The Tenants
Activity:
Ask people to bring an egg, it could be empty egg shell or a hard boiled or even a raw egg. Demonstrate or Show a video of people squeezing or sitting on a raw egg - Purpose is to handle it roughly and see what happens. Mishandle it, you lose it. Sit on the egg? What is likely to happen?
What if the egg is cared for, properly used – it can last a long time!
Prepare some eggs by popping a hole in top and bottom, blowing out the insides. Hand them back to decorate. Throughout Lent season, we invite you to put the Passion story on eggs. Create a Passion tree (cross or branches) Bless People
Message:
The Gospel of Mark is a Passion Gospel with a long introduction.
Goal is to proclaim the Passion, the Suffering of Jesus
The last week of Jesus begins with Mark 12
Why is this parable the introduction to Jesus’ last week?
The Parable of the Tenants
12:1-12 Then he began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug a pit for its winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went on a journey.
(common to plant a vineyard and rent it out - a vineyard is a figure for Israel in Isaiah 5:1-7)
The nation and its leaders are the tenants, renters, they have been given a promise! All nations will be blessed through YOU! But they dropped the ball. Rom. 11 Paul says that the failure of the Jews to embrace the Messiah would eventually lead to the Gentiles being fully adopted into the Kingdom.
2 At harvest time he sent a slave (10:44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of all) to the tenants to collect from them his portion of the crop. (what does this crop represent? Blessing) 3 But those tenants seized his slave, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. 4 So he sent another slave to them again. This one they struck on the head and treated outrageously. 5 He sent another, and that one they killed. This happened to many others, some of whom were beaten, others killed. 6 He had one left, his one dear son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants 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 his body out of the vineyard. 9 What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this scripture:
‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
11 This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
12 Now they wanted to arrest him (but they feared the crowd), because they realized that he told this parable against them. So they left him and went away.
What was entrusted into the hands of the Jews?
It was a promise – given first to Abraham, passed on down through his son Isaac and his grandson, Jacob.
Genesis 12 – Go from your country to a land I will show you (unknown)
2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you;
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
The way that the Jews had mishandled the promise literally broke Jesus’ heart
All the nations of the earth will be blessed through you – that was the promise, that was God’s dream for the nation of Israel. But that never happened. Jesus literally wept over what had become of the nation of Israel:
Luke 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would have none of it! 35 Look, your house is forsaken! And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
Luke 19:41 Now when Jesus approached and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had only known on this day, even you, the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and surround you and close in on you from every side. 44 They will demolish you – you and your children within your walls – and they will not leave within you one stone on top of another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God
Big Idea – it has always been God’s plan to pass the blessing on. He intends to bless the entire world through One Man – Jesus – How?
Christ in me will be the key. If Jesus is allowed to bless others through me, then there is no limit to where He can extend blessing.
Mark 12:1-12 Jesus is telling this parable to show the chief priests, teachers of the law, and the elders that He knows they are planning to kill Him. The story also shows how they are like the tenants in they are not willing to give up what they have (for the tenants it was the some of the harvest, for them it is their power). You can also look at this as the story of the Israelites (tend the garden).
What is the State of the Planet today?
There are over 16,400 people groups on planet earth. So far, missionaries have infiltrated all but about 3000 with the Good news.
As of November 2014 the full Bible had been translated into 531 languages, and 2,883 languages have at least some portion of the Bible.
The Jesus Film was produced in 1979. Since then it has been shown to over 1 Billion people and over 200 million have made their first step to follow Christ. You can watch it online today, every month it is viewed by nearly 700,000 people who are hearing the life of Jesus in more than 1000 languages.
This is great news – but we can do better. Most of the good news is being spread in Asia, South America and Africa. But there is a huge need here in our own land. 1/3 of the people who were actively attending church just 25 years ago are no longer doing so. Church attendance is not the primary indicator of being a Christ follower, but
Next Step - Dare me to be like Jesus
For most of us, the next step is not about going into a foreign nation, not about leaving our homes and families (though I am not taking that off the table!) It is all about how you treat the people in your world
How are you like the tenants? Are you unwilling to give up what rightfully belongs to the Lord (Money, time, talents, etc.)? How can you work with God instead of against Him in your life?
Going Deeper
1. Every time you look at this egg – remind yourself of the promise – Bless People
2. What way will you bless a friend or neighbor this week? – share the promise!
