1 And he began to speak to them in parables. "A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. Mark 12:1

How They Understood the Vineyard

Jesus continued the conversation with the religious leaders who had come to question him by speaking to them in parables (1). Mark includes one of them, and it was centered around a man who planted a vineyard (1). This man must have expected great grapes and wine because he put a fence around the property, dug out a pit for a winepress, and built a tower in the midst of it (1). This vineyard was meant to succeed.

It might not immediately strike us as significant, but these religious leaders would have recognized this vineyard right away because the prophet Isaiah had written about such a place. In Isaiah 5, God spoke of Israel as a vineyard. God had planted them and then produced ideal conditions for his vine. And he looked for them to "yield grapes," but they instead "yielded wild grapes" (Isaiah 5:2). And, in the prophecy of Isaiah, God destroyed his vineyard. But hang on to that thought because that's where Jesus' parable turns in a different direction.

God Is Generous and Good

Before moving on in the parable, we must learn a bit about God. He is presented in Isaiah—and here in this parable—as the one who plants a choice vineyard. It is a place of opportunity. Under the conditions he established, fruit can certainly grow.

God provided Israel everything they needed to become a house of prayer for all nations (Mark 11:17). They were set up for fruit.

But, in a sense, this parable is the story of human history. God built a garden. We were meant to flourish. But, because we ignored his word—and continue to ignore his word—destruction came. As his church, we should allow him to reverse this outcome in us. Instead of fruitlessness, we should realize his Spirit now lives in us, learn his word, live by his statutes, and watch him produce fruit from our lives.

He has, after all, provided everything needed for fruit-bearing. As Peter said,

"His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness." (2 Peter 1:3, HCSB)

But let's see what happened in Jesus' parable.

2 When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. Mark 12:2-5

The Servants

The servants in the parable are representative of God's prophets and messengers. Figures like Moses, Aaron, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel were God's servants. But, at the time of their life and work, they were initially rejected. Only later were they recognized as God's messengers and servants. The religious elite in Israel often rebuffed and persecuted God's true messengers and servants.

God, through Jeremiah, said:

"You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets," (Jeremiah 25:4, ESV)

And the new Jeremiah, Jesus, backed him up:

"So all the righteous blood shed on the earth will be charged to you, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah..." (Matthew 23:35, HCSB)

From Abel to Zechariah, every messenger from A to Z, they'd rejected them all.

All Messengers Rejected

But it wasn't only Israel who rejected God's messengers. All of mankind rejects the revelation of God. Romans tells us humanity works hard to suppress the truth about God, but that God has plainly revealed himself in creation (Romans 1:18-20).

This means God has written the Bible but also written in creation. Humanity should look at creation and make specific conclusions.

• In the precision of the universe, we should conclude there is a designer.

• In the expanding nature of the universe, we should conclude there is a first cause who is uncaused.

• In the habitability of our planet, we should conclude he loves us. And in our inner turmoil and search for God, we should conclude he can be found.

We should look for ways he has broken in to declare himself to us. He has revealed himself! But, just as Israel rejected her messengers—the prophets—so often we reject the messenger of creation.

Israel is part of that revelation, by the way. The fact of their existence, after so many years of persecution, stands out as a testament to God's election of the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. While other kingdoms and people groups are lost to history, Israel has been preserved and even miraculously re-established in our last century. Even today, when so much attention is given to such a small nation, it stands out as worldwide notice that God exists.

In our parable, the keepers of the vineyard are portrayed as trying to throw off, evade, and silence every servant sent their way. And, without Christ, this is the way of man. We are under sin (Romans 3:9). It is over us. We are swimming in it. And it then becomes natural for us to reject God in this way.

But perhaps you know God is breaking through. Maybe he's using this season in your life to thaw the ice and draw you to himself. He loves you. He sent his Son to die for you. He wants to bring you home.

This parable shows us what mankind is like, but also what God is like. He sent waves of messengers. Patiently, he communicates. He calls himself longsuffering (Exodus 34:6). And this is part of his longsuffering nature—waiting for people to hear his voice. Waiting for you.