Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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The Counterattack
1.
A Parable Unlike the Others
a. Earlier in Mark we see the typical teaching parables from Jesus, where they often need to be explained for everyone to understand what Jesus is saying.
b.
In this parable it is obvious who Jesus is talking about, and what it is directed at.
The religious authorities understood the main point.
c.
This parable follows the theme's found earlier with Jesus clearing the Temple, and cursing the fig tree.
d.
However in this parable Jesus builds it from elements of Isaiah 5:1-7.
2. Isaiah's Parable
a.
It is common in scripture for the vineyard to be used as imagery for Israel.
b.
In Isaiah's parable the owner of the vineyard is the Lord and the Vineyard is the house of Israel, the people of Judah.
c.
The good grapes the Lord wanted were justice and righteousness, The bad fruit he got was bloodshed and cries of distress.
d.
The destruction of the vineyard referred to the coming destruction of Judah.
e. Isaiah called upon the men of Judah to make a judgment about the fate of the vineyard and then told them they had to judge themselves.
f.
Jesus clearly used elements of this parable, but he altered it significantly so that it became a different story.
3. Jesus' Parable of the Vineyard
Verse 1
a.
The wall, winepress, and watchtower reflect Isaiah's story.
In Isaiah's they represent God's loving care for his people.
In Jesus' parable they just add local colour to the story.
b.
Jesus leaves Isaiah's story when the owner leaves for another country and rents the vineyard to tenants.
c.
This arrangement was common in first century Palestine.
Wealth land owners would often lease their land to tenants in a share-cropping arrangement by which the owner would receive a share of the crop as payment for the land.
d.
The owner represents God and, unlike the Isaiah parable, the vineyard itself takes a back seat to the tenants, who represent the religious authorities.
In Jesus' story it is not as important what the vineyard and the fruit represent.
Verse 2-5
e.
It is, however, important to observe that the servants sent by the owner represent the prophets from the past.
f.
Jesus parable makes the same point made by Stephen in Acts 7:51-52.
Verse 6-8
g.
Jesus is identifying himself as the beloved son of the owner of the vineyard, this clearly links him as uniquely related to God.
h.
The motivation Jesus portrays for the religious authorities is a selfish desire to keep control of the vineyard (Israel or the church) for themselves.
Verse 9
i.
By using a question Jesus calls on the religious leaders to judge themselves.
Then he answers his own question.
Of course the owner (God) will destroy the tenants (The religious authorities) and give the vineyard (his people) to others (the coming leaders of the church).
Verse 10-11
j.
Jesus appealed to Psalm 118:22-23 to underscore his main point.
The builders (the tenants, religious leaders) would reject the stone intended for the capstone (The son, Jesus), but that same stone would nonetheless become the capstone (the overthrow of the tenants).
Verse 12
k.
The religious leaders knew that Jesus was talking about them and their leadership.
They had rejected the things from God and made religion all about themselves.
But they were afraid to do anything because of the crowd.
The leaders had made worshiping God all about themselves, they had rejected all the warnings of the prophets and were plotting to reject the son.
They made the Temple all about them and their greed.
They had made their religion simply about the flesh.
But Why?
Why would this happen?
They knew the scriptures, they understood their religion.
We can fall into this trap in the church today as well, we can make the church about our gain.
We can try and control the church for ourselves, it's actually very common.
We even ignore those who have been empowered by God with His message, and keep the church for ourselves.
But why? Shouldn't we know better?
Paul Helps Us Understand, And Gives Us the Answer
1. Paul Understands Human Motive
a. Paul sees that our motives are usually selfish, by nature.
They we struggle as human beings with our desire to do good, but original sin causing us to make it selfish.
b.
But Paul also sees the solution.
2. Life Through the Spirit
a.
The answer is Jesus Christ and living life by His Spirit.
This means we submit ourselves to the authority of Jesus and live by the nudging of His Spirit.
b.
It means the vineyard (the church), must produce a crop
c.
The way it does that is through Spirit led people.
Yet it seems that those who know Jesus still fall into the trap of selfishness.
Paul answers this question as well.
d.
Either the Spirit is not in you, meaning you have not truly recognized you are a sinner and need saving.
e.
You struggle submitting yourself to the Spirit, and listening to His voice because you still want control over your life.
f.
Living life by the Spirit, letting God's Spirit run the church means we repent of our sins daily, and submit to the authority of Jesus the King.
We give our whole self to Jesus and let His Spirit guard our hearts and minds.
g.
This is the freedom Paul is talking about.
h.
You see Jesus changes our hearts, we are made new.
That sin filled selfish heart is no longer present in us when we submit our lives to Christ fully.
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