Mark 11:27-12:12
Why is there conflict in the world? Why can’t people just get along? Why is there fighting and hurt and betrayal and suffering?
Well, it’s because everyone is pretending to be someone they’re not. And all conflict stems from this.
I am, and you are, pretending. Pretending to be God.
I want to be God in my life, I want to decide what is right and wrong. And I don’t want to listen to God’s word – so I pretend to myself that I am God. Hmm-mmm-mmm, happy days.
Until I meet you. Now we have a problem. Because if I’m pretending to be God, and you’re pretending to be God – who’s going to be God when we meet?
That’s the question the leading priests and teachers of religious law, the Pharisees are asking Jesus. Who do you think you are?
Jesus’ answer is shocking. I am God, and the day of reckoning is here.
1. Only God is God, not me.
2. God will deal with everyone pretending to be him in time.
1. Only God is God, not me.
Mk 11:27–28 Again they entered Jerusalem. As Jesus was walking through the Temple area, the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders came up to him. 28 They demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right to do them?”
The reason that the religious leaders are running after Jesus and demanding “who gave you the right to do these things” is because of what Jesus did in the passage we read last week.
Aaaargh! Flipping tables! 15 When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, 16 and he stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace.
It’s a valid question! How dare you do this? On whose authority are you doing these things?
But did you notice that Jesus has already answered their question. It’s right there in v17 He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”
Jesus told them that he was simply doing what any good Jew should do – really what they should have done. And their response is shockingly bad. Not only do they simply ignore God’s word, but they plan to kill Jesus! Whoops!
They’re so busy pretending to be God - so busy pretending to play the part of God’s concerned servants while really serving themselves that they don’t even recognise God’s word when they hear it. Or if they recognise it, they simply ignore it.
You can’t go around pretending to be God. We’re God here. We decide what is right and wrong.
Jesus shows that what he is doing is from God. He answers their question “by what authority”. But they reject it.
Oh, they’re on dangerous ground!
Last week we were reminded of the opening verses of Mark, where Mark quotes from the prophet Malachi, prophesying the coming of the Lord, Yahweh, Israel’s God, to His Temple.
Mal 3:1–3 “Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. 2 “But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. 3 He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross.
It is a frightening thing when God suddenly bursts in, isn’t it? When God upsets our neat little life, where we’ve “forgotten” who’s really God, and done our little religious duty and done a few good works here and there, but we’re sitting quite comfortably on the throne. And then God taps us on the shoulder. I believe you’re in my spot.
How should we respond when challenged by God?
Repent! Obey.
But how do the great religious leaders of Israel respond?
They slither up to him to challenge him the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders – the very same who Jesus spoke of in 8:31, the first time Jesus tells the disciples he is going to die, just after they have declared him as the Christ: Mk 8:31 Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead.
And here they are, plotting to kill him. The fig tree really is dead, isn’t it. The LORD is in His Temple, and he finds not obedience, but sinful rebellion.
“Where’s your authority?” they demand. After all, he was a backwater prophet, from Nazareth no less, and they were the legitimate, God-ordained leaders of Israel.
They were seeking to expose Jesus – but Jesus is about to expose them!
Mk 11:29–30 “I’ll tell you by what authority I do these things if you answer one question,” Jesus replied. 30 “Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human? Answer me!”
Jesus’ question is brilliant, because John’s authority and Jesus’ authority come from the same source: God Almighty. And so the leaders are now stuck – if they acknowledge John’s authority, they acknowledge God’s authority, and therefore Jesus’ authority over them.
Jesus exposes their heart problem – they do not want to listen to God. They do not want to obey him. They are pretending to be God even while pretending to be God’s servants. It’s the ultimate self-delusion. Surrounded by the trappings of religion, being good Jews, the best of Jews, even; sacrificing daily, following the law slavishly – yet hating God.
Mk 11:31–33 They talked it over among themselves. “If we say it was from heaven, he will ask why we didn’t believe John. 32 But do we dare say it was merely human?” For they were afraid of what the people would do, because everyone believed that John was a prophet. 33 So they finally replied, “We don’t know.”
They are afraid of everyone but God. They are afraid of the people, afraid that the people will turn against them. This is the problem when you pretend to be God. You are not free. You are enslaved to something or someone else. We are afraid of what others think.
Jesus is not afraid. And if we follow him, neither do we have to be.
Do not fear, but pick up your cross and follow Jesus, into your workplace, into your family, into your friendships, wherever you may be. For we are under authority, and it is not our own, but it is the Lord Jesus. We belong to him. Because God is God.
“By whose authority do you do this?”
The authority of the King, the Lord of all, Jesus, the Christ. Only God is God, not me. And that is a very comforting thought indeed.
2. God will deal with everyone pretending to be him in time.
Mk 12 Then Jesus began teaching them with stories: “A man planted a vineyard. He built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country. 2 At the time of the grape harvest, he sent one of his servants to collect his share of the crop. 3 But the farmers grabbed the servant, beat him up, and sent him back empty-handed. 4 The owner then sent another servant, but they insulted him and beat him over the head. 5 The next servant he sent was killed. Others he sent were either beaten or killed, 6 until there was only one left—his son whom he loved dearly.
The history of Israel, the vineyard in this parable, reads like a tragedy of the worst kind. They had everything, given everything by a kind and generous ruler – yet they threw it all away, rebelling against the ruler and murdering his servants, his messengers bringing messages of peace. The parable of the vineyard is based on Isaiah 5:1-7 and Isaiah 5:7 puts it like this: Is 5:7 The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. The people of Judah are his pleasant garden. He expected a crop of justice, but instead he found oppression. He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of violence.
The tenants (Israel’s leaders) rejected the warnings of the servants (the prophets) treating them shamefully, even murdering them. John the Baptist, the greatest and last of the Old Testament prophets, was murdered by the king of Israel, King Herod. And now Jesus stands before them.
6 …there was only one left—his son whom he loved dearly. The owner finally sent him, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’ 7 “But the tenant farmers said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ 8 So they grabbed him and murdered him and threw his body out of the vineyard.
What did Jesus say in 8:31?
Mk 8:31 Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead.
Oh do not mistake the patience and mercy of the Lord for lack of power! As Jesus tells the parable, you really feel the incredible stupidity of the tenants – do they really think they’ll get away with this?
It reflects so well the tension as we read the Old Testament and see God’s extraordinary patience and the breath-taking stupidity of rebellious Israel! But their time is up. The Lord has come to his Temple. The heir has come to claim the vineyard, and though they kill him, they will lose everything.
9 “What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do?” Jesus asked. “I’ll tell you—he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others.
They did not listen to their Elijah (John the Baptist) and the terrifying day of the Lord (as prophesied in Malachi) is at hand. The old order of Israel is about to be swept away, because they refuse to bow to the true King. Just like Israel was wiped out in Isaiah’s time – the whole nation swept off to Babylon. The warning is there!
And it does not matter that they are priests and leaders. All their religious service counts for nothing. Israel in Isaiah’s time said “We have the Temple”. And then God send Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon to burn the Temple!
If you’re counting on your religion to save you – think again. That’s just you pretending to be God with a different mask on,. And it won’t end well. Instead we must abdicate the throne to the Son, because it is his.
All those who stay on the throne will be dethroned, judged – God will kill those tenant farmers and take their vineyard from them.
But as they are judged, those with Jesus are being saved! He will give the vineyard to others. Those who are with the son.
9 “What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do?” Jesus asked. “I’ll tell you—he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others. 10 Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures? ‘The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. 11 This is the LORD’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.’”
Jesus quotes in v10 from Psalm 118:22-23, the same Psalm the crowd was quoting during the Triumphal entry (when Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, being hailed as the King):
Ps 118:22–29 The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. 23 This is the LORD’s doing, and it is wonderful to see. 24 This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Please, LORD, please save us. Please, LORD, please give us success. 26 Bless the one who comes in the name of the LORD. We bless you from the house of the LORD. 27 The LORD is God, shining upon us. Take the sacrifice and bind it with cords on the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise you! You are my God, and I will exalt you!
29 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.
Jesus is the fulfilment of this Psalm. He is the cornerstone of salvation, the gate of righteousness. He is the sacrifice, the son killed by the tenant farmers. And through his sacrifice he will save us.
Jesus is the stone, the son of God, the cornerstone of the new people of God. Jesus is the basis of the new vineyard of Israel, the new Temple of God.
We are the new Israel, Jews and Gentiles together, under the King. We are God’s vineyard, his Temple, a holy nation and royal priesthood. What great news! 29 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.
The teachers of law are so blinded by their own egos that they miss out on this! They should be rejoicing, not plotting murder!
But they don’t. Instead 12 The religious leaders wanted to arrest Jesus because they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.
They went away. Some of the worst words to read in the gospel. And it’s the worst thing to see in ministry. People who go away. They leave the hope of Christ. It’s heart-breaking, for nothing lies that way except judgement and eternal death.
Please do not be those who go away. Stick it out with the Son, for he is the only cornerstone, the only sure foundation, the only one who speaks life.
He is God, and we are not. Let’s stop pretending, shall we? Get off the throne, and listen to him.
To sum up then,
The old corrupt order is being judged (they kill their own Messiah!). External religion, with its emphasis on outward appearance, doing good in order to win favour, and letting public opinion steer the truth (hmm, sounds like the church in the West today) is once again shown to be bankrupt, ruinous, and utterly opposed to the living God. You cannot be right with God by being good enough.
By contrast, the new order is rising, with Jesus as its cornerstone and foundation, his mercy and grace and self-sacrifice setting the standard for this new order: the church. Let us remember that we belong to him, he owns us, we are twice bought, we owe Him everything, and let us follow in his footsteps.
Ingen kommentarer:
Legg inn en kommentar