Rejected stone?

Mark 12: 1-12

¹ Jesus 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 moved to another place. 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 passage of Scripture:

“ ‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
¹¹ the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

¹² Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders 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.

Jesus is re-using a well-known theme from the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah 5, Isaiah writes a poem about God planting Israel like a vineyard, watching over it, hoping for good grapes, and finally discovering wild grapes. Israel had gone away from God, despite all His care. All that is left is judgment; the vineyard will be broken down, and wild animals will come and take over. It’s a terrifying picture of what happens if the people of God persistently reject the purpose for which God has called them.

Jesus takes the story and tells it differently.  God is still the vineyard-owner, Israel still the vineyard.  Jesus weaves into the story the idea that God was waiting at a distance, addressing His people through prophets, longing for the time when Israel would at last obey His call to be the people He wanted them to be.  At last, God was sending One who was doing the job of a prophet, but who was more than a prophet.  He was the beloved Son, Jesus the Messiah, the son of God.  The vineyard tenants overreach themselves; they realize it’s either Him or them. Either the Son will inherit, or they will.

This parable is designed as a further powerful layer of explanation to the developing story.  Jesus’ action in the Temple, like the actions of other prophets, was meant as a stark warning to Israel, but the warning would not be heeded.

Instead of an explanation, or a ‘happy ending’, Jesus adds a scriptural quotation, from the Psalm 118.  He uses the image of a cornerstone, what He has come to do, and to be, can’t be fitted into a different sort of building, and indeed will be rejected by ‘builders’ who have their own interests in mind.

As we follow Jesus we may have to speak and act in ways which the surrounding culture won’t understand and won’t like.  We, the church, have a prophetic mission to the wider world, because the God who planted Israel as a vineyard is the creator God, by whom in fact the whole world was designed as a fruitful garden.  Living the Christian life doesn’t guarantee ease but God’s promise remains: when builders reject a stone, it is marvelous in our eyes!

Father, may we remain true to You in all we do and say.

Written by Ps. Richard Botta