“Then he began to speak to them in parables. ‘A man planted a vineyard, “. (Mark 12: 1)
Mark now chooses to focus in on a series of parables Jesus tells during that last week in Jerusalem. Parables are symbolic stories that give form to the unknown, in this case how the future might unfold. These parables do not seem to be helping us discover the nature of our God as much as foreshadowing what is about to happen.
- A man plants a vineyard
- He digs a pit for a winepress
- He builds a watchtower
- He rents it to farmers
- He leaves
- Then he sends servants to collect his share of the harvest
- He sends his son
The farmers refused to acknowledge the man’s ownership and hence his fair share and they eliminate the servants and kill the son thinking that then the vineyard will be theirs. Jesus ends with a question, “What will the man do?”
It might be interesting to ask ourselves today some questions
- What vineyard, what project are we trying to build in our lives?
- What is the product we are hoping will grow in the vineyard?
- How to we try and protect it?
- Who are the people helping us to care for our vineyard?
- What do we think is our fair share of the returns?
- How do we meet resistance?
Jesus speaks to the day of accounting that must come at the harvest time of any project. He is again predicting his death and God’s judgment. We can think of the IRS and April 15th coming up. We can think of box office revues and the fair share that goes to the actors. We can think of our investment in our families and the respect and honor we pray will result when they grow up. The chief priests and religious leaders know the parable is pointed at them as caretakers of the church.
Perhaps today we might ponder what we have been entrusted with from God and how we are caring for these “projects.” Let me note that Jesus is not just talking to individuals but to farmer-s. It seems we are all “caregivers.” Let us pray about how we can be more trustworthy caregivers on the teams for the projects in our lives that God has given us.
On the Way to Wonder 