On time, many years ago, I was at the swimming pool with my friends. I saw one of them and swam up behind him to push him down under the water. I caught him unaware, particularly unaware because the person I dunked did not know me. It was only someone who looked like my friend from the behind. I had to apologise to the rather startled stranger.
Getting people’s identity confused can lead to funny situations (just ask Stephen Blevins, whose identical twin will be taking our harvest services next Sunday)! It can also be dangerous. Supposing you are driving down the M1 and you notice a flashing blue light on the car behind you but you think to yourself ‘no that’s not the police, that’s just a boy-racer with some fancy gadget attached to his roof.’ So you ignore the car, worse still you think you’ll give them a race! You are going to be in big trouble aren’t you?[1]
Last week we saw some men who did not recognise someone important. They approached Jesus and asked, “By what authority are you doing these things? . . . And who gave you authority to do this?” They did not recognise where Jesus’ authority came from because they did not recognise who he really was! This lack of recognition is actually inexcusable. In Mark’s Gospel not recognising Jesus as the Messiah is the result of a hardness of heart. They had refused to face up to the fact here was the promised King, they had resisted his authority, and so they neither knew who this was nor where his authority came from. Take note, ‘you will never the know power Jesus Christ in your own life unless you are prepared to submit to his authority.’[2]
If you have
refused to face up to who Jesus is, if you have resisted his authority over
your life then these verses should make you feel uncomfortable. For here Jesus tells the religious leaders of
the terrible consequences, for them, of their rejection of him. He also speaks of the wonderful consequence
of their rejection of him—the stone the
builders rejected has become the capstone, and it is marvellous in our eyes. Mark wrote this letter to the church at
A tale of
treason! (1-8)
At the end of last week’s passage we saw that Jesus refused to answer the religious leaders’ questions directly. However, then he begins to speak to them in parables. In this parable that we are examining he does tell them who he is and he also tells them of who they are!
They should recognise the background to this story immediately—it’s from our Old Testament reading, Isaiah 5 (verses 1-7). There God owns a vineyard—that vineyard is his people Israel. Sadly, this vineyard did not produce good grapes. It had produced only bad fruit. Rather than justice his people have produced bloodshed, rather than righteousness they have caused distress. So the vineyard is going to be destroyed.
Jesus now adds some more details to the story.
There are the tenants, the people who are to look after the vineyard—they are the religious leadership. That is who Jesus is addressing (v.1) and at the end of the story they know that Jesus had spoken this parable against them (v. 12).
Then there are
the many servants sent by the vineyard owner.
The tenants treat these shamefully—beating some killing others. We can see this happen right throughout the
history of the Old Testament. God sent
many prophets to
Finally, Jesus introduces himself into the story. Surely if the vineyard owner sends his Son they will respect him! However, the tenants think ‘here is the heir of this vineyard. If we kill him then the vineyard will one day be ours.’[3] Note what motivates the tenants rejection of the Son—self! They will not give him what is due to him. It is the same for us if we are resisting Jesus’ authority over our lives—we don’t want to be his loyal subjects, we want to run things our own way, we’re being selfish!
The tenants took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. Jesus is describing what will happen at the end of the week: that Friday the tenants – those religious leaders – will have the Son killed. It’s an act of treason against God, as they oppose his rightful authority in order to keep the authority over the people for themselves.
The religious leaders had asked Jesus ‘who gave you this authority? Here is the answer—‘God did, I am sent by him, I am his Son. What’s more, look at who you are!’
Jesus has a question for those religious leaders: What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. They will receive an awful punishment for their treason against God in killing his Son and the religious authority that they had over God’s people has been transferred to the twelve disciples—the tenants are killed and the responsibility for the vineyard has been given to others.
While the tenants in this passage are a specific group of people—the religious leadership, the warning has relevance to everyone who refuses to recognise who Jesus is. If you will not submit to his claim over you then you are giving assent to what they have done. You are saying to those tenants, ‘I agree with your treason for I too oppose Father’s authority and the Son’s authority over me.’ You can be sure that if you continue in your rebellion you will face an outcome similar to theirs.
When we share the gospel with people we are not just telling them that God can make their life better. We are also warning them that God who lovingly offers each person his mercy and acceptance, is the God who will judge those who resist his authority by rejecting the authority of the Son.
A new temple will replace the old—(10-11)
Now Jesus gives
them another picture from the Old Testament—it’s from Psalm 118.
“The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvellous in our eyes.”
The picture is that of constructing the temple. However, there is a problem—the builders have rejected the most important thing. The stone that the builders rejected is the Jesus himself. The temple should have been centred on him—its sacrifices anticipated his suffering cross, its worship should have looked forward to his coming, when he went into it he should have been welcomed as its focus. Yet Jesus found it to be a place of empty godless religion and so it was going to be destroyed.
Jesus was the
stone that the builders rejected but God does something marvellous this
rejected stone—he builds a new temple. Not one made of stones and located in
The great dividing line in humanity is not between those who are religious and those who are not (these men were the religious authorities); it is not between those who pray and those who don’t (you can be sure that these guys prayed); it is not between those who read their Bible and the don’t (they were experts in the Scriptures). The great dividing line in humanity is between those who reject Jesus and those who lives have him as their foundation. Going to church, praying, and reading your Bible are all meaningless if you haven’t yet submitted your life to the authority of Jesus—if you haven’t become a loyal subject of the king.[4]
Sometimes people want to be ‘church-goers’ but they don’t want to live for Jesus. They want Christianity without Christ. They miss the capstone! For those of us who claim to be Christians, there can be the danger of forgetting that Christianity is Christ—that it is because of him that we are accepted by God and that it is because of him that we are joined together as church (part of his new temple).
What should be the reaction of Mark’s original readers in the church at Rome when they reflect upon the fact that Jesus, who was rejected by the temple authorities, has become the capstone of a living temple of which they are a part? It is marvellous in our eyes. They are to marvel! What should be our reaction to the fact that that temple extends to us—that the gospel has being brought to this island and we have been given the opportunity to become one of Christ’s people? We are to marvel! The whole thing should be marvellous to us!
It should cause
us to marvel. We should think about it
and think ‘wow!’ with a bigger ‘wow’ than we might think if we were standing
looking at the
Conclusion:
It is a dangerous thing to refuse to recognise certain people! It would not be good advice to tell a person in court to ignore the person with the wig and the robes—they might end up behind bars. It is a dangerous thing to refuse to recognise who Jesus is, resisting his authority. The religious leaders who had confronted Jesus had done that. There opposition to him was treason against God and they would face a dreadful judgement for what they had done. If you have refused to face up to who Jesus is, not submitted you life to the authority he claims over you consider this—in resisting him you give assent to the tenants treason and you will face a similar judgement. In a couple of moments I am going to invite you to repent of your rebellion and to enthrone him as the rightful king of your life!
If you have submitted your life to him I want you to see that there is something marvellous in this passage. What Jesus prophesied would happened did happen—the tenants did kill the Son, that Friday Jesus was crucified and buried. But the stone that the builders rejected has become the capstone—the Lord has built a new temple, a living temple, of people who have come to Jesus. After this sermon I am going to ask you to marvel at this—that he has made us a part of his temple centred on Christ; and during the week, even if things seem awful, try to take some time to marvel!
[1] Illustration idea adapted from Mark Meynell,
[2] Roger Simpson, preaching of Mark 11:27-33, at All Soul’s,
[3] Under specified circumstances an inheritance could be regards as ‘ownerless property’, which could be lawfully claimed by anyone, the prior right of ownership belonging to the claimant who comes first. Lane (1974), The Gospel of Mark, Eerdmans.
[4] Point adapted from
Rupert Higgins, preaching at All Soul’s,
During the Methodist church’s conference last June one minister said the following during a discussion: ‘God has given us many religions, but only one world.’ His sentiment was sincere, he longs for harmony between differing people groups, but his theology was rubbish. The religion of the temple had rejected Jesus and so was of no value—any religion that does not centre on him is worthless.
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