Mark 12:1-12
Introduction
In this passage, Jesus uses a parable to teach. This is the first time He’s done this since Chapter 4. Unlike most parables, this one is easy to understand.
Bear this in mind as we examine today’s passage.
Verse 1
Immediately after the incident at the end of Chapter 11 in which the authority of Jesus was questioned by the religious leaders, we have this teaching by Jesus.
This is a targeted teaching by Jesus. It is targeted at the religious leaders of Israel. We know this is the case from the way the religious leaders react in Verse 12. The religious leaders at the time that Jesus spoke it, understood it clearly. Through the parable, Jesus was deliberately provoking them.
Jesus never practiced political correctness. He never hesitated to call out sin. When He called out sin, He was gentle, tender and mild with the lowly folk. But Jesus pulled no punches with those in religious authority.
A parable is, literally, something “cast alongside” something else. Jesus’ parables were ordinary stories that were cast alongside a truth in order to illustrate that truth. In today’s parable, Jesus is using an agricultural story to convey a message. He is using the agricultural practice of making wine through a vineyard.
In those days, farmers would produce wine by planting grape vines. They would put a hedge around it, build a wine press and vats for the wine to ferment over a period of time. They would also build a tower in the vineyard so that watchmen could look out for wild animals and thieves. The farmers who tended the vines were called vinedressers. The vinedressers were hired hands employed by the owner of the vineyard. It was the responsibility of the vinedressers to take great care of the vineyard with the owner overseeing it.
The vineyards in those days produce real alcoholic wine. The Israelites used real wine in the Passover and Jesus produced real wine at the wedding feast of Cana. Can anyone think of someone in the Old Testament who made a fool of himself by getting drunk on wine? Noah had his own vineyard which produced wine and on one occasion he drank too much. See Genesis 9:20-21. You can’t get drunk on grape juice.
The reason I have brought this subject up is because there is a false teaching in the church that says that Jesus and the Jews only drank grape juice and not wine.
In the vineyard description of Verse 1 the man represents God the Father. He owns the vineyard. The vineyard represents Israel. The wall around the vineyard represents God’s protection. The vat and wine press represent the fruit of justice and righteousness. The tower represents God’s protection through identifying threats to Israel. And the vinedressers represent the religious rulers over Israel. At the end of Verse 1 we are told that the owner of the vineyard leaves the vineyard in the care of the vinedressers. With all of that in mind, let’s see what happens next.
Verses 2 to 5
In these verses we see that God keeps sending servants to the vineyard to get samples of the wine, which is the fruit of the vineyard. These servants represent the Old Testament prophets. But the religious leaders treated the prophets sent by God very badly. They beat them, killed them and rejected them.
The religious leaders of the Old Testament consistently rejected what the prophets had to say on behalf of God.
Verses 6 to 8
Finally, the owner of the vineyard sends his son. The son represents Jesus. We know this because he is called the beloved son. See Mark 9:7.
The vinedressers killed the beloved son and threw him out of the vineyard. The religious leaders rejected and killed Jesus. But this has not happened yet. So, what is Jesus doing when He says that they killed Him? He is prophesying.
Can you think of anyone who would like to kill Jesus today? Unbelievers would kill Jesus today. Not only do unbelievers reject Jesus, they hate Him and given the opportunity they would kill Him to get rid of Him just like the Pharisees did. See Romans 8:7.
Verses 9 to 11
In Verse 9 Jesus tells us what God is going to do to the religious leaders and to Israel. Isaiah prophesied about this. See Isaiah 5:1-7. This is a prophecy against Israel described as a vineyard. Notice in Verse 1 how it talks about the beloved.
In Isaiah’s prophecy, God’s anger is directed against Israel. God is angry because Israel is barren. Israel is producing worthless grapes. In other words, they lack the fruit of justice and righteousness.
But in Jesus’ parable His anger against the religious leaders (the vinedressers). See Verse 9. Jesus is telling us that the Father is not going to destroy Israel. Instead, He is going to destroy the religious leaders who were false prophets and teachers. They had rejected the Word of God. Jesus prophesies that the Father will destroy the religious leaders. He will destroy the temple, the Jewish sacrificial system, the Jewish priesthood, the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin.
Jesus also prophesies that the Father will give Israel to others. The ‘others’ are the Gentiles. Jesus is talking about the church which will be dominated by Gentiles. He is saying that the church will take over the role of Israel in revealing God to the world.
This is a temporary arrangement known as the Church Age. At the same time God will make a new covenant with His people known as the Covenant of Grace.
This change is reiterated by Jesus in Verses 10 and 11. The stone represents Jesus. And the builders are the religious rulers of Israel. The religious leaders reject Jesus and then Jesus becomes the chief cornerstone. Jesus is the chief cornerstone of the Church. See Ephesians 2:19-21.
Verse 12
In this verse we see that the religious leaders wanted to lay their hands on Jesus but their time had not yet come. But in the end, it was these men who would kill Jesus, not the Romans or the ordinary folk.