February
28th Mark 12 The Parable of the Vineyard
1: 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. 2: And at the season he sent to the
husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of
the vineyard. 3: And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. 4:
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. 5: And again he
sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing
some. 6: Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last
unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. 7: But those husbandmen said
among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance
shall be ours. 8: And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the
vineyard. 9: What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and
destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. 10: And have ye
not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the
head of the corner: 11: This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our
eyes? 12: And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they
knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went
their way.
Question
–Taxes
13: And they send unto him certain
of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. 14: And when
they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and
carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the
way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? 15: Shall
we give, or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them,
Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it. 16: And they brought it.
And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said
unto him, Caesar's. 17: And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar
the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they
marvelled at him.
Question
– Resurrection
18: Then come unto him the
Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying, 19:
Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man's brother die, and leave his wife behind
him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up
seed unto his brother. 20: Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a
wife, and dying left no seed. 21: And the second took her, and died, neither
left he any seed: and the third likewise. 22: And the seven had her, and left
no seed: last of all the woman died also. 23: In the resurrection therefore,
when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to
wife. 24: And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because
ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? 25: For when they shall
rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the
angels which are in heaven. 26: And as touching the dead, that they rise: have
ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I
am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? 27: He is
not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly
err.
Question
– First commandment
28: And one of the scribes came, and
having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them
well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? 29: And Jesus answered
him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is
one Lord: 30: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the
first commandment. 31: And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. 32:
And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there
is one God; and there is none other but he: 33: And to love him with all the
heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the
strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt
offerings and sacrifices. 34: And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly,
he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.
And no man after that durst ask him any question.
The
Lord’s Question – David
35: And Jesus answered and said,
while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the Son of
David? 36: For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The Lord said to my Lord,
Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. 37: David
therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son? And the
common people heard him gladly.
Jesus
warns of the Scribes
38: And he said unto them in his
doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love
salutations in the marketplaces, 39: And the chief seats in the synagogues, and
the uppermost rooms at feasts: 40: Which devour widows' houses, and for a
pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.
The
Widows mites
41: And Jesus sat over against the
treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that
were rich cast in much. 42: And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw
in two mites, which make a farthing. 43: And he called unto him his disciples,
and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more
in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: 44: For all they did cast
in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even
all her living.
The Lord is bringing his preaching
ministry to an end and in doing so he gives the parable of the Vineyard. The
owner of the vineyard sends men to the vineyard seeking for fruit but they are
badly treated. In the end the owner says to himself l will send my son! When
the vinedressers see the son they say let us kill him and take the inheritance
to ourselves. The owner of the vineyard comes latter to punish those who have
done this wicked thing and he gives the vineyard to those who will give him the
fruit in season. This parable describes the History and prophetic course of the
Nation of Israel. The Herodias try to catch Christ out politically. But he
overcomes their tricky plans by acknowledging the authority of the Romans to
extract taxes but points them also to the demands of God on the Jews. The
Sadducees come with their most tricky question but again Christ completely
overcomes their difficult question. The question is overcome by Christ’s
superior understanding of scripture and of the ways of God. Lastly the
religious leaders come with their favourite question. Which commandment is the
greatest? Christ answers perfectly, that the greatest, commandment is to love
God and the second is to love men. So after all the questions were asked – the
most difficult questions that the Jews could think of – Christ asks one question.
(This question and answer method was the standard form of Jewish learning)
Christ asks about the Messiah that David calls his Lord. Then Christ says if
the Messiah is David’s son, why does David call his son - his Lord? They are
completely stumped. Christ then warned the common people of the perverse
teaching of their religious leaders. He describes them as self important, self
seeking, self obsessed. Lastly Christ points out where the true religion is -
by observing the devotion of a poor widow. What a contrast between the poor
widow and the Sadducees.
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