THE PARABLE OF THE TENANTS

Mark 11:27-12:12
Key Verse: 12:1b

    "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."

     In the last passage we heard Jesus' voice to his disciples, "Have
faith in God." We also heard his voice in 11:23, "I tell you the truth,
if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and
does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen,
it will be done for him." In the last passage Jesus clearly taught us the
concept of faith. Faith is hope that we do not see, but it will be done
for us. Faith is also experiencing the power of God. If we have faith, we
can have undying hope. We also can have the power of faith in our daily
lives. In this time of despair, by having faith we must have an undying
hope. In this generation, people who cannot overcome themselves must meet
Jesus and learn mountain-moving faith. Most people say, "Christians are
weaklings, so I don't want to believe in Christianity." But those who
have true faith can move a mountain and throw it into the sea. In short,
true people of God can have the power of faith. Those who have the power
of faith always experience one victory after another victory.

     Today's passage has two parts. One is the religious leaders'
question about Jesus' authority. The other is the parable of the tenants.
The parable of the tenants seems to be easy to understand. But it
is very difficult to understand, because it is the summary of Bible
history. It seems to be better to call the parable, "the parable of the
vineyard." But the gospel writers call it "the parable of the tenants." It
is certain that the gospel writers put emphasis on the tenants. Each of
Jesus' parables gives one specific spiritual lesson. But the parable of
the tenants sounds more like a historical poem than a parable. In this
parable, God speaks to his people Israel. Broadly speaking, this parable
speaks to all mankind who live in the world. When we study this passage
carefully, we learn that this parable teaches us the basic relationship
between God and his people and all mankind. Especially in this passage
we learn God's divine love toward all people. We also learn that when
man abandons God he becomes useless and heartless.

I.  The religious leaders ask about Jesus' authority (11:27-33)

     When Jesus and his disciples were in Jerusalem, Jesus was walking
around in the temple courts in order to fish one-to-one sheep. We are
amazed by Jesus teaching the Bible to the people. Jesus' situation
seemed to be that he was in the slaughterer's place. But he didn't
think much about himself. He was looking for sheep to teach the Bible
to. We are again amazed by Jesus teaching the Bible to the people in that
particular situation. We also find Jesus' efforts to teach the Bible to
the people during the passion week in the other gospels. Luke 19:47-48
says, "Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests,
the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying
to kill him. Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the
people hung on his words."  On the other hand, the chosen people, who
were supposed to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, envied Jesus'
power and authority from heaven. They asked, "Who gave you authority
to do this?" (28) It means two things. First, to their eyes, Jesus'
clearing the temple was illegal.  Second, his teaching the Bible to
the people was illegal because he did not have a license to teach the
Bible. They were mad because Jesus did not teach their traditions, but the
word of God–because it gives life to man. Jesus answered their question
in question form. Jesus said, "I will ask you one question. Answer me,
and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John's
baptism–was it from heaven, or from men? Tell me!" (29-30) The chief
priests, the teachers of the law and the elders turned around and
discussed what to answer. They were in trouble. They said, "If we say,
‘From heaven,' he will ask, ‘Then why didn't you believe him?' But if
we say, ‘From men'.... (They feared the people, for everyone held that
John really was a prophet.)" (31-32) So the religious leaders answered,
"We don't know only about this question." Jesus said, "Neither will I
tell you by what authority I am doing these things" (33). The religious
leaders clenched their fists and gnashed their teeth and retreated.

II.  The owner and the tenants (12:1-9)

First, God gave his people the privilege of taking care of the vineyard
(1).  Look at 12:1. "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.'" Verse 1 is a poetic description of the
relationship between the Creator God and his people Israel. Verse 1 also
tells us that God made the beautiful vineyard and gave it to the people
to take care of according to their free will to bear much fruit. Let's
see what happened.

     The last part of verse 1 says, "Then he rented the vineyard to some
farmers and went away on a journey." God made this beautiful vineyard
and gave it to his people. This part of the parable tells us God made the
world and made his people the stewards of God's world. And God gave them
freedom to take care of the vineyard. In other words, God honored their
human rights and their doing the mission that God gave them. A certain
father had a beautiful dream that his son would receive a Nobel prize in
physics. The boy was good. He was number one in his entire school. But
he became famous among girls. He became proud. He thought that he could
be the best without studying so much. Finally his honor of being number
one was taken away by another student. He could not fulfill his mission to
study hard as a student. Likewise, when God made such a beautiful vineyard
and gave it to his people, he had a dream and specific purpose. Here
we learn that the love of God is not the mere fruit of affection; it
involves taking care of the vineyard with a sense of mission.  It also
involves his divine purpose and divine duty for his people. This is the
reason God made the beautiful vineyard and gave it to his people.

     Not only did God provide all necessary things for his people,
he also gave all the privileges and rights to his people to manage
his vineyard.  According to Jean Jacques Rousseau, people are unhappy
because human society is made of contracts. Recently, a young man did
not pay his rent for several months. Then the owner of the apartment
threatened him, saying, "I will call the police to cast you out." The
young man had no privilege of using the apartment without paying rent. Our
God is different. Our God gives all the privileges and rights to use
everything that he has made free of charge. We cannot but say that
this privilege is divine love. It is different from human affectionate
love.  The privilege of using what God has made is indeed a wonderful
grace. Therefore we should not treat this privilege as a light matter
or take it for granted. First and last of all, we must thank God that
he has given us the privilege of enjoying his life in us.  We also must
thank God for the privilege of living in God's world. Life seems to be
constant sufferings and hardships. But we must thank God that we live
God's life endowed to us. We must thank God that we live to take care of
God's vineyard entrusted to us. If we do not have this basic attitude,
we cannot have a right relationship with God. If we do not have a right
relationship with God we become like animals, maybe worse than animals.

Second, God wanted to see if they were managing the vineyard well (2-9).
What happened? Look at verses 2,3. "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." The response
to the owner is astounding. God did not want to demand rent. God only
wanted to see if they were taking care of the vineyard well. Here the
great illusion of the tenants of the vineyard broke the relationship
between God and themselves. God sent his servant to see if they were
doing well in taking care of the vineyard. But when the vineyard was
prosperous, the tenants were in illusion. An evil spirit came into them
and made them think, "This vineyard is not God's! This vineyard is our
own! It is precisely my own, registered at the City Hall!" These days
people claim human rights out of measure. In a church, a pastor counseled
an adulterous woman persistently for her own happiness and to help her
render glory to God. Then the woman filed a suit against the pastor on
the charge that he violated her human rights. The court decided that
the church must pay five million dollars because the pastor violated
the woman's human rights.  Then the church closed its doors because they
did not have such huge money to pay the woman. In this case, the basic
mistake was the problem of relationship. The pastor had the right to
counsel the immoral woman and the immoral woman had the obligation to
listen to her pastor. But the woman did not listen to the pastor and
took it to the court. The house of God lost its function.

     Any person or any nation can fall into the tenants' illusion. At
harvest time God sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them
some of the fruit of the vineyard. This clearly tells us that God did
not demand rent from them. But God wanted to see if they were taking
care of the vineyard well and to see if their vineyard was fruitful or
unfruitful. But the tenants, in their illusion, seized God's servant
and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. They could have told him,
"Well, this year's harvest is not good. So please just take a few boxes of
fruit of the vine." It was the wisdom they could apply. But the tenants
beat the servants and gave them bloody noses and black eyes and sent
them away empty-handed. No person made himself. No person created the
world. God is the Creator and men are his precious children. This is
common sense. But the tenants were in illusion beyond measure. Each one
said, "Well, the vineyard is mine. The abundant fruits are mine. I am
going to be wealthy!" But they were as foolish as a woman who divorced her
husband and claimed a huge amount of alimony. She knew only money. She
didn't think about breaking up the family or that she would have no
more husband who could take care of her when she is sick or when she
is old. God sent another servant to them. They struck this man on the
head and treated him shamefully. This is treachery to God who made the
world. He sent still another, and that one they killed. Their illusion
led them to murder. The owner sent many others; some of them they beat,
others they killed (5).  This is human rebellion against God.

     God had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last
of all, saying, "They will respect my son" (6). But the tenants said
to one another, "Yeah! 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 (7-8). Verse 6 reminds us of John 3:16. It says,
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." God
gave them life and all the privileges and mission to take care of God's
vineyard. But God's chosen people, who were blessed, were blind before
God. They crucified God's one and only Son Jesus Christ on the cross. The
tenants disappointed God by killing his one and only Son. When God sent
his Son, he hoped that they would honor his Son. But they had already
gone too far. They had no way to come back to themselves. They were in
deep illusion. What a tragedy it was!

     In modern times one who beats another physically out of his anger
goes to jail. But anybody can attack others verbally. This is the reason
the former President William Jefferson Clinton was verbally abused by
his political opponents' errand boy during the time of his two terms of
presidency. But President Clinton had no way to defend himself because
the freedom of speech is greatly honored in this country. Attacking
the president shows that there is no respect for the president. Always,
those who are in illusion lose the respect and love relationship. They are
beastly. But in God's world, there is a respect and love relationship. We
hear God's voice as he sent his only Son to the tenants, "They will
respect my son" (6). This tells us that God had a respect for his
treacherous tenants. But the tenants had no respect for God. This is
the source of all problems in this generation.

Third, the cause of miseries. An unthankful mind was the cause of
his people's misery. When we study the Bible, we find that the whole
world is God's vineyard. And according to his own pleasure, God gave
each nation a vineyard. To Egypt and Babylon God gave huge vineyards,
and to others, medium-sized vineyards. To his chosen people, Israel,
he gave a small vineyard. From God's point of view, each nation is
given the best vineyard for that nation. The reason God gave Israel
a small vineyard was to make them materially poor so that they might
be spiritually rich. God willed them to be a shepherd nation, not a
nation of economic animals.  This was the best love God could give
them. But God's people complained in their hearts that God only gave
them unbearable sufferings and hardships in order to fulfill God's will
for world salvation through them. His people were like one handsome
young man. This handsome young man had encouraged many wounded girls
partially because of his handsomeness. But once, someone said to him,
"You are like a sweet brother to girls." Then he became very fatalistic
and could not thank God for his handsomeness. After that, he was very
unhappy for three years. There are many things to learn in the world. But
when we don't learn how to thank God, we are learning nothing. God's
choosing Israel was his best love for them. But when they did not know
God's deep love they were nothing but piles of complaints. If they knew
they were chosen people, they could do better.

     They fell into the illusion that their small vineyard was their own.
When God sent the prophets to them to ask for some fruits, they mistreated
and killed them, thinking that their human rights and individual kingship
or queenship had been violated. This parable teaches us that we must thank
God, believing that God has given each of us the best vineyard. But it is
not easy for us to thank God. There's a story about a happy farmer. He
worked hard every day, singing joyfully, though he was as poor as a
squirrel. It was because he knew God gave him the privilege of living
as a farmer. On the other hand, a chief of the town was very wealthy. He
took everything for granted and was so unhappy about everything that he
could not eat or sleep well. It was because he did not know that he had
received the privilege of being a chief of his town. In his illusion,
the chief complained that his territory was too small. His misery was that
he did not know that he was a steward of God. His misery was his illusion.

     Another misery of his people was that they did not realize God's
mission for them. God chose Israel as his firstborn son so that he might
fulfill his purpose through them. God wanted to raise them as a Bible
teachers' nation so that all peoples of all nations might stream to Zion
to study his word. Their mission from God was truly glorious (Ro 3:2; Isa
2:2; Mic 4:1,2). Their mission from God was the best privilege for them.

     When they abandoned God's mission, they became servants of
the devil. When Jesus healed the sick and preached the good news of
the kingdom of God, they despised and rejected him and treated him at
random. In a broad sense, this parable applies to all sinful human beings.
The great tragedy of man lies not in his human conditions but in his
ignorance of God's mission as his best love.

III.  The rejected stone (10-12)

First, the rejected stone, the cornerstone (10-11). This part teaches how
Jesus is the sovereign Ruler of history. Look at verses 10,11. "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'?" These
verses are a quotation from Psalm 118:22,23. They have been widely applied
by Christians whenever they felt the work of God was too small and the
evils of the world too great. Once, in the early days, the religious
leaders came to threaten God's servants. Peter, filled with the Holy
Spirit, said to them, "He is 'the stone you builders rejected, which
has become the capstone'" (Ac 4:11). It meant, "You crucified Jesus,
but God raised him from the dead and made him the capstone, the sovereign
Ruler of history."

Second, the children of God are small rejected stones. The life of faith
of the early Christians was holy before God. Then they became a stumbling
stone to the hypocritical Jewish religion, and a direct challenge to the
immoral Roman people. Finally, Christians were branded as traitors by
their own people, and as an anti-Roman force by the Roman authorities.
The early  Christians became like criminals simply because they lived a
holy life. In this world, when we live as sincere Christians, the enemies
of God reject us and treat us like bums. We become like rejected stones.
Sometimes we despair and become debilitated and enervated because we are
afraid of their rejection. We despair even more when the work of God seems
to be too weak. But we must look at Jesus. He was made a rejected stone
by the Jews, but God made him the capstone. When Jesus was crucified,
his ministry with the twelve disciples seemed to have been terminated,
and the salvation work of God was no more. But this was not the case. God
raised Jesus from the dead. God made Jesus the capstone, the sovereign
Ruler over all human beings.

     In the early centuries, many Christians went to Rome under the
leadership of St. Peter and St. Paul. But the Roman government regarded
Christians as rebels against the Roman Empire and persecuted them
mercilessly. Because of this, the early Christians had no place on the
ground.  So they went into underground graveyards, called catacombs. They
could not do much while living in underground graveyards. But they kept
their lives of faith absolutely. Then God enabled them to conquer the
Roman Empire with the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Third, the rejected stone, the sovereign Ruler of history. These days,
Freudian psychoanalysis explains away the Christian faith in terms of an
unconscious substream of the human psyche. Anything they cannot understand
in terms of the psychological matrix is blindly eliminated by calling
it ultra-conservative bigotry, or religious fanaticism.  Nevertheless,
they call on the name of God seriously at funeral ceremonies. There is a
strong impression that the world is full of ungodly people. But it is not
true. Look at verse 11. "...the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in
our eyes." To God's people, the fact that Jesus became the rejected stone
but that God made him the capstone and the sovereign Ruler of history is
truly marvelous. It is also marvelous to see that there are so many young
American students who study the Bible regularly. It is marvelous to see
that the number of Bible-believing young American students is increasing.
The torch of the gospel seemed to have been snuffed out. But it was not.
God is working mightily in the hearts of young Americans.

     In this passage we learn God's beautiful dream to make his people
very faithful tenants. In other words, God wanted to see them become
God's chosen instrument. God wanted to use them as a kingdom of priests
and a holy nation. So God gave them all the privileges and freedom
to take care of God's vineyard. But they betrayed God's love for them.
They also betrayed the love of God and his expectation that they would be
his wonderful tenants as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. We must
know that God is the Creator and we are his children with much privilege
and honor to take care of his people and his world. But how easy it is
to fail in our illusion. May God help us to know God's purpose for us,
and who God is, and who human beings are. Especially, we are God's chosen
people. Therefore, we must live up to being his chosen people.


STUDY QUESTIONS

1. Read 11:27-33. What had happened previously in Jerusalem? What would
   happen soon?  What was Jesus doing in the temple? (Lk 19:47-48)
   Why did the religious leaders question Jesus' authority? How did he
   silence them?

2. Read 12:1-2. To whom and in what context did Jesus tell this parable?
   How did the owner prepare his vineyard? What then did he do? What did
   he expect of the tenants? How is this a parable of God's relationship
   with mankind? With his own people? (Ro 3:2; Mic 4:1,2)

3. Read verses 3-5. When the owner sent his servants to see if the
   tenants were taking care of the vineyard well, how did they react?
   Why? Who do the servants represent?

4. Read verse 6. How did the owner respond to the tenants' treatment
   of his servants? What does this teach about the love of God and the
   meaning of Christ's coming?

5. Read verses 7-9. How did the tenants respond to the coming of the
   son? Why? What happened?  How do the tenants reveal the misery of
   an unthankful mind? The misery of a false illusion? The misery of
   ignoring God's mission?

6. Read verses 10-12. What was Jesus teaching through quoting Psalm
   118:22,23? In what respect is Jesus like the rejected stone? (Acts
   4:11) How did the religious leaders react? What can we learn about
   God's sovereignty over history? From Jesus' faith?