Yielding A Profit

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

YIELDING A PROFIT

Mark 12:1-12

12:1 He then began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed. 6 "He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, 'They will respect my son.' 7 "But the tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 "What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Haven't you read this scripture: "'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; 11 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"

12 Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.

NIV

There is no question that this parable is about how Israel treated many of the prophets that God sent to them, His vineyard. Israel is known as the chosen people of God. He elected Israel to reveal himself to the whole world. The idea here is that a vineyard is a valuable portion of land, as it produces profit, it is the source of income for the owner and it is not usual for the owner to rent out his vineyard, so as to not labor in it himself, but only receive a portion of the profit from his renters. So Jesus used a parable that was very common to all the people. From history, we know many of the prophets were killed. It is said that some were sawed in half, others stoned. But Jesus is also talking about himself and that those who are supposed to be Israel’s leaders will kill Jesus thinking they will maintain their leadership instead of the rightful heir. How do we apply this truth to our lives today, if indeed we are supposed to? Is this only a narrative of past events for the purpose of informing us about Israel’s rejection of Jesus? Surely we are not in any way wanting to kill Jesus, for he was already killed, buried, and rose from the dead on the third day and appeared to many then he ascended to the right hand of the Father and there intercedes for us. There is a sense that as we might want to keep some of the profits for ourselves. That is, as we have thought about before, that we may want to maintain a certain amount of control over our own lives, seeking to enjoy the fruit or the praise for our labor, rather than giving the Lord his due. However, we could see ourselves as the vineyard of God in the sense that we are his valuable people because we have been given the right to be called children of God, due to our accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. So then, as the vineyard of God, we should be producing the fruit of the vine. We have been compared to the branches as Jesus is the vine. He has used that parable about us remaining in the vine and that we would produce much fruit. Of course, in the sense of a real vineyard that would be grapes, and they after harvest would be pressed and the juice of the fruit would run down into the pit, or cistern and gathered to be fermented into wine. We, on the other hand, are to produce the fruit and it is to be pressed out of us and gathered up for others to enjoy the wine, so to speak. This also can be seen that as we produce the fruit, we are doing so for the profit of the owner, who is our Lord. We do not produce the fruit for ourselves, but for the Lord. We have seen this in our also being compared to that fruit tree that is planted by the water that brings forth its fruit in season. Trees and vines bear fruit so it can be picked to be enjoyed by others. We are the vineyard of God, let us yield a profit for Him.