Mark 12:1-17 - Building regulations
12/2/23
Preach
Scripture
Questions
The parable of the tenant farmers in the vineyard
1 And he began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard, and put a fence around it, and dug a trough for the winepress, and built a watchtower, and leased it to tenant farmers, and went on a journey.
Jesus is using imagery from Isaiah 5:1-7 which mixes the genres of love song1 [Isaiah 5:1] and parable. Jesus shifts the focus from the vineyard, which is Israel [Isaiah 5:7] to the tenants, the Israelites, and their sin and rebellion [Isaiah 5:8-25a]. Isaiah then declares [25b-30] that YHWH’s wrath remains yet his hand is stretched out to save.
How will this happen?
2 And he sent a slave to the tenant farmers at the proper time, so that he could collect some of the fruit of the vineyard from the tenant farmers. 3 And they seized him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 And again he sent to them another slave, and that one they struck on the head and dishonored. 5 And he sent another, and that one they killed. And he sent many others, some of whom they beat and some of whom they killed.
Who are the slaves in this parable [Jeremiah 7:25–28; Zechariah 1:4–6]?
6 He had one more, a beloved son. Last of all 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 us kill him and the inheritance will be ours!’ 8 And they seized and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.
Who is the son? How will he be treated [Mark 8:31, 9:31, 10:34]? What is driving the tenant farmers’ evil behaviour?
9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenant farmers and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this scripture:
‘The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the cornerstone.
11 This came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
Jesus quotes Jesus quotes from Psalm 118:22–23…
The imagery of this psalm is associated with Yahweh’s salvation from foreign enemies. Yahweh unexpectedly uses the stone rejected by a group of builders as the most important stone in His building project. Jesus concludes His parable with these lines to show the folly of the religious leaders of Jerusalem. They have rejected Jesus, but He will be used by God the Father as the most integral part of the plan of salvation.2
What is a cornerstone? 3
12 And they were seeking to arrest him, and they were afraid of the crowd, because they knew that he had told the parable with reference to them. And they left him and went away.
This confirms our reading of the parable.
Paying taxes to Caesar
13 And they sent some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to him so that they could catch him unawares in a statement. 14 And when they came, they said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful and you do not care what anyone thinks, because you do not regard the opinion of people but teach the way of God in truth. Is it permitted to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not pay?”
15 But because he knew their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius so that I can look at it!” 16 So they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” And they said to him, “Caesar’s.” 17 And Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar the things of Caesar, and to God the things of God!” And they were utterly amazed at him.
Even his enemies marvel at his wisdom!
The Essenes had withdrawn, into the desert, from mainstream Jewish society. They saw the Pharisees tacit cooperation with the Roman occupation as unfaithfulness to YHWH. But…
5 ‘Build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit. 6 Take wives and father sons and daughters, and take for your sons wives, and give your daughters to men that they may bear sons and daughters, and multiply there, and you must not be few. 7 And seek the prosperity of the city where I have deported you, and pray on behalf of it to YHWH, for in its prosperity you will have prosperity.’
Jeremiah 29:5–7
…and the Pharisees saw the nation as still “in exile” so long as they were under occupation as they waited for the Messiah to expel the Romans and YHWH’s presence to return to the temple.
How does Paul rework this teaching for the gentile church [Romans 13:1-7]?
Going back to the beginning of this study we remember that Jesus’ vineyard metaphor references God’s love for Israel. How does this effect your reading and what you are taking away?
Homework
Live your life more consciously as a tenant NOT the owner of what you have.
Set your mind on the things of God and build only on Christ the cornerstone.
How is your life bearing eternal fruit that will please the vineyard owner when he returns?
“Garden or vineyard imagery for a beloved figure are also found in Song of Songs (see Song 2:15; 4:16; 8:11–12).” John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Is 5:1.
John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Mk 12:10–11.
“With the Canaanites, who preceded Israel in the possession of Palestine, cornerstone-laying seems to have been a most sacred and impressive ceremony. Under this important stone of temples or other great structures bodies of children or older persons would be laid, consecrating the building by such human sacrifice…This was one of many rites and practices that Israel was to extirpate. It may throw light on the curse pronounced upon the building of Jericho (Josh. 6:26).” E. Mack, “Cornerstone,” in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised, ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1979–1988), 784.
Let us not forget the temple context. Jesus has cleansed the temple [11:15-19] and the cornerstone reference [v10]. Jesus had thrown the money changers out of the temple. The scam they were running was to exchange Roman denarii, that bore the image of Caesar, for special temple coins. The Roman coins were despised by the Jews for bearing the image of Caesar. The making of an image, let alone a deified king, was forbidden so the question was very likely sparked by this issue.