Mark 12:1-12 The Vineyard
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: March 23, 2018, Mark 12:1-12
Note 1: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Then Jesus began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went abroad. At the right time he sent a servant to the farmers to collect from them a share of the produce from the vineyard. But the farmers grabbed the servant, beat him, and sent him back empty-handed. Again, the man sent another servant to them. They beat the servant over the head and treated him shamefully. Then the man sent another, and that one they killed. So it was with many other servants. Some of these they beat, and others they killed. He still had one more person to send, a son whom he loved. Finally, he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those farmers told one another, ‘This is the heir. Come on, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ So they grabbed him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. “Now what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, execute the farmers, and give the vineyard to others. Haven’t you ever read this Scripture: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’?” They were trying to arrest him but were afraid of the crowd. Realizing that he had spoken this parable against them, they left him alone and went away.
(Understanding the Text / Revelation of God) Jesus has just told the delegation of high priests, scribes, and Pharisees that He will not answer their question as to the authority He had to cleanse the temple. However, in this parable He does answer about His authority, but by putting it into a parable, He keeps the delegation from being able to act against Him yet. Maybe, another way to put it is that Jesus will not submit to the authority of the Sanhedrin against Him, but He will freely answer to those who listen with a humble heart. In the process of telling the parable, Jesus answers the question of authority. He is the son of the vineyard owner. Thus, Jesus is claiming to be the Son of God.
(Understanding the Text) This parable refers to a song in Isaiah where God compares Israel to a vineyard that He had taken care of and protected with every protection and care, but it only produced wild grapes. In other words, the products were small with little juice or nutrition when they should have been large and juicy and flavorful. In this song, the vineyard is condemned, but in Jesus’ parable, the caretakers are condemned. Thus, the difference is that Jesus is focusing on the leaders of Israel, not the people themselves. He is telling the leaders that they are refusing to give God His due. Jesus blames the leaders for killing God’s messengers and for rejecting and killing the Son. This parable starts out as history describing past leaders’ actions but turns into prophecy describing what the present leaders will do in a few days. Then, Jesus reveals to the crowd what will happen later. He says that the leaders will die and the vineyard will be given to other leaders. Here, Jesus is referring to the second death as these leaders did not receive some judgment from God that killed their mortal bodies.
(Understanding the Text / Application) The apostles were the new leaders who took care of God’s vineyard. They performed their job well, but after they died, later leaders became corrupt and ended up acting the same as the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day. They were not only corrupt, but they also imposed impossible tasks for Christians that they themselves did not follow. Jesus’ condemnation in the parable is for them as much as the leaders of Jesus’ day. Any time we lead God’s children and take care of His vineyard, we are answerable to Him for the care that we have given. It is a great responsibility that can only be accomplished if we keep in direct contact with the vineyard owner at all times. We must never be arbitrary or selfish in our interactions with others under our care. Instead, I must pray to Jesus for the love and power needed to take care of His beloved ones.
(Revelation of God / Application) Jesus is the stone that the builders rejected which became a cornerstone of the temple of God. They rejected Him because He did not fit their ideas of what a proper Messiah would be just as they had rejected the stone because it did not fit their perceptions of what a cornerstone should be. However, Jesus was exactly the kind of Messiah the world needed and still needs. If He is our foundation, and we fit all of our ideas to Him, we will not go wrong. Where we have problems is when we base our ideas on worldly foundations, such as philosophy, culture, politics, and family. Only when we build upon Jesus as our cornerstone of life can we be sure that we have a sound understanding and belief system upon which to live.
(Understanding the Text) The delegation knew that Jesus was speaking against them and would have loved to arrest Him right then, but they could not because the crowd was backing Him. In just a few days, early on Friday morning, they would have their revenge for their humiliation in front of the crowd. Ananias and Caiaphas probably felt contempt and satisfaction as they ordered Jesus to be beaten and lorded it over Him from their seats of judgment. They could not see that they were only fulfilling Jesus’ words of prophecy spoken to them in the parable. Jesus had tried to warn them about the path that they were following, but they would not listen and, in their need for revenge, did exactly what He had said that they would do. Thus, they sealed their doom before the Father’s judgment.
(Understanding the Text / Application) Thus, Israel was no longer a people of the circumcision, but instead became spiritual Israel under the leadership of twelve common men who had not gone through the temple schools and were not wealthy in this world’s riches. Instead, they had been personally trained by the vineyard owner’s Son and owed their loyalty only to Him. They would follow His direction and take care of His vineyard as if it were their own. They would give Him the glory and not try to take it for themselves. For God, our leadership ability is not about intelligence, experience, worldly accolades, or education. Our leadership ability is about only one quality, our loyalty to Him. All other qualities can only be useful as they are submitted to Him to be purified and put to use in the ways that He chooses.
(Prayer) Dear God, I submit myself to You. Use me to forward Your kingdom. Purify me and my abilities so that I will be effective and capable of serving You in any way that You see that I can be productive. I want everything I do and say to reflect Your character.