11 A Warning to the Unreceptive

Jesus stood on Solomon's Porch on the east side of the Court of the Gentiles, amidst a forest of huge Corinthian columns, each rising almost forty feet to a richly ornamented roof, forming a colossal veranda extending several hundred feet to the north and south. Below the immense porch the breath-taking Kidron Valley dropped to a depth of 450 feet. What a view this afforded for one who had the leisure to stand in its cool stone shade and look out through the brightness of the day into the Kidron or across to the Mount of Olives and the sun-drenched Judean hills.

But Jesus had no time for such leisure. He was engaged in terminal conflict. He had entered Jerusalem and was openly proclaimed Messiah. He had cursed the fig tree (symbolic of spiritually barren Israel), and it was found withered the next day. With righteous anger he had cleansed the Temple. And now on Solomon's Porch, surrounded by "the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders"—in effect, the Sanhedrin, he refused to tell them where his authority came from, because of their malevolent unbelief. With effortless brilliance, he asked them a counter-question which they dared not answer, thus freeing him from any obligation to answer their evil-intentioned query. Jesus had them, and there was nothing they could do about it!

He further used the occasion to give them what is called one of his Judgment Parables: the Parable of the Wicked Vineyard Keepers. This would devastate them, but at the same time it was gracious, for this convicting summary of God's dealings with his people was meant to reach their hearts. In it Jesus described: 1) the hope of God for his people, 2) the kindness of God for his own, 3) the severity of God, and 4) the ultimate triumph of God in history. For us, this parable is not meant to be a slice of ancient history, but a grid through which we can evaluate our own lives. May the Spirit of God help us to minister these truths to receptive ears, and even more to those who have been unresponsive to Christ.

Jesus began by picturing God's hope for Israel as being like the hope of a man who built a vineyard and waited expectantly for it to produce. As verse 1 describes: "He then began to speak to them in parables: 'A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey" (Mark 12:1). As Jesus spoke these words everyone understood them, whether they liked them or not, because the vineyard was a national symbol for Israel. In fact, the very Temple in which Jesus was standing sported a richly carved grapevine, seventy cubits high, sculpted around the door which led from the porch to the Holy Place. The branches, tendrils, and leaves were of finest gold. The bunches hanging upon them were costly jewels. Herod first placed it there, and rich and patriotic Jews from time to time added to its embellishment. One contributed a new grape, another a leaf, and still another cluster of the same precious materials. This vine had an uncommon importance and a sacred meaning in the eyes of the Jews.

In addition, the old Maccabbean coins bore the same symbols (sometimes a bunch of grapes, and at other times a grape leaf). Moreover, Jesus used phrases directly from the beautiful Song of the Vineyard in Isaiah 5:1-7, a song about Israel. Jesus' hearers knew that the vineyard in his parable was Israel!

They also understood that the owner (the Lord) had taken great pains to make the vineyard healthy and productive. He "put up a wall" to keep wild animals such as the "boars of the forest" from ravaging it (cf. Psalm 80:12, 13), as well as intruders. He "dug a pit for the winepress." That is, he dug it out of solid rock, forming two vats—an upper shallow place where the grapes were trod, and a lower vat into which the juice ran through a channel in the rock. He "built a tower" some fifteen to twenty feet high. This was a place for shelter and storage. But most of all, it was a vantage point from which all the vineyard could be observed and protected with a sling. He "planted a vineyard"—"He dug it up and cleared it of stones, and planted it with the choicest of vines" (Isaiah 5:2). He created a beautiful garden from which it appeared great things would come.

This God had done with the vineyard of the nation of Israel. Under God's leadership, Abraham had left Ur because it was evil, and he became the father of a chosen people which was to be a blessing to the world. Moses came to deliver the people from Egypt and bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey. God delivered them and gave them the Law. Finally, under Joshua and again with God's help, they were planted in Canaan. As the Psalmist says, "With your hand you drove out the nations and planted our fathers" (Psalm 44:2; cf. Exodus 15:17).

God expected great things to come from his spiritual vineyard. "Then," says Jesus, "he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey." Such lease agreements were common in the Jordan Valley, with the owner usually getting one third to one half the produce. But here, of course, our Lord means by "farmer" the spiritual leadership of Israel. God's expectations were understandably high, for with all their advantages, he expected the development of a people who so radiated him that they would be a light to the Gentiles. In the divine plan, so much rested with the farmers, the spiritual leadership.

We must take great care that we do not leave the spiritual relevance of this back in the dusty passages of time. We farm a far richer vineyard than that of ancient Israel. We have no living prophets like Isaiah or Daniel, but we do have the complete Word of God and the testimonies of his messengers. We have so much more in our risen Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit, along with the full revelation of both the Old and New Testament Scriptures. Added to this is the testimony of the saints for the last 2,000 years.

I think about this frequently. I am sure my preoccupation is heightened by my pastoral calling. We are so rich spiritually, intellectually, and materially. Jesus said, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked" (Luke 12:48).

Every Christian is in view. If we have been Christians for any length of time, it is inexcusable to lack any of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). There is no excuse (heredity, environment, whatever) for being dominated by temper, jealousy, lasciviousness. covetousness, or whatever—none!

So there on Solomon's Porch, the very pinnacle of the Temple, at the top of the world with the bright panorama of Israel as a backdrop, Jesus told the hardhearted leaders in no uncertain terms about God's expectations. They must understand this.

THE KINDNESS OF GOD (Mark 12:2-8)

God's patient love is seen in how he allows himself to be treated in his servants: "At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head [the Wycliffe version quaintly says, "brake his head"] and treated him shamefully. He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed" (Mark 12:2-5).

What an outrage! The flagrant, ascending violence described here—first beating, then wounding, and finally murdering—agreed with what historians tell us was going on in Judea and Galilee at that time. Papyrus records tell of disputes between hostile farmers and absentee landlords. Moreover, if the Biblical restrictions given in Leviticus 19:23-25 were followed, five years had to pass before fruit could be harvested. This would mean that the farmers had ample time to come to regard the owners' property as their own.

So such outrages were actually being committed in Israel even as Jesus spoke, and they all knew what he was talking about. But even more, they knew he was referring to the way the leadership of Israel had treated God's prophets and that Jesus' parable was no exaggeration. Elijah was driven into the wilderness by the monarchy (1 Kings 19:1-5). Isaiah, according to tradition, was sawn asunder. Zechariah was stoned to death near the altar (2 Chron. 24:21). John the Baptist was beheaded. The writer of Hebrews summarizes: "They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground" (Hebrews 11:37, 38).

All of this was done, said Jesus' parable, because Israel's leaders wanted the vineyards' fruits for themselves! God's servants, his prophets, through announcing his Word, threatened the leadership's position and their monetary profits.

This has a contemporary ring to it. We read about it in our newspapers. Men who have disqualified themselves from ministry are hanging on to "their ministries" as if the vineyard was their own! They, by their rejection of God's Word and the spiritual advice of their peers, are stoning the prophets who are sent to them. Spiritually there is no difference between them and the violent leaders of old.

As Jesus continued the parable, the leaders were visibly stung. Some undoubtedly drew their robes closer as he told of the ultimate indignity, moving from history to prophecy, and so unmasked their ultimate intention, which was to put him to death: "He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But the tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard" (Mark 12:6-8).

From earth level, Palestinian level, the motivation for these men's action was easily discernible. They supposed in seeing the master's son come alone that the master was dead. Therefore, if they killed the son, they would command the property. They wanted the proceeds of the vineyard all for themselves. They wanted to be God!

In three days Jesus' malevolent listeners would haul him before their own authorities and condemn him. They would then arrange for his death outside the city (symbolically, outside the vineyard). This was their final indignity, the desire of their hearts—that the vineyard be theirs alone.

In the face of humanity's refusal to receive God's love, he persisted and persisted and persisted. One representative after another of God was abused and slain. "If I were God," cried Martin Luther, "and the world had treated me as it treated Him, I would kick the wretched thing to pieces." No doubt Luther would have!

But instead of turning his back on the world, God continued sending servant after servant. Rebuffs, insults, beatings did not stop him, and finally he sent his Son. Spurgeon said, "If you reject him, he answers you with tears; if you wound him, he bleeds out cleansing; if you kill him, he dies to redeem; if you bury him, he rises again to bring resurrection. Jesus is love made manifest."

Here we are reminded that the Incarnation and the death of Christ were acts of love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Son dwelt with the Father and Holy Spirit in inconceivable glory—so inconceivable that I tremble at trying to describe it. They were co-equal, co-eternal, possessing all the fullness of Deity. They were always proceeding toward one another in fellowship. In sending the Son, there was nothing more God could do! Jesus was God's ultimatum! In consequence, nothing remains when Christ is refused!

God's love is still coming even to those who have cast his messenger aside. In fact, the Son is coming to them right now, persistent in his love for them.

To deny that Christ is, in a sense, God is to kill him. Some have been killing him this way all their lives. They may find some twisted pleasure in hearing about Jesus and in consciously rejecting him. If they continue to do so in this life, they will succeed in killing themselves forever. This is a great tragedy.

There can even be a strain of this in the believer who does not consider Christ worthy of his or her attention. "You put your finger in the eye of God, when you slight His Son."

Jesus persists in reaching out to a person until death. We must urge others to not toy with his love, for there does come a day when it is too late, and then there is only the severity of God.

THE SEVERITY OF GOD (Mark 12:9)

"What then will the owner of the vineyard do?" asked Jesus. He gave the answer: "He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others." As we all know, a great national judgment came upon Israel under Titus only a few years later. In the vineyard of the Church the leadership eventually became mostly Gentile.

There is tremendous peril in remaining in opposition to Christ. The thought of this is probably not half as horrible to anyone who is without Christ as it is to me, because I believe it! The penalty is damnation, the wrath of the Lamb! Paul believed this, and he said in the context of teaching about the coming judgment, "Therefore knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men" (2 Cor. 5:11, NASB).. Are you persuaded?

THE COMING TRIUMPH OF GOD (Mark 12:10, 11)

Jesus concluded his parabolic teaching with a description of the triumph that would accompany his judgment: "Haven't you read this Scripture: 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?" This was a quotation from the Hallel Psalms they had been singing that Passover Week—Psalm 118:22, 23, to be exact. It was understood by all to be a Messianic Psalm.

The picture it gives is so beautiful, for it depicts one of the building stones gathered for Solomon's Temple which was rejected in the construction of the Sanctuary, but then became the keystone of the entrance. Christ is the keystone in the eternal, spiritual Temple of God. He went from rejection to the highest exaltation. Keep in mind that Jesus was saying these words as he stood by the remains of Solomon's Temple.

Dr. Luke adds in his parallel account a further comment by Christ: "Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed" (Luke 20:18). Those who reject Christ will be smashed by the divine stone spoken of by Daniel, the stone hewn without hands, which is coming with "the momentum of holy wrath," and they will become like chaff on a summer threshing floor. The wind will carry them away without leaving a trace (Daniel 2:35).

As Jesus' final words echoed through Solomon's Porch and then died away, the Sanhedrin had heard an outline of sacred history past and present. They had heard an eloquent description of the hope of God, the kindness of God, the severity of God, and the triumph of God. They had heard all this from the most authentic voice that ever spoke.

And what was the result? Mark tells us: "Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away" (Mark 12:12). How unutterably sad.

The leaders of Israel stood at the pinnacle of the Temple, and if not upon the very foundation of Solomon's Temple, next to it. Close by, the great golden vine symbolizing Israel gleamed in the sun. Before them stood the Lord of the Temple, the keystone to the entire structure. Behind him spread the vineyard-clad slopes of Israel, pleading reinforcement for his words. And they rejected him! Spiritually, they stepped into the abyss gaping below.

The choice is just as dramatic today—as are the consequences. His plea is just as eloquent and poignant. Let us, by prayer and example, encourage others to choose Christ and life indeed.

—Preaching the Word