Well hello friends, and thank you for joining me in our daily reading for God's holy word today We're reading mark chapter 12 versus one through 12 now in this lesson We hear Jesus tell a parable about how he will be treated by others and we are invited to ask how have we treated him? Before we read let's pray our father and heaven help us to hear Jesus in his name. I pray amen March chapter 12 This is God's word and if you begin to speak to them in parables a man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a Pick for the wine press and built a tower and leased it to tenants and went into another country when the season came He sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard and they took him and beat him and sent him away And be handed again He sent to them another servant and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully And he sent another and him they killed and so with many others some they beat and some they killed He had still one other a beloved son finally He sent him to them saying they will respect my son But those tenants sent to one another. This is the air come Let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours and they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard What will the owner of the vineyard do?
He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others Have you not read this scripture the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone This was the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes and they were seeking to arrest him But feared the people for they perceived that he had told the parable against them so they left him and went away Amen, this is God's word. Who is Jesus talking to here? Well at the end of chapter 11 the chief priests and the scribes and the elders had come to him These leaders had asked by what authority he came riding into Jerusalem on the cult of a donkey like a David King and by what authority he cleansed the temple of money changers who had he said made it a den of robbers He had said to them I will tell you unless you tell me first if John the Baptist was from God or not in other words Do you believe John or not? Because John was from God and John knew who I am but they refused to say and so he said I won't tell you and yet Then he tells them this parable and parable is so clearly about Jesus being the son of God that it does answer though indirectly the question of His authority but it is so clear to us because we know the rest of the story He is the son who is killed well Let's unpack the story a bit and consider its teaching first Remember all the good which God did for the world He planted a garden the garden of Eden for his creatures to enjoy and people to have dominion over to cultivate and bring forth fruit Adam and Eve ought to have said oh wow this is wonderful Thank you, but they tried to take over and manage it themselves rejecting the owner now even after that God was merciful He re-planted a garden and put his people Israel there in homes they did not build with gardens They did not plan Deuteronomy 8 says a land of brooks of water of fountains and springs flowing out in the valleys and hills a land of wheat and barley Vines and fig trees and pomegranates a land of olive trees trees and honey a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity in which you will lack nothing a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper and you shall eat and be full and you Shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you Well as for Israel so too for us and especially in America full of plenty God is good And he has given us everything we have there is nothing we have that was not given to us by God And not because we deserve it we don't but because he is kind and generous and open-handed and merciful But what did Israel do their hearts were filled with pride and they forgot the Lord who brought them out of slavery and into freedom Out of poverty and into wealth out of parched lips and empty bellies into a land flowing with milk and honey So they would not listen to him He said them servants and they beat them treated them shamefully and killed them they persecuted God servants They rejected God's prophets though he had been good to them So here's the second lesson never be surprised when people who claim to be God's people Persecute God's people and there are many today too many who in the name of Jesus, but full of themselves don't build his church But tear it down from the inside.
Why do they do that? Well those tenants said to one another this is the air come let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours They want God stuff, but they don't want God They want to enjoy the world he has made but not the maker they don't want to live his children in his home But as the owner and parent Never be surprised when it is church members and church leaders who turn against God and God's word and God's servants Third lesson do you see what Jesus claims for himself? He's not one among many He isn't one of the servants, but the son he holds a unique place in the kingdom He is the heir of all things if you want to share in his inheritance You can but not by taking it from him But by his giving it to you by adopting you into his family making you a co heir with Christ of all things It's not that God is reluctant to share it's that we must receive it as his gift through faith in Jesus who unites us or which unites us to the air of all Things blessed are the me Jesus said for they shall inherit the earth we become heirs of the world heirs of the cosmos Romans chapter 4 Through faith in the Son because he is the heir and he shares Fourth lesson what will God do to those who reject Jesus? Well verse 9 what will the owner of the vineyard do he will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others And so we took his vineyard away from those Disrespectful mockers and persecutors and gave his vineyard to others even to gentiles and pagans to all who receive him He gives the right to be called children of God He makes us part of his spiritual house built on himself as the chief cornerstone But if you trip over him if you reject him be warned God will come and destroy you who's saying in your heart Yes, let's get rid of the air.
Let's kill him. Let's crucify him But there is hope for you Psalm 2 says now therefore O Kings be wise be warned Oh rulers of the earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling kiss the son Let's he be angry and you perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled blessed are all who take refuge in him May you do so? Let's pray Father in heaven your son is the heir have mercy on us in his name and grant that we would be co-heirs with him of all things for Your glory and for our good in Jesus name. Amen.
Well, thank you for listening in and I hope you'll join me next time