In Jesus’s parable of the Wicked Vinedressers (Mark 12:1-11), He described how the requests of an owner of a vineyard were ignored and rejected by tenants who leased his farm.
Sending servant after servant, only to find them either beaten or killed, the owner determined to send his son and stated, “They will respect my son” (Mark 12:6). But instead of showing respect to the son, Mark wrote:
“But those vinedressers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard” (Mark 12:7-8).
The point of this parable was to describe the way the Jewish leaders had treated the messengers of God in the past, and how they would treat Jesus—the Son of God—in the near future. It is worth noting that Stephen emphasized this point when he addressed the Jews. He asked:
“Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers” (Acts 7:52).
We should not conclude God did not expect His Son to be rejected, for the passage reveals He did. As Mark 12:10 states:
“Have you not even read this Scripture: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.’”
But it is still worth noting that as the father in the parable expected the tenants to respect his son, so God expected men to respect Jesus.
This, of course, is an expectation God has for us as well. We must respect Jesus Christ, which means we must be willing to obey His commands.
Do you respect the Son? Have you obeyed Him?
Chad Ramsey preaches for the Gloster Street Church of Christ in Tupelo, Mississippi. You can access their Bible classes and Chad’s sermons on Gloster Street’s YouTube page.
Chad was - and still is - “my preacher” from when I spent my high school and early college years at Gloster Street. I’m thankful to be able to share some of his writings with you.
