seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Mark 11:1 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. 10 Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture:
“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
11 the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
has become the cornerstone;
11 the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
12 Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.
They knew He was angry. They knew Herod had murdered His cousin over a whorish act of Herod's stepdaughter. He knew the church stood back and didn't say anything. The priests, teachers of the law, and elders were still looking for a way to arrest Him.
The parable.... God made a beautiful earth, that happens to be a vineyard in this story. He created humans to enjoy the beautiful earth. All the wanted for all His work, was respect. They could respect Him by showing homage with their offerings on a regular basis. When the blueberry crop came in, He wanted His share. The humans made friends with the serpent who promptly questioned God's creation efforts. The serpent got the humans to doubt God by twisting everything that is said into the lie the serpent was fabricating. All God wanted was homage and respect. This neighbor wanted to take God's homage and respect.
God sent prophets to remind them that God created everything, and collect His homage and respect, but the humans kept killing the prophets, ignoring them, and twisting the story on them. And then when He ran out of options, God sent His only Son. They killed Him.
Jesus knew the chief priests, teachers of the law, and elders were plotting against Him. They didn't like Him or His crowds. They didn't like Him beating up on the money makers in the temple courts. Those venders must have still been arguing and cussing over the mess Jesus made.
The chief priests, teachers of the law, and elders needed to get rid of Jesus quietly.... because those crowds were always around.
Respect!!
