Mark 12:1-8

The religious authorities in Jerusalem challenged Jesus directly on the issue of his authority. Jesus didn’t tell directly them on what authority he did what he did. Instead, he told them a parable. And it’s one of the saddest, most tragic parables that Jesus ever told. In this parable, the man who planted a vineyard and built a wall around it is God. The tenant farmers who he asked to look after the vineyard represent the people of Israel, to whom he had entrusted his blessings. But when God wanted to have some of the fruit that was rightfully his, they wouldn’t give it to him. Remember how the day before Jesus had gone to find fruit on the fig tree but found none? It’s really the same story. The servants whom the owner of the vineyard sent to collect some…

The religious authorities in Jerusalem challenged Jesus directly on the issue of his authority. Jesus didn’t tell directly them on what authority he did what he did. Instead, he told them a parable. And it’s one of the saddest, most tragic parables that Jesus ever told. In this parable, the man who planted a vineyard and built a wall around it is God. The tenant farmers who he asked to look after the vineyard represent the people of Israel, to whom he had entrusted his blessings. But when God wanted to have some of the fruit that was rightfully his, they wouldn’t give it to him. Remember how the day before Jesus had gone to find fruit on the fig tree but found none? It’s really the same story. The servants whom the owner of the vineyard sent to collect some…