A 40-DAY JOURNEY WITH THE KING: Lenten reflections from Mark’s Gospel (31)

 

“Then [Jesus] began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watchtower; then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the season came, he sent a slave… to collect from them his share of the produce… But they seized him, and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed...” (Mark 12.1-3)


     The prophet Jeremiah described Yahweh’s history with his people in these terms:

“Thus says…the God of Israel…in the day that I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt…this command I gave them, “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.” 

Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but, in the stubbornness of their evil will, they walked in their own counsels, and looked backward rather than forward. 

From the day that your ancestors came out of…Egypt until this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day; 

yet they did not listen to me, or pay attention, but they stiffened their necks...” (Jer. 7.21-26, spoken in the Jerusalem Temple)

     The prophet Isaiah described Israel as a vineyard, and also what would happen if Yahweh failed to find fruit on his vine:

“And now I will tell you
    what I will do to my vineyard…
I will break down its wall,
    and it shall be trampled down…

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
    is the house of Israel…
he expected justice,
    but saw bloodshed;
righteousness,
    but heard a cry!” (Is. 5.5-7)

     Now, on the third day after his arrival in Jerusalem – while he is teaching in the Temple – Jesus tells a parable about a landowner who builds a vineyard and leases it to tenant farmers.  When harvest time comes, he sends a series of servants (=prophets) to collect his share of the produce, but the tenants not only refuse to give the landowner his due, but they also mistreat and kill his servants.  Finally, the landowner sends his only son; surely, he thinks, the tenants will not refuse his son.  However, they conspire to kill the son in hopes of keeping the vineyard for themselves.  In response, the landowner, says Jesus, will surely come and “destroy” the tenants, and give the vineyard to others (Mk. 12.1-9).  Jesus’ opponents have long been trying to find a way to “destroy” him (cf. Mk. 3.6; 11.18), but now, Jesus turns the tables and foretells their destruction, a message that was only too clear (Mk. 12.12).  With this parable, Jesus has yet again predicted his death at the hands of the Temple establishment, the “chief priests and the scribes”.

     Ever since his arrival in the capital, Jesus has “targeted” the Temple, beginning with his “overturning of the tables and chairs” of those buying and selling sacrificial animals (11.15-16).  As he did so, Jesus quoted Jeremiah, who had accused his contemporaries of turning the Temple into “a den of robbers” (Mk. 11.17=Jer. 7.11).  With this prophetic act, Jesus had thrown down the gauntlet, and the Temple hierarchy were only too quick to pick it up (11.18).  The scene is set for the final showdown.  From this point on, one could cut the air in the Temple courts with a knife, and indeed, going forward, “the knives are out” (cf. 14.47-49).  Mark has framed the “cleansing” of the Temple with an account of Jesus cursing a fig-less fig tree outside the city (11.12-14, 20-24).  Once again, we see the theme of someone looking for fruit and finding none (cf. Mk. 4.1-9).  Yahweh had called his people Israel to “bear fruit”, to demonstrate to the nations what genuine humanity looked like, to undo the consequences of the Fall (cf. Gn. 3.17-19).  God had called his people to be different, to be a holy nation (cf. Ex. 19.5-6).  However, as the prophets had said for centuries, Israel persisted in being just like all the other nations, stubbornly refusing to listen to God’s voice in the words of his messengers.  Now, Jesus is saying, time is up – the moment of the harvest has arrived for this unsuspecting “generation” (cf. 13.30).  As Jesus prepares to share the fate of John (cf. 6.17-29), he warns the leaders of Israel that devastating judgment is hanging over them.

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