March 15 - Vineyard Justice

Mark 12:1-17

These 17 verses are packed with important truths.  For today's Bible Blast, we're going to focus on the first 12 verses, known as the parable of the tenants.  When Jesus spoke in parables, often the crowds did not understand his message.  But this parable was quite clear to a certain segment of his audience:  the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders - the religious elite of Jesus' day.  Read their reaction in verse 12:

"Then [after Jesus told the parable] they 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.

Yes, they were convicted.  They knew that they were the servants of the vineyard owner, who killed all the messengers the owner sent to them to collect his earnings - including his own son.  They thought that by killing the messenger, they would reap the profits for themselves.  But the owner vows to kill them and give the vineyard to others.  Their evil plan will fail.

Why didn't they see the error of their ways and repent?  It's so obvious to us as we read the parable that they were in the wrong.  And yet, don't we do the same thing in our own lives?  I am reminded of Paul's words in Romans 7:

21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

The only way to defeat sin is through the blood of Jesus! He longs to offer you grace and forgiveness - he wants to bless you. So don't be like the vineyard tenants, looking for a way to cheat and lie and gain what is not yours. Come to the cross, and receive grace and mercy. It's the only way to live!