The vineyard has been a common symbol representing Israel. Using that metaphor, a man (man represents God) built a vineyard (vineyard represents the nation of Israel) and left it in the hands of the tenants (tenants represents the religious leaders of Israel).
The owner built a wonderful vineyard. He built it within walls for the protection for those who took care of it. The pit beneath the wine press was to gather the juice from the pressed grapes. He also built a watchtower for security, storage, and shelter. Then he left and left the vineyard in the care of the renters.
When it came time for the harvest, the owner sent person after person to collect his percentage of the crops. Over and over again, the renters beat and chased off the owners representatives. At times they even killed them. What we see here is God sending His spokesperson or prophets to Israel to gather the crops of the harvest or the teachings of the religious leaders. The religious leaders continually mocked, beat, and even killed Gods' representatives or prophets.
God had one representative left to send. He thought, surely, the leaders would recognize and respect this one, for it was His only Son. So, He sent His only beloved Son. This Son would be the owners' only heir to the property. As is today, if there are no heirs to a property it is up for a change in ownership. Back then whoever bought it first would get it. We can imagine the thinking once they thought this last one was His Son. He would be the last of the heirs and if killed, the property would become theirs.
The tenants beat and mocked the owner's Son (Jesus) and killed Him outside the walls of Jerusalem but within Israel (the vineyard). They had murdered Gods' messengers, John the Baptist, and even Jesus Himself. By doing so they rejected God not just Christ or John the Baptist.
Jesus then asked those He was talking to what they thought the owner would do when he (God) returned. He then answered His own question telling them the owner would kill them and lease the vineyard to someone else.
God had sent His Son but He was rejected. Not only did God restore Jesus, but He became the cornerstone which is the most important stone. Man tried to get rid of the last of the owner's heirs but the owner elevated Him to a place higher than the renters ever imagined.
The religious leaders knew Jesus was talking about them and left no doubt to plan to get rid of Him as Jesus had already said.
Again, those who stood against Jesus were after a way to get rid of Him. This time the Pharisees and supporters of Herod came to Him. After they praised Jesus for the truth and honesty in His teaching they asked Him if they should pay taxes to Caesar, hoping He would cause either the religious leaders or the Romans to have Him put away. This question was a tricky one because an answer that favored the Romans would be opposed to what the Pharisees felt and an answer that agreed with what the Pharisees felt would stand against Roman law. I imagine they thought they had Jesus cornered. They posed the question to put Jesus between Roman Law and religious beliefs. The Pharisees were against the taxes because the taxes held the Jews under the rule of Rome while they really bowed to the authority of God.
Jesus was aware of their intent and asked them why they were trying to trap Him, not really looking for an answer but to let them know they were not fooling Him. He then asked them for a Roman coin. He asked them whose picture and title were on the coin. They answered, "Caesar's." Jesus replied, "Well then, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God." His reply completely amazed them.
I want to go a little deeper here. We all got the point Jesus made with them regarding the coin belonging to the Roman government. Have you ever thought about the other part of what Jesus said? "Give to God what belongs to God." When Jesus said to give to God what belongs to God, did you stop and think about what that might be? His comment took me right to Mark 12:29 where He told them to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. My take away is that the coins belonged to Caesar but your heart, mind, and soul belong to Him. God wants our love, allegiance, loyalty. We are here to serve Him and the mission He has set before us.
Again, Jesus is challenged. This time by the Sadducees. The Sadducees were religious leaders who did not believe in resurrection from the dead. I think Jesus displays His total commitment to instructing those who challenged Him. There are two parts to His reply. One answers the question and the other corrects their beliefs.
The question is regarding Moses' law about what happens when a woman marries and her husband dies before they have children. The law is that if that happens, the brother is to marry her to carry on the brothers name by giving her a child through him.
Their question was deeper saying that the oldest of 7 brothers married and died without having children. The next oldest brother would then marry her and have children to carry on the name. However, in this case he also dies without children. Next the 3rd oldest brother marries her and also dies without having children. This happens to all 7 brothers with none giving her a child.
The big question is that considering all this, whose wife will she be in the resurrection because she had been married to all 7 of them. Jesus answered them by telling them that their first mistake was that they didn't know scripture very well. Secondly, they didn't know the power of God. What He was referring to was the power of God to raise the dead.
First, they were wrong thinking that marriage would be continued in the ressurection. Jesus told them that no one will marry nor be given in marriage then. Regarding marriage, people will be like the angels, not married to others, but immortal beings committed to God. Like the angels, when that time comes, we too will have no need to partake in marriage as our purpose and existence will be far different from what we know here on earth.
Jesus then went on to address their wrong belief about resurrection from the dead. They believed it was not found in the Book of Moses, however, Jesus spoke of the burning book in Exodus 3:1-6. At that point in time in Exodus, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had already died. Moses encountered God in the burning bush and God spoke to him saying, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." What is being clarified is that God said He "IS" their God not "WAS" their God. If they were truly dead God would have been their God. God is their God and continues to be their God because they are alive and God had a continuing relationship with them. So, as Jesus told them, "So He is the God of the living, not the dead. You have made a serious error." If they were dead God could not "still" be their God, affirming that there is life after death.
A religious leader had been standing there listening to all these discussions. Being a learned teacher of the law, he gave Jesus credit for answering the previous questions so well. Then, he joined in and asked Jesus which of all the commandments was the most important.
I love Jesus' answer because it touched my heart deeply many years ago and has brought me to the point in my life that I focus to the best of my ability to do what it says. I believe the closer we get to following these two commands well, the closer we will get to living all the commands well. I also think without living these that Jesus called the greatest, we have little chance of living the rest of the commands well. In my mind these are the root of the Christian life. These are those commands that Jesus lived, exhibited and taught so well. These have become my purpose and passion in this life. These are what led to this site and the motivation to keep posting and sharing.
Jesus replied, "The most important commandment is this, Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these."
No need to comment. Jesus' answer could not be more clear and to the point.
The religious leader responded saying that Jesus spoke the truth and agreed with Jesus. He also added that he knew how important those commands were. He went on to say that loving God and neighbors in this way was more important than all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices the law required. To me, this was a huge statement because the burnt offerings were such a huge part of their religion. They were rituals and ceremonial as we talked about earlier. We talked about how often the traditions and rituals become more important to man than our relationship with God. This man understood that nothing is more important that our relationship and love for God and others.
Jesus responded by telling the man that he was not far from the Kingdom of God. I must say that this is the only time I can think of that Jesus said such a thing. I cannot think of another place right now that Jesus taught that doing or living a certain way brought one close to the Kingdom of God. So, take heed here. Living a life loving God with all we are and loving others as we would love ourselves is a path that brings us closer to the Kingdom of God than ever. These words ring deep in my soul, pushing me to love as Jesus said here.
The crowd that had been watching all these conversations and debates was most likely amazed again because the text tells us that, "After that, no one dared to ask him any more questions."
At a later time, Jesus had returned to the temple and was teaching the people. He posed a question to them, asking them why the religious teachers claim that the Messiah is the son of David. I am adding things in parentheses to help explain in the following quote. Jesus was quoting Psalm 110:1 in which David spoke under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
"The Lord (Lord here is the Father) said to my (my here is David) Lord (Lord here is the Messiah),
Sit in the place of honor at my (my here is the Father) right hand
until I (I here is the Father) humble your (your here is the Messiah) enemies beneath your (the Messiah) feet.
Or if we think of it like this: David is repeating what the Father said to the Messiah.
The Father said to David's Messiah, sit at the Father's place of honor until the Father humbles the Messiah's enemies beneath the Messiah's feet.
Clearly, David called the Messiah his Lord, so he asked His listeners, how then could the Messiah be his son? There is only one possible answer and that is that the Messiah is both David's Lord and son. Therefore, carrying that thought forward, it is also true that the Messiah is both God and man. In this teaching Jesus directed them to His true identity. In the crowd there were religious leaders who we can be sure did not miss His point but of course did not like what they heard and dismissed it. On the other hand, those who were there for the Passover, "Listened to Him with great delight."
Jesus continued by warning the people to be careful because some of the teachers of the law like to make a big scene by wearing flowing robes and getting respect from people on the streets. He talked of how they loved seats of honor in the temple and at banquets. (Note: again we see talk of the seats of honor and we can go back to what we learned earlier about taking a less honorable seat and allowing ourselves to be upgraded rather than asked to take a seat of less honor. Parading about and making an effort to impress one's own importance on others to get respect and seats of honor leaves no room for the host to honestly develop his own opinion of a person, rightly earning the place of honor.)
Jesus was telling them to watch out for such teachers, for while they may be flaunting their authority and implied piety, some guiltlessly cheat widows out of their property and all the while make long winded prayers that are meaningless just meant to gain their victim's confidence. He said teachers such as these will be more severely punished.
Mark ends chapter 12 with Jesus in the temple near the collection box. He was watching as the people gave their offerings. Jesus used this as a teaching moment with the disciples. He pointed out that many rich people came and gave large amounts of money but even though the amounts were large, what they gave was only a little of what they had. He pointed out the poor widow who came and dropped in two small coins and that even though the amount was small, her giving was greater than what all the rich people gave. While they gave great amounts, it was a little of what they really had compared to the little amount she gave which was all she had to live on.
We need not be fooled or impressed by the amount given but rather respect how much is given with respect to the portion of what there is to be given from.