INTRODUCTION
Jesus did not come to leave things status quo. Those who want Jesus to be merely a good teacher or a nice example of love and kindness really just want a Jesus they can whistle up. He came to be our prophet, priest, and king and nothing less.
THE TEXT
And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some. Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.[…] Mark 12:1-27
SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
Right on the heels of Jesus leaving the scribes tied up in knots, He launches into a parable whose meaning is as obvious as a Yankee in Tokyo. A man planted a vineyard (Cf. Ps. 80:8, Is. 5:1-4, Jer. 2:21), furnished it with all the latest tools; once it was well established he entrusted it to caretakers and departed to a far country (v1). In time, the owner sent a servant to receive his lawful portion, but the caretakers manhandled him and sent him back empty-handed (vv2-3); so the owner sent another messenger which they killed, and still more which were likewise cruelly persecuted (vv4-5, Cf. 2 Chr. 24:21, Jer. 37:16). The owner then sent his beloved son, thinking that certainly he would be honored; yet the caretakers conspire to kill this heir and take his inheritance (vv6-8). Jesus rhetorically asks what the lord of the vineyard would do in such a situation, with the plain answer being that he will come to take righteous vengeance on the caretakers (v9). To make sure His point is abundantly clear, Jesus cites Psalm 118: the builders of the Lord’s temple rejected the very stone which would bring the utmost glory to the house of the Lord (vv10-11). If the fuse hadn’t been lit already, now it was. The chief priests intended to arrest Jesus, but once more the crowds prevented this injustice to be done (for now); but the Pharisees knew that Jesus was talking about them so they shuffled off to whisper their dark designs in backrooms (v12).
Not long after this, they send a contingent (including some Herodians) to confront Jesus with what they think will be a stumper (v13). With a sickly layer of flattery they ask Jesus about His tax policy (vv14-15a). He discerned their ill-intent and asks for a coin (v15b). He turns the question back to them, asking whose image was stamped on the coin. Since Caesar’s image is on the coin, Caesar has a claim on the coin; but whatever bears God’s image should be rendered unto God (vv16-17). A marvelous reply indeed.
They have another attack ready, this time from the Sadducees. They pose a nonsensical question to him regarding the marital state in the resurrection of a woman who was successively married and widowed by seven brothers (vv18-23, Cf. Deu 25:5–10). Jesus doesn’t bite. Instead, He rebukes their ignorance of Scripture and their low view of the power of God (v24). Earthly marriage is a lesser glory than what shall be revealed in the Resurrection (v25). But Jesus pursues a vein of gold which to extract from all this. When the Lord first called Moses in the bush the doctrine of the resurrection was part and parcel of that revelation. Jesus proves this by making a grammatical point. God revealed Himself this way: “I am the God of Abraham, etc.”. Not was. I Am. Therefore, God is the God of the living. So then, the Sadducees, and their co-conspirators by association, are in grievous error (vv26-27). This will be their last open opposition to Jesus. From here on out their opposition will be crafty and serpentine, aimed at Jesus’ death (Mk. 14:1-2).
LIKE WAVES ON THE ROCK
Like waves upon the rock the Pharisees, Scribes, Herodians, and Sadducees all mount their attacks upon this Son of David. In true Davidic fashion He silences their deceitful tongues (Ps. 31:18). First, they challenged His authority. Second, they challenge His purpose. Third, they challenge His doctrine.
The parable of the vineyard is a continuance of the exchange in Mark 11 regarding Jesus’ authority. This parable is Jesus cornering the tiger. His question at the end of the parable left the air thick with tension. The rulers of Israel are clearly the wicked caretakers. They, and their fathers, had persecuted and killed the prophets. The people would have responded with variations of “the lord will bring judgment and vengeance.” In the next chapter, Jesus will prophetically declare in detail the apocalyptic horror of this judgement. The cursing of the fig tree and driving out the moneychangers from the temple, and now this statement, it is clear Jesus is driving all things toward His cross.
The Lord has been patient with Israel. Prophet after prophet warned and rebuked God’s people with patience. Their messages weren’t vague. Yet still they were cruelly persecuted. Now the Lord’s only-begotten Son has been sent to receive that which was His lawful tithe. The vinedressers will kill the Son, and “cast him out of the vineyard.”
These Jewish rulers will kill the Son. Jesus quotes Psalm 118 to this effect. The builders of the Temple determined to reject the Stone which was plainly fit for being the cornerstone, to give reference and shape to the whole structure; but God is going to do something marvelous. Jesus plainly calls out the murderous envy in the hearts of the rulers, assuring them that He can plainly see the play they are running, even daring them to run it. They are going to crucify Him in just a few days. But even though He sees the play they are running, He warns them that their plans to kill Him will result in Him being the exalted cornerstone. They reject His authority, but He will soon receive all authority. The long-suffering of the Lord is great, but He will not always bear with the wicked.
MORE THAN A TAX QUESTION
The second challenge regards Christ’s purpose. They hoped to embroil Jesus in a tangle with the Roman IRS. Taxation was certainly a financial burden. But more onerous was that Roman taxation revealed that Israel wasn’t free. She was under bondage once more. Jesus’ answer to their question is staggering in its shrewdness. On one hand His answer cannot be misconstrued. He plainly tells them to pay the tax. However, Jesus points out what the coins bore upon them: a graven image along with statements of Caesar’s claim to being the High Priest and Son of God. Jesus’ answer “[…] is contemptuous, without opening Jesus to the charge of sedition.”
Jesus had come to be not only Israel’s lawful King, the heir to David’s throne. He came to rule the entire world. All the Caesars and Czars, all the Presidents and Princes, will be made to acknowledge His universal rule, for the God who made man in His image had come to remake man in the image of Christ. This is Christ’s purpose. Yes it was sedition. Sedition to Satan’s empire. His battles with unclean spirits made this plain.
Resurrection Glory
The rejected stone would be raised up as the “head corner”. We know to look for it, but all of Mark’s Gospel is readying us for the Resurrection. The Sadducees denied the resurrection as a fanciful innovation of later Jewish writings, and claimed this doctrine couldn’t be found in the Torah. But Jesus–once more (Cf. Mk. 10)–goes back to Torah.
Resurrection is the scandalous doctrine of Scripture. When we think of what happens after death we have a hard time grasping what is “over there.” But Jesus teaches us here that the Resurrection is not business as usual just more wispy and floaty. Rather, God revealed to Moses that He intended to be the omnipresent tense God of Abraham. Marriage in the resurrection will not be necessary. Not because we won’t have bodies, but because these bodies will have flowered into their fuller glory. Hunger will be surpassed by Eternal Satisfaction. Sex will be superseded by divine communion. Weariness will be washed away by an Everlasting Sabbath rest.
THE POWER OF GOD
As then, Jesus calls you to know the Scriptures and the power of God. By faith in Christ you are made a partaker of that Resurrection (Eph. 1:19). The Sanhedrin challenged Jesus’ authority, so He challenged them by a floodlight parable to reflect on God’s great long-suffering and to take heed lest His judgement fall upon them. They challenged His purpose, and He responded by coyly revealing that He was come to overthrow the whole system of envy, pride, and vainglory found at the heart of taxation and tyranny. They challenged his doctrine, and He pointed them to the power of God. God made the world from nothing, and now––through Jesus the Christ––God was about to remake the world. The power of God was about to undeniably sprout up right in the middle of history.