Today’s passage: Mark 12:1-12
Helpful thoughts:
- In this parable, Israel is the vineyard (Isaiah 5:1-5), the tenants are her leaders, God is the owner.
- The way the tenants treated the son was directly indicative of their respect (Or, lack thereof) for the owner of the vineyard.
- The quote from verses 10-11 is taken from Psalm 118:22-23. This was a known Messianic Psalm. The Jews would have known Jesus was calling Himself the “stone” or the Messiah.
- The Jewish leaders also knew that Jesus was talking about them! They had just been told they were striving against God and rejecting the Messiah. Their response? Seek to arrest Him.
Questions to consider:
- What “inheritance” did the Jewish leaders want for themselves? How could their fear in verse 12 help answer this question? What did the Messiah have that they wanted to badly?
- What did this opposition to God lead to? Did their opposition change God’s plan? Did they thwart Christ? What is there to be gained from rebelling against the Lord?
- In whose eyes is the Lord’s doing, “Marvelous?” How did the rejection of the “stone” produce that which is marvelous and become the cornerstone for what God now continues to build? (1 Peter 2:4-8)