The Vipers in the Vineyard

The parable.

And you'll notice, Tom read this passage for us already, but you'll notice there in verse 1 that Jesus began to speak in parables.

And he tells this story, a parable.

We're familiar with that word, but a parable is an analogy that teaches one primary truth.

It makes one primary point.

And so we need not get lost in the details of a parable.

The parable is given to us to make one primary point.

And in fact, Jesus often used parables and taught in parables in order to elucidate or to illuminate spiritual truth for his followers, but to actually keep that truth veiled from his enemies.

This parable is different, though, because in verse 12, we see that Jesus actually tells this parable because he wants the religious leaders to know that he is speaking about them.

There's nothing veiled about the point of this story.

Verse one goes on, Jesus begins this parable by telling about a man who planted a vineyard and he put a wall around it and he dug a vat under the wine press and he built a tower.

Now you'll notice perhaps in your translation of God's word that those phrases are in all capital letters.

That's an indication on the part of the translation that this is a reference or a citation from an Old Testament passage.

In particular, this Old Testament passage that Jesus is referencing is Isaiah chapter five.

In Isaiah chapter five, Isaiah the prophet actually gives his own parable, a parable of a vineyard, a vineyard which God planted.

Now, in Isaiah 5, Isaiah's point is a little bit different than Jesus's point.

In Isaiah chapter 5, the vineyard represents Israel, even as it does here in Mark chapter 12.

But in Isaiah chapter 5, the whole point is that the vineyard itself is rotten.

The vineyard only produces sour grapes.

And so the owner of the vineyard will come and he will remove the vineyard and plant new vines.

And that was a prophecy that was given to Israel and to Judah right around the time of the Assyrian and then later Babylonian captivities.

And so it was an explanation for why God was going to allow that judgment to fall on Israel and Judah roughly 700 years before Christ.

Jesus references Isaiah 5 and does so intentionally because he knows that the scribes and the chief priests are familiar with the prophet Isaiah, and so by referencing Isaiah 5, he immediately clues everyone in to the fact that he's talking now about God and Israel.

Who is the owner of the vineyard? God is the owner of the vineyard.

Who is the vineyard or what does the vineyard represent? The vineyard is Israel.