of the LORD and His vineyard is the house of Israel. The LORD was the owner of the vineyard. His vineyard was the house of Israel. The house of Israel is a collective term to denote the house and all who were in it, that is the law of the covenant, religious system, including the temple and worship, and the kingdom- that God set up to sustain the nation Israel: simply we may say collectively, the leaders of the nation Israel under this system.

What does the vineyard or the house of Israel that the LORD set up look like? In the beginning of creation, God created Adam and Eve and put them in the garden of Eden, where all things to necessary to proper and to govern the Garden. His purpose was for them to multiply and increase on the earth as His people. But Adam and Eve failed to keep God’s command and rebelled against Him. They were thrown out of the land of God’s blessing. But God could not endure treacheries of the people and wipe them from the earth by flood except Noah and his sons’ families. He had a hope to bring them back to Him again into a garden like the Garden of Eden where God and His people became one under His blessing.

The imagery of the vineyard reflects the same purpose and hope that the Lord had in the Garden of Eden. How could that hope turn out? The farmers to whom God entrusted the vineyard were like Adam, who was in charge of the Garden of Eden. God gave them autonomy for he wanted them to live and act according to God’s will out of their willing heart in obedience and faith.

When we are given freedom or autonomy, we know what we have in our hearts. No one bothers me and I can and will do what my heart desires. So common question raised by people is, why can I not do what I want?  What did the leaders of the nation Israel, the vineyard that the LORD set up, do?

The farmers were the leaders of the nation. Here, Jesus was talking to the leaders of Israel, representative of the Sanhedrin, 71 members composed of priests, teachers of the Law and elders. Then what did the LORD expect from the farmers?

 

2.      The tenant/farmers treated the servants of the owner and did not give the owner any harvest (3-5)

2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.

The harvest time came and the owner sent his servant to collect some of the fruit of the vineyard. God completed the vineyard when David became the king of the nation. Since then, about 1000 years passed by. In between then and now, God gave them many warnings to the tenant farmers. The first of an explicit warning was what God gave through Isaiah (750BC). Have they paid their attention to the owner, the Lord’s warning?

3 But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 He sent still another, and that one they killed.

Isaiah 5:2 said,

Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit

They were bad 750 years before and they were doing the same thing even now at Jesus’ time.  Jesus examined what they had done in the past. They seized him, beat him, and sent away empty hand. The Lord sent another servant. This time, they struck him on his head and treated him shamefully. He sent another and they killed him. What did these servants do as where were treated so badly? They were meek, humble, and did not retaliate the abuses of evil and ungodly tenant/farmers.  Some even gave their lives (He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed v5b). On examining the history of Israel, we found that since King David, Micaiah (King Ahab) was put in prison; Isaiah (Manasseh) was also put in prison and was believed to be sawed in two, Jeremiah (Zedekiah) was also imprisoned and thought to be killed. Out of about 20 prophets, six were killed. This was proven in historical records. Simply their will to uphold their power, their will, and their righteousness was far above the will of the Father God. If they were willing to listen or willing to learn from the Lord or had fear of the Lord, they could have done because in them were glimpses of the spirit that Jesus carried on and taught in his journey from Caesarea Philippi to Jerusalem. He taught that he must be rejected, suffer, die, and be raised to life. In other words, in their lives, the Lord showed what life in the Lord should look like. But did they see this will and love of the Lord in and through them? Nevertheless, they failed to learn and to accept the LORD as the owner. The result was very pitiful. They lived and behaved exactly like the kings of the world. They oppressed the humble and meek, and did not fear the Lord and exploited the weak and helpless. God wanted to establish a garden of Eden again. But they lived out their sin in disobedience again as Adam and Eve did.

3.      As the last resort, the owner sent his son hoping that the tenant would give proper respect and give some of the harvest; but they killed the son. (6-8)

But the Lord did not end here. In his patience and grace, he did not punish them as they deserved. Truly he endured the sins of men with the hope to bring them back. So he took the last and final attempt to bring their heart to the Lord, the true owner of the vineyard.

6 “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

All the ill treatment of His servants says one thing; they had no respect for the Lord, the owner of the vineyard. Would they give proper respect to the Son? This is the only son of the Father and His care for this son could be well foreseen. If any harms come to him, then the Father’s rage against them would be unimaginable. But what did they do to the Son?

7 “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

Their intention was well revealed: they wanted to make the vineyard as their own. This was an outright rejection of the ownership of the Lord over the vineyard. In human terms, this is extortion. The mainstay of the extortion is by force or by the threat to life. The owner is away and has not come to see as long as they knew. And his son is dead and thrown outside of the vineyard. It seems that their scheme worked well. But can they get by the wrath of the owner, the God of all creation? Would He remain silent?

4.      What will the owner do (9-11)?

At this point in the parable, Jesus asked the crowd

9a “What then will the owner of the vineyard do?

He made an appeal to the crowd for common sense justice. What should the owner do fairly or squarely? The crowd stopped their thinking and mused over this question.  The answer was all too obvious to all. Jesus gave the answer;

9b He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.

His parable was not just an attempt to point out the wrongs of these leaders but contained a real substance of truth for it was grounded on the word of the LORD. In other words, the threat of the Lord was real. God will come and kill these leaders as they showed their hostility to the Son Jesus and would eventually kill him by crucifying on the cross. How was this word of Jesus convincing?

5 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. 6 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." (Isa 5:5-6 NIV)

Jesus was not prophesying out of his anger and judgment against them. His understanding was grounded on the prophecy that God gave a long time before.  Seeing the true reality of the nation Israel, particularly the sin and rejection of the leaders, it was all too certain that they would be removed and totally destroyed. 

They never thought that this could happen to them. But in AD 70, Roman general Titus attacked Jerusalem and all Jerusalemites died; no one escaped. It is well presumed that all the leaders of the nation Israel perished during this war.  Can anyone survive after the rejection of the Son of God? Esp. when one kills the Son of God in hate? As the history testifies, Jesus was the last chance for them to find a new life. But in their stubborn heart and selfishness, they played a cunning scheme to enrich themselves in the expenses of others with power and authority. Their end will be utter destruction. But what about Jesus?

10 Haven't you read this passage of Scripture: "'The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 11 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?" (Mar 12:10 NIV)

Jesus asked them if they read a similar passage somewhere in the scripture. It was a quote from Ps 118:22-23.

22 The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 23 the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. (Ps 118)

It was all certain that the house of Israel, these leaders, would be removed for good, then who would carry on God’s hope for the nations of the world? Or who would build the house of the Lord? Though the builders of the house of the Lord rejected Jesus to be their capstone, God did something that no one ever had thought;

He raised him up from the dead and elevated him to the throne of God. In and through Jesus, the Lord took built a new house of the Lord.

How could this be possible? Or how or what would the Lord do this? What was the thing that the builders of the nation failed to see in Jesus and yet the Lord was so happy with?  

6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death-- even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  (Phi 2:1 NIV)

This humility and obedience even to the point of his death were seen in his teachings. Three times, as they made a journey from Caesarea Philippi to Jerusalem, Jesus told his disciples about his will to suffer, be rejected, and die so as to be raised to life. The spirit to give himself as a life-giving sacrifice for his people was living in him and this was well revealed as he entered Jerusalem on a colt, a foul of a donkey. He was the Son of God. He was the Lord and King. Nevertheless, he ran his life with the spirit of life-giving love in humility and humbleness.

God’s plan for a new house became evident in this prophecy; it is the word, ‘Cornerstone’. The cornerstone is the stone that is laid as the first stone of the foundation; out of this comes the layout of the house: its dimension. The rest of the stones must be in line with this stone and must be similar in shape, color, texture, and strength with the cornerstone. Peter gave this message to the believers what they were and what they were to do with respect to the Cornerstone Jesus.

1 Peter 2:4 As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him-- 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."

Jesus repeatedly told his disciples about the way to be the king: he had to give his life as a ransom for many by rejection, suffering, death, and resurrection.  This was the commanding spirit that ran Jesus’ life and the Lord was so happy with and made him the cornerstone of the new house of the LORD. Peter captures the essence of Jesus’ spirit in these two phrases: a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices.  We are all called into this new house of the God in Christ. As we put our trust in him and then follow him the way he went, we will enjoy all the blessings in the house of the Lord of all creation.

5.      The Lord’s will prevailed in and through His son Jesus (12)

Then, after hearing the revelation from the scripture, did they repent and turn the heart to the Lord?

12 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.

They did not repent and looked for a way to arrest Jesus. They thought that they had the authority and power to determine what was right and just for the nation and they believed that they could take care of Jesus at their will. In other words, removing Jesus was within their authority and power. Eventually, they joined in condemning Jesus and sentenced him to death.

 

The power of the world can only be satisfied when it takes control of the world. Until it takes control of all powers of the world, it will fight bitterly. This was the nature and character of the power of man or the powers of the world.

But Jesus introduced a totally new power. It was diametrically opposite to the powers of the world. It was his will to suffer and died in obedience to the Father God. He emphasized this to his disciples three times as they were on way to Jerusalem. He denounced and rebuked Israel leaders of their self-righteousness. They, in their self-righteousness, became the typical model of the powers of the world. God put a hedge around the vineyard. But when they refused to honor the Son of the owner of the vineyard, God took away the hedge around them and the vineyard was wide open for the invasion of the powers of the world. As a result, the Roman army invaded and they were decimated. To those who pride in their righteousness and their power, God uses his power to destroy them. But to those who follow Jesus, who entrusted his life to the Lord and submitted to His will by faith, God used him as the cornerstone of the House of the Lord; and all those who follow him will join in this new house of the Lord.