Day 29: Rejection
'Then he sent another, and they killed that one. He also sent many others; some they beat, and others they killed. 6 He still had one to send, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenant farmers said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.' Mark 12:5-8
There’s been times in my Christian life when I’ve been witnessing for Christ and some people have been antagonistic. They’re not interested in learning or knowing about Jesus. They’ve just tried to tie me in knots with their questions. Sometimes very successfully. They know all the hard arguments against Christianity. They’ve heard hard-line atheists arguing against the Christian faith and they use their arguments to throw in my face trying to trip me up. It can be very tough, and it seems like their whole agenda is to make me out a liar and dismantle the truth. However, this isn’t anything new, it's laced throughout the Scriptures.
At the end of chapter 11, the religious leaders are trying to trip Jesus up. They are questioning Jesus’ claims and works and on what authority He has to do them. Unlike me, Jesus never gets tied in knots. He tells them a parable about a man who planted a vineyard. He leased the vineyard to tenants to look after for him. When the time was right the owner sent numerous servants to pick some of the fruit of the vineyard. Some of these servants were beaten and some were killed. The owner then sent his son. Again, he was killed and thrown out the vineyard.
What does this parable mean? God is the planter of the vineyard. The vines in the vineyard are God’s people. The tenants are the religious leaders. God has given them the authority to look after God’s people. As far back as Abraham God has used leaders to lead his people. To teach them the truth. The slaves are the prophets God has sent to warn the people of their sin and rebellion. From as far back as Moses right through to John the Baptist. When God sent his prophets to warn the people, the people mistreated them, beat them and killed them, (Matthew 23:29-31).
Eventually God sends his son, Jesus. Just like the prophets, he is mistreated, beaten and killed on the cross. The religious leaders who Jesus is challenging will be instrumental in his killing. The outcome for the religious leaders rejecting the son, God will destroy them, take the vineyard off them and give it to others who will honour Jesus. These new leaders won’t be the high and mighty of society like the religious leaders here. But they will be twelve ordinary men who will take God’s word to the very ends of the earth and raise up more faithful men to carry out the commission.
Jesus is letting the religious leaders know that rejecting him is to reject eternal life itself. He is the cornerstone of the Kingdom. Everything is built on him. There is salvation in no one else outside of Jesus. If you reject him, you reject God and there are serious consequences. Because there is no other name by which we must be saved.
If we are in Christ this morning, we are secure in the everlasting arms. Our souls might be troubled. We might be weighed down. But we can look forward to that eternal prize that is ours through the death and resurrection of Jesus. The society around us might mock us and rip us to shreds for our faith. They might try and dismantle the truth of the Gospel. They might be able to make strong arguments against what we believe. But they can never pluck us out of his hand. “No power of Hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from his hand.”
Written by Paul McLoughlan
Passage for today: Mark 12:1-12
A thought to remember: If the world opposed Jesus then they will oppose us.
A question to ask: How do we respond when we are mocked or mistreated for our belief in the gospel?
A song to sing: It Is Well