“They Knew” – MARK 12:1-12

Sometimes you cross a line and you feel like you just cannot come back.

Maybe the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem had simply crossed such a line in their minds. When Jesus trapped them with His response about the immersion of John (Mark 11:29-30) they knew the point He was making, but they feared the people. Now Jesus teaches a distinctly pointed parable and “they knew He spoke the parable to them” (12:12b). Since the parable foretold the killing of the vineyard owner’s son (“God’s Son”), they knew they could not seize Him, because they feared the people (12:12a).

Too bad they had crossed a line they were not willing to come back from and no longer feared God!

God is perfectly capable of defending Himself and executing His will and His judgment on earth and rule Israel, His chosen “vineyard” (12:1). The responsibility of people is to serve God within His will and bear fruit (12:2). If the priests and scribes and elders feared God and trusted in Him, they would have understood that if Jesus of Nazareth was a fraud then His mission would fail. The problem was they knew He was from God (John 3:2). They knew their fathers had killed the prophets (12:2-5) when the message was not in line with their wishes. They knew that they were planning to deal with Jesus in the same way.

Now, they knew that HE knew.

When people take the short view on spiritual matters, the will of God is often the first thing that is sacrificed. The prophets before Him came to encourage fruit production and deliver it to God. The leaders and the people would not do things God’s way and they suffered for it. Still, Jesus read their minds and could see they had made a ridiculously short-sighted plan to “kill the Son” (12:6-8), thinking they could then have “their nation”. The Law was for their good. The prophets spoke words of encouragement and warning for their good. Jesus came for their good to establish His kingdom.

They had crossed a line, and they would not come back.

In stubbornness, people often direct events in such a way as to have the exact opposite result than they desired. The priests, scribes and elders just wanted Jesus and John and any other disturbers to go away so they could have the nation that God gave them. The problem was they were telling God to go away. You gave us our vineyard to “keep”, but we want it “for keeps”. Their faith was in the stone walls of Jerusalem and in the stonework of the Temple. Here, in their midst, was the cornerstone of everything God had promised them (12:10-11), but they had their own plans.

Jesus rhetorically asked, “What will God do to these men?” (12:9) … they knew.

In Christ, God had given His vineyard to “others” … the Lord’s church. If we do not heed His word, what will He do with us? If we do not honor His Son, what will He do with us? If we make our own plans for the way spiritual things “ought to be”, what will He do with us?

YOU know.