The Scripture reading for this Sunday is Mark 12:1-12 – The Parable of the (Wicked) Tenants.
Take a moment to read through this parable. If you can, read through it a couple times.
It all seems pretty clear, right?
The vineyard planter is God. The tenant farmers are the religious leaders of Israel. The servants sent by owner of the vineyard are the prophets. The (beloved) son is Jesus.
And this all becomes clearer when this parable is considered alongside Isaiah 5:1-7 where the image of a vineyard is used to describe God’s covenant people – the house of Israel. (“The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of His delight.” Isaiah 5:7)
Therefore, this is a parable spoken against the religious leaders of Israel by Jesus. It recounts the history of Israel, their rejection of the prophets, and their inability to fulfill their covenantal obligations. It also demonstrates God’s patience and grace by sending prophet after prophet (and now His beloved Son) to such an unfaithful people and to such failed leaders. This parable was clearly understood by the religious leaders as a judgment against them because, in verse 12, we are told that the leaders immediately “looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken this parable against them.” The only thing stopping them was the crowds that surrounded Jesus wherever he went.
Without much work, then, we are able to see through this parable and understand what it is about. Jesus made his point. The religious leaders were ticked off. And the religious leaders, by their bitter resentment of Jesus, were about to fulfill this parable by rejecting and killing the Son.
The challenge for us is how do we read this parable today? If it is merely a judgment on the religious leaders of Israel then there isn’t much in this parable other than a history lesson on Israel’s rejection and God’s patience and grace in sending His Son. Or, is there something more that applies (generally) to us also? (I wholeheartedly believe there is.) In this parable Jesus specifically spoke against the leaders of Israel, but there is also a general rebuke in this parable as well. I invite you to take some time before Sunday and dwell with this passage (and perhaps Mark 11:27-33) to reflect upon how this parable can apply to each of us.
As you do that, rest in the comfort that this parable communicates about God’s character. To his disobedient people, God is patient and gracious – willing even to send His beloved Son. It is this truth that allows us to look within ourselves, discern where, like the tenants, we have strayed, and repent because we rest not in our righteousness or goodness or in ourselves, but in Christ through the grace and love of God.