Mark 12:1-27

“Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those vinedressers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’” (Mark 12:6–7, NKJV)

The conflict was at a boiling point. The religious leaders rejected Jesus as the Christ or even as a prophet. Jesus ignored their Sabbath rules and their authority, and this they could not tolerate. They determined that Jesus had to die, but they feared the people who saw the wonderful things He did and believed in Him.

What do you do when people harden their hearts to the plain truth? You search for another way to reach them. You tell them a story. Jesus told them a parable about a vineyard owner who leased his vineyard to sharecroppers and went to a far country. When it came time for him to collect his share of the fruit, he sent a servant to the tenants, but they beat the man and sent him back emptyhanded. The owner sent many other servants—some they beat and some they killed. Finally, he sent his own beloved son, thinking that they would respect him. But when they saw him, they seized and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. Therefore, what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will destroy the sharecroppers and give the vineyard to others who will produce its fruit.

The religious leaders finally understood that Jesus spoke this parable against them. They would have seized Him right then, but they feared the multitude.

There is no way around it. What we do with Jesus determines our destiny. We either accept Him as the Christ and the only begotten Son of God, or else we reject His claims and reject Him. But if we do that, then we have no hope. We will die in our sins, eternally separated from God.

But God desires that we would all turn, receive His Son and live. He seeks fruit from our lives, and that fruit is love.

Are we giving the Owner what He deserves? Or are we treating the things entrusted to us as though they are our own, and we can do with them as we please?

“Father, help us always to remember that we are mere bondservants of Christ. Help us be faithful in all that you have entrusted to us. By your grace, please help us to abide in Christ and bear much fruit. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”