Ridiculous Patience: Parable Of The Vineyard - Mark 12:1-12 Series

Mark 12:1 He then began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed. 6 "He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, 'They will respect my son.' 7 "But the tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 "What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Haven't you read this scripture: "'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; 11 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?" 12 Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.

Introduction: Listen or Go Deaf

Most people wish God would speak to them more—more often, more clearly, more intimately—they want to hear from God more than they do. Most people wish that, and most people, when God does speak, don’t listen. They don’t listen, and then they wonder why God doesn’t speak to them more.

Has anyone close to you ever complained that you don’t listen to them? What would happen if God said to you, “From now on, every time you fail to listen to them, you’ll permanently lose 10% of your hearing”? So if it happens 10 times, you’re completely deaf. How carefully would you listen?

Thankfully, God hasn’t said that when it comes to listening to your spouse. But he has said something close to that when it comes to listening to him. This was in ch.4, where Jesus said, “The reason I speak in parables is to punish the people who aren’t listening by making them go deaf.” Parables hide the truth from all but the most intensive listeners.

Deafening Parables

So when we get to verse 1 of ch.12 and it says, “He then began to speak to them in parables,” you should hear dark, ominous music playing in the background. Jesus is bringing judgment on these people by reverting to parables. Why? What just happened? After Jesus ransacked the Temple, a contingent of Temple authorities came and demanded an explanation. “By what authority are you doing these things Jesus?” A fair question. And Jesus was happy to answer it, but only if it was an honest question.

So in order to establish that, he asks them something. Jesus said, “I’ll tell you by what authority I’m doing it if you’re answer one thing. And the only catch is this: you have to give me a straight answer.” Jesus begins and ends his question by saying, “Answer me.” Normally if someone asks a question you assume he wants you to answer, but here Jesus states it—twice.

Mark 11:29 … Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 30 John's baptism-- was it from heaven, or from men? Answer me!"

Why does he keep saying that? Because he wants a straight answer. “You can say yes, you can say no—whatever you think is true—the one thing I ask is just give me an honest, straight answer.”

So what do they do? They try to do an impromptu focus group to figure out which answer will sound best. They can’t think of a popular answer, so they say, “We don’t know.” The only thing Jesus required was a straight answer, but they won’t give it.

That’s why the next verse says, “He then began to speak to them in parables.” In other words, they just lost the privilege of getting straight talk from Jesus. Jesus says, “You don’t want to listen to God? Fine. I won’t talk to you anymore in a way you can understand.” From now on, he’s going to hide the truth in parables, so people like us can get it, but people who aren’t willing to work hard at it get nothing.

Now, before we look at the parable, let me ask you this—when they asked about Jesus’ authority, why did Jesus bring up John the Baptist instead of some other proof—like his miracles? “When I heal the sick and feed the multitudes and raise the dead—is that from heaven or from men?” To me, that would seem like the more powerful proof; why focus on John?