Mark 12:1-12
(sermon note: 03-03 sermon note)
Then he began to speak to them in parables. ‘A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watch-tower; then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard. But they seized him, and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. And again he sent another slave to them; this one they beat over the head and insulted. Then he sent another, and that one they killed. And so it was with many others; some they beat, and others they killed. He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, “They will respect my son.” But those tenants said to one another, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.” So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this scripture:
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes”?’
When they realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowd. So they left him and went away.
This morning’s reading reminds me of the one about a little old lady who sold pretzels on the street corner for fifty cents each. Every day, a young lawyer would exit his office building at lunch, and as he passed her pretzel stand, he’d leave two quarters. However, he never took a pretzel. This went on for nearly five years. Even though they never spoke, every day he’d leave fifty cents, they’d make eye contact, and she would nod her gratitude as he walked away without a pretzel. Finally, one day, as the lawyer passed her stand and laid down his two quarters, the pretzel woman spoke to him. “Sir, I appreciate your business. You are my best customer, but you need to know something. The price of pretzels has gone up to seventy-five cents.”
The nerve of that woman to raise the price of her pretzels a whole quarter! She even said so herself, “you’re my best customer.” That man was a regular source of income for her, and it cost her absolutely nothing. He wouldn’t even take the product for which he paid! And yet she had the gall to ask for more from him. How quickly she forgot his generosity! Or perhaps how quickly she allowed greed to take over her life! She should have been grateful for receiving two quarters in exchange for nothing. But no, she had to demand an extra quarter from that generous man. I suppose it’s no more absurd than a man who paid for something he didn’t even receive for nearly five years. Both their behaviors were equally absurd but hers was comically so…
Just as absurd as the behaviors of both the vineyard owner and his tenants in today’s reading. The owner had invested quite a lot in his vineyard, more than just the vines that produced the fruit. Yes, he had invested in putting up a fence and digging a pit and putting up a watchtower, all of which took considerable time and resources. But for whatever reason, he couldn’t stay with the vineyard to nurture it into producing fruit and thus turn a profit. Instead, he hired some tenants to nurture and maintain his vineyard with the understanding that a portion of its profits would return to him. Presumably the rest of the profit went to the tenants as means of wages for their labors. The tenants were unsatisfied with their portion, though, and were determined to keep the owner’s share as well, to point of beating and killing the owner’s collectors. And their greed didn’t stop there. It convinced them that killing the owner’s son would somehow add to their profits. I don’t know how inheritance laws worked back in Jesus’ day, but I can’t imagine killing the loved one of someone meant you received that person’s inheritance! Everyone would have been killing each other to receive each other’s inheritances! Obviously, the tenants weren’t thinking clearly! Greed had taken over their reasoning.
Not that the owner was any less absurd in his thinking. He repeatedly sent collectors to their harm and/or death! I don’t suppose he was motivated by greed since he was only trying to get his fair portion of the profits. Perhaps it’s his strong willingness to forgive others their wrongdoings that motivates him to continually send collectors. Or his belief that sound reasoning will eventually prevail. The tenants would eventually reclaim their senses and give him his fair share. Alas, the tenants were persistent in their wayward ways and eventually needed to be destroyed all together. Absurd punishment for absurd behavior! Whose absurdity was less so than the other’s? Both behaviors were equally absurd.
Now then, was that Jesus’ intention in telling the parable, to simply illustrate the absurd behavior of people? Probably not. No, at the core of the parable is this profound understanding of generosity. The vineyard owner understood what it meant to be generous while the tenants did not. They didn’t even know what it meant to be fair and reasonable! The owner had invested generously in his vineyard. He was generous in giving the tenants a portion of its profits, presumably a larger portion than the one he was receiving. He was generous in giving the tenants multiple opportunities to give him his fair share of the profits. Indeed, the owner’s generosity seemed to have no bounds. So it is with God’s generosity! God is not unlike that vineyard owner who has invested generously in his creation. God only wants a portion of the fruits of his creation. And God is always eager to forgive us our wrongdoings. Our God is a God of second chances. Our God sent us the Son as a way of getting us to finally give him his fair share. And what did we do? We killed him and refused to give him anything. It’s interesting that this story was told by Jesus, the same person that told us the first and foremast commandment is to give God our WHOLE hearts and minds and bodies. I’m going to favor that teaching instead of this one that suggests we ought to give God only a fair and reasonable portion of our hearts, minds, and bodies.
But the parable stands as a great illustration of God’s generosity especially when put up against our selfishness and foolishness behavior. You hear me say it week in and week out, our God is a good and generous God. The vineyard owner is a perfect representation of our God and his love and generosity. And we are called to live our lives likewise, with an abundant generosity towards him and towards each other. We are to eagerly give back to him, not only a portion of our lives but ALL of them! We are to be generous in our forgiveness of each other. We have no idea how much God forgives us for all our sins. Nor do we need to know. We simply need to be continuously forgiving of all those around us. Forgiving and giving! Forgiving IS giving…giving new life and wholeness back to those who are broken. Our God is a generously giving and forgiving God. The apostle James reminds us, “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (1:17)
Of course, the church has always struggled with what we ought to give back to God as gratitude for what He so generously gives to us. Some say a tithe, others say a sacrifice. At
At the very least, we ought to heed the wisdom of Hebrews that says, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe.” (12:28) And we ought to be GENEROUS in our reverence and awe! We ought to cry out as David in his 118th psalm, “You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God, I will extol you.” (vs. 28) Let us generously give thanks for our God. Thanks be to God!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
