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. 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 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. "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. "What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.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'?"
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 12:1-12*
A Portion of Our Inheritance….
In this passage Jesus is speaking to the religious leaders of the Jewish community in a parable about a vineyard owner. At the time of “harvest” he sent several “messengers” in order to receive some of the produce. The “tenants” sent away, wounded and eventually killed his “messengers,” including his beloved son. The vine-growers decided they would make themselves heirs to land they were only “renting”, which led them to no inheritance at all.
Sometimes I find myself taking for granted the inheritance that I have been promised through my relationship with Christ. I belong to the Father through the life, death and resurrection of Christ and my life is about giving back to this world the gift that has been given to me. We all have a daily choice to meet Christ face to face as He summons us to His calling or we can choose to deny what He asks of us and go away….as the Jewish leaders did. Today, our prayer would be for humble hearts so that we might recognize what portion of our lives we are being asked to give for His purpose.
Brandon Knight is currently chair of the Evangelism Team and both Brandon and Rachel serve as part of the First Friends Team.
How has Jesus made a difference in your life? "Help me on the TAKS Test!" -Brian Eastwood, 4th grade
*Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
