Mark 12:1-8

Mark 12:1-8  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.  At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.  But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed.  Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully.  He sent still another, and that one they killed.  He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.  “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved.  He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’  “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir.  Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'  So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 

The Israelites were to be God's blessed people, chosen from all the people of the earth.  God prepared a land for them, known as Palestine.  At first God ruled them as directly as possible through judges and prophets, but the people rebelled at that kind of rulership and sought to be ruled by kings, for they wanted to be like the other nations that surrounded them.  Because of their indifference to him and their thanklessness, God gave them their desire to have kings rule over them.  These men ruled harshly, exploiting the children of Israel, fulfilling their own self-indulgence by enriching themselves at the people's expense, even taking their women as their own wives and concubines.  Because of their own hard hearts and sinfulness, the "called people" were now the exploited people.  They were as sheep who no longer had a shepherd.  Consequently, the people went their own way, fulfilling their own desires.  Prophets were sent to them again and again to restore them to their shepherd, God, but they would not accept God's messengers, for their hearts were hard, indifferent to God.  In the above passage, Jesus uses the parable of an absentee vineyard owner and his unfaithful workers to explain the waywardness of the Jewish people.  These workers not only rejected the owner's messengers, they rejected and killed his son. They completely rejected the owner's authority over them. 

Today, this is the struggle in men's hearts.  If they accept Jesus in their lives, they are recognizing that there is a higher authority over their lives (their land) than themselves.  They are recognizing that the fruit of their lives belongs to God and that they are servants in his household, not rulers of their own destiny.  Men seek control, not servanthood.  They want to be king, the exploiter, not the exploited.  Even in the best sense, they want to be the touchdown maker for God, not the fan, sitting in the stands.  Stephen said in his final sermon to the Sanhedrin, who loved to be in front of the people, who wore the fancy robes, “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears!  You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!  Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute?  They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One.  And now you have betrayed and murdered him — you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it.”  (Acts 7:51-53)  The children of Israel's hearts were hardened; those who were chosen out of many rejected "the caller," their God.  In the verses above, Jesus reminds them who they are.  They are the farmers, the workers in the field.  They were chosen not for their own glory; they were chosen to prosper the owner.  

We too, who are in Christ, are chosen: we are chosen to be his servants so that we might bring glory to him, to his holy name.  We are chosen for his purposes, not ours.  However, does this leave us unknown, uncomely?  No, by being the servants of the Most High, we shine brighter than the brightest star for we are doing the will of the Father.  Do everything without complaining or arguing,  so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life — in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.  (Philippians 2:14-16)  Because of our decision to follow him and to work in his field, we will be known throughout eternity as his children--bright shining stars in his universe.