In the previous article the religious leaders asked Jesus two questions concerning his authority in doing what he was doing. He accepted worship from people when he rode in on the colt of a donkey and then on Monday he cleansed the temple informing people that his Fathers house was to be a house of prayer but that they had made it a den of robbers. He would answer their questions if they would just answer one of his, “Was John’s baptism from God or men. They refused to answer because they feared men more than God. Please read Mark 12:1-12. Jesus tells a parable and in this parable he reveals that his authority is from his Father. Jesus began his parable using Isaiah 5:1-2 a song about Israel’s history how the owner of the vineyard would send his servants at the appointed time to collect from the tenants his share of the crops for that year. His servants were acting under the land owners authority when they went to the tenants to collect. The tenants responded to the land owner’s servants by beating them on the head, treating them shamefully, and by killing some of them. Finally he reached the point where he would send his son, who acted under his authority, in hopes that they would respect him and give him the share of the crops. The tenant farmers reveal their hearts in how they respond to the land owner sending his son to collect the crops. They want the vineyard for themselves. In the end the land owner comes and destroys the worthless tenants from the vineyard and leases it out to others. This land owner held out hope that they would respect his son thus respecting him. Let me ask you a question, Do you respect the Lord Jesus Christ? God the Father sent prophets preparing the way for his Son to come at just the right time. “But when the fullness of time has come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5) One day and no one knows the day or the hour only the Father does, he is going to come and we are going to give an account of ourselves to him on how we responded to his son Jesus Christ. Have you repented of your sins and surrendered your life to him? The religious leaders of Jesus’ day knew that John’s baptism was from God, that Jesus’ ministry, his authority to forgive sins, heal people, set people free from demonic possession, accept people’s worship and to cleanse the temple was all from God the Father because he had given Jesus the authority to do so. When you surrender your life to Jesus the Father holds out hope to you. Hope being a confident expectation that what the Father has promised he will bring it to pass at just the right time.
Categories: Weekly Sermon