Mark 12:1

Mark 12:1 says, And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.  Jesus had spoken in parables before, but they were parables about the Old Testament church, the people of Israel, and now He begins to speak about the New Testament church, which is based not on keeping God's commandments, which we all fail to do completely, but on Jesus Christ dying for our sins.  The people of Israel were to be God's vineyard, or church, and were to bear fruit for His kingdom and glory.  We as Christians today are to be God's church, bearing fruit for His honor and glory by living under the guidance of the Holy Spirit once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.  Verse two adds, And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard.  Just as the owner of the vineyard sent his servant to the husbandman to receive his fruit, God sent His servants, the prophets, to have the people of Israel give an accounting for their bearing fruit for Him.  He did this after they had time to bear fruit for Him and not before they could.  It was done in due season.  God does not demand that we immediately bear fruit as new Christians, but He does expect us to in due season.  Verse three continues, And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. Verse four concludes, And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled.  Verse five states, And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some.  Not only did the people of Israel not bear fruit for the glory of God, but they abused the prophets that He sent to them, even killing some of them, and sent the ones they didn't kill away empty handed. They had come to believe that God's blessings on them were for their own benefit and not for the glory of God.  As the church today, we cannot afford to become materialistic, thinking that what God blesses us with is to be used to glorify ourselves instead of glorifying God.  Verse six adds, Having yet therefore one son, his well-beloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son.  The Husbandman finally decided to send His Son to them, thinking that they would honor Him, but instead they killed Him and cast His body out of the vineyard.  God is the husbandman in this parable, and Jesus Christ is the Son.  Verse seven continues, But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.  Verse eight concludes, And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.  After rejecting the prophets, and even killing some of them, the people of Israel not only rejected God's only begotten Son, but they killed Him and cast Him out of the kingdom.  We may believe that this was terrible, but anytime anyone refuses to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, they are effectively killing Him and casting Him out of their life.  Verse nine asks, What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others.  Then, the question was what would the Husbandman do, and the answer was that He would come and destroy them and give the vineyard to others.  This is the New Testament church, built on faith in Jesus Christ, that was given to the Gentiles.  Verse ten adds And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner:  Jesus then asked wasn't the cornerstone that the church would be built on, which was faith in Jesus Christ Himself, marvelous.  We need to be able to answer yes to this question today, but the people of Israel then sought to take hold of Jesus and kill Him. These are still our two choices today.  We can either reject Jesus or accept Him as our personal Savior.  Verse eleven continues, This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?  Jesus said this was the Lords doing, and asked if it were not marvelous in their sight.  Salvation should be marvelous in our eyes today.  Verse twelve concludes, And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way.  The religious leaders once again sought to arrest Jesus because they knew He was talking about them, but they feared the people who followed Him, so left Him and went their way. I don’t believe that the world fears Christians much anymore,