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The Farmers Who Were Entrusted
with Life (the World)
Mark 11:27-12:12
Mari Ikeda
A. Unable to face their sin, they were unable to face God (27-33)
27 They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. 28 “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?” 29 Jesus replied, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 30 John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!” 31 They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 32 But if we say, ‘Of human origin’ …” (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.) 33 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
B. Our sin
1. God entrusted us with life (the world) (1)
1 Jesus 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 moved to another place.
2. We forget that it is on loan to us and we long to possess it (2-5)
2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.
3. In order to make ourselves God, we kill (6-8)
6 “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’7 “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
C. The harvest that we can only have through Jesus (9-11)
9 “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture:“‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 11 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
12 Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders 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.
Summary
God has entrusted us with our lives, the lives of other people, and the world so that we can create a world in which we love God and others. In reality, we struggle with the desire to control our lives as well as the lives of others and begin to see God’s plan as a hindrance to our own. This leads us to hurt others and leaves us feeling empty and profoundly dissatisfied. Instead of destroying us, God chose to die on our behalf. Only through Jesus’ death, we have life. Because Jesus forgave our sins, we are able to receive his love and live the life that God has for us, fulfilling his plan for the world.
For Discussion
- Why do we want to control everything?
- How can we be a good farmer?