What Will The Owner Do?

Mark 12:1-9

12 Jesus 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 moved to another place.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.

What Will The Owner Do?
Mark 12:1-9

Study Notes

‘One way of putting my point about Mark’s use of Scripture is to say that his strategy for reading Israel’s sacred texts is analogous to his understanding of the function of parables. Parables seem to be instruments of communication that allow Jesus’ listeners to grasp the message at their own level of understanding.’ -Richard B. Hays (Reading Backwards, 28)

The ancient rabbis say that the whole Bible is about the mundane but always hints at the sublime. Jesus’ parables are often grounded images of agriculture, daily life and the stuff his hearers were quite familiar with. He takes these seemingly simple occurrences and recasts the characters—then he’s afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted! As Mark 12 continues, it seems, this story he tells, along with similar ways of reading the Bible as the chapter continues, lights the fire for his execution. Jesus has made a red hot point not unlike that first sermon he gave in his hometown. Reading the Bible can get you in trouble, it’s a dangerous book. And so, as you read and study the passages below remind yourself that these are God’s words to us. After receiving these words I invite you to writeyour own parable or saying summing up your thoughts, your interpretation.

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Genesis 22.1-19
Leviticus 25.1-24
Numbers 27.5-11, 36.5-13
Deuteronomy 25.5-10
Psalms 118.19-29
Isaiah 5, 61
Mark 12.
Luke 4.16-30
I Corinthians 3!
Ephesians 2.11-22
1 Peter 2.4-7