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.
- If you have a concordance look up the use of the word vineyard in scripture. So what is the vineyard that Christ is referring to in this parable?
- Everybody is asking their key questions. How does Christ answer them?
- What was Christs question all about?
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