“Parable of the Tenants” Mark 12: 1-17

Last week we encountered Bartamaius, the last person to be healed by Jesus and the last person to join Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem. This week we move forward a few chapters, but we encounter another last - the last parable that Jesus told someone. 

Parables are stories that use every day things that people would understand from the world around them - vocations, items, experiences, relationships - to explain a deeper truth. For Jesus, this deeper truth points to something about the Kingdom of God.

What we miss, however, with starting this parable in the first verse of chapter 12 is who Jesus is speaking to. At the end of chapter 11 Jesus challenges the authors at the temple. It is that same group that he is speaking to in this parable. 

Because most parables don’t come out and tell us exactly what they mean there is a beauty in their adaptability across time and different groups of people hearing them. However, this parable is also one of the most abused in scripture. Because Jesus is speaking to the religious leaders it has been used to attack those of the Jewish faith over the years by Christians. But here is Jesus, a Jew, speaking to other Jews. 

With that in mind let us enter into today’s text. 

A man who owned the vineyard, creating it, protecting it, sent slaves to those who were currently tenants on the land (i.e. using it) to collect what was his. He wasn’t asking for all of the money - he was asking for what was rightful his for letting them use the land. Only things didn’t go as planned. The tenants beat the slave and sent him back. Then the land owner sent another slave and the same thing happened. He sent a third slave and the tenants killed that one. Finally, the land owner sent his son, his beloved son, thinking they would surely listen to and respect him. Only they killed him and threw his body back onto his father’s land. 

Let’s pause here. If parables are stories that people are supposed to be able to relate to and put themselves in the narrative of - then what exactly is Jesus talking about with this particular story to this group of people. Jesus is inviting the religious leaders to see themselves as the tenants, those who are shepherding Israel, but who did not create it. God is the owner of the vineyard, the one who has control over the land. But who are the servants? They are the prophets God sent to the people of Israel again and again and again, hoping that they would listen to their call for repentance - only to often be rejected. Which brings us to the son. The son is Jesus, which the religious leaders do not realize. But as hearers of Mark’s Gospel we cannot help but remember that the same words were spoken over Jesus at the beginning of the Gospel - “This is my son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” The son, Jesus, has the authority of God the Father sending him. Only the people will still reject him. 

The vineyard is also an interesting setting for this parable to take place. Over the years, the prophets of old had used the Vineyard as a metaphor for Israel’s faithfulness. When the people were faithful - the vineyard was healthy. When they strayed - the vineyard did not yield its crop. The words in Jesus’s parable even harken back to one of those prophets in particular, Isaiah, which those hearing it would have instantly known. Isaiah said, My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones  and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

This behavior, the way that the tenants treated both the slaves and the son, are like the wild grapes. Unexpected. Not good for the purpose of the vineyard. Bad fruit. 

Hosea talks more about his bad fruit when he said: You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice, you have eaten the fruit of lies.

And Isaiah continues: For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!

The religious leaders were understandably angry at what Jesus was saying when they realized who they were in the midst of the story. But here’s the thing - a few weeks ago we heard about the Rich Man who Jesus convicted out of love. Friends, something very similar is happening here. Jesus is trying to offer the leaders and opportunity to repent. To return to right relationship with God. 

Sometimes we act like the religious leaders of the time. When we feel that God is trying to speak into our spirits, pointing out areas of sin and pridefulness, we ignore our part in what has taken place. We get angry instead of coming to our knees. But God isn’t trying to point out our sin in order to gloat - God is trying to point out our sin to invite us to change! It is a gift of grace!

The same people Jesus had just made angry at what he was trying to offer him, sent some Pharisees to try to trick him. Pharisees were an interesting group in this day and time. They were a reform movement who wanted to influence a change in a bunch of different areas - social, political, and legal to name a few. And one of the ways that they set about doing so was by forming a political alliance with the Herodians who were tied to Rome. 

So when they came to Jesus and asked: Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not? They weren’t coming from a place of neutrality. They knew that this was a painful subject for Jews - their relationship to Rome. 

Of course, Jesus saw right through it and pointed out to give to Ceaser’s what is Ceasar’s. Now before we jump too quickly to this answer, think about what is also implicitly under what Jesus is saying - give to God what is Gods.

God is the owner of the vineyard - give him the praise that he is due. God is the God of Israel - put your allegiance in him alone. We don’t own anything - Rome doesn’t own anything -we are simply called to care for that which is God’s and God’s alone. 

Those questions that are undergirding what Jesus said to the Pharisees still resonate with us today. Who are we tying our allegiance to in order to get ahead? Further, who are we ultimately pledging allegiance to? 

Sometimes we too quickly look for where we can gain privilege in this world instead of standing as people of principle. And in doing so we miss the point. It’s not about protecting our status or our honor. It’s about how we live as God’s people. 

Friends, how are we doing today? How are we living as God’s people? Are we making it more about putting our allegiance with that which will get us ahead, or are we putting our ultimate hope and trust in God alone? Amen.