The Parable of the Vineyard Tenants

The Parable of the Vineyard Tenants

By David Weiss

Mark 12:1-5 "Yeshua began speaking 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 tower; then he rented it to tenant-farmers and left. When

harvest-time came, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect his

share of the crop from the vineyard. But they took him, beat him up

and sent him away empty-handed. So he sent another servant; this one

they punched in the head and insulted. He sent another one, and him

they killed; and so with many others — some they beat up, others they

killed."

The Bible makes it clear in other places who Yeshua is referring to in

this parable of the vineyard owner. G-d is the vineyard owner and

those servants he sent to check on the vineyard were the prophets. It

goes on to say in the following verses that   after he sent his

servants, the vineyard owner sent his own son. They killed his son

with the assumption that now they could take over the entire vineyard

as their own. And that is exactly what the P'rushim did. They killed

the Son so they could exercise control over the whole vineyard.

In Revelation, the Kingdom of G-d is called a vineyard. It says at one

point during the judgements that people will be trampled in the

vineyard and that blood will flow out of the wine press. It is a

somewhat gruesome picture but it shows us how important of a sin it is

for people to worship idols and to try to control the Kingdom for

their own desires. G-d is a jealous G-d. He wants the heart of people

for himself but he will never force people to make the right choice

about walking with him and worshiping him. It is a simple choice -

worship him wholeheartedly and live or worship self and face eternal

condemnation. It is a choice we make a little at a time with each

decision we make.

Will we choose the right way or will we continue in our aim to serve

self instead? In the parable, the vineyard workers were given a choice

each time. Each time a servant was sent they were given the

opportunity to choose correctly. And each time they made the wrong

choice. It was all about selfishness. It is not easy to serve G-d and

to trust in him. We serve an unseen G-d. It seems to be easy to look

at what is in front of us and choose what we can see. But as we saw

with Avram in B'Resheet (Genesis) he chose to leave his homeland and

follow G-d's ways. He could not see for sure what was going to happen

in the future, he only knew he was called to leave. And the faith that

he showed was credited to him as righteousness.

The Bible tells us that the truly faithful ones to G-d walk by faith.

We cannot see what G-d will do for us. We cannot prove to others why

we follow G-d's plans instead of our own. All we can do is choose to

walk by faith. And that same faith will be credited to is as

righteousness. Recently my wife was laid off from her job. It is never

an easy thing to go through. And yet, even when she knew it was

coming, she chose the righteous way. She chose to believe that G-d has

a plan for her and that he will not forsake us or leave us. She chose

to believe that he is in control of it all and that he will show us

the next step for her.

We all face choices like that each and every day. When we walk by

faith it is scary. We hope for something we do not see and we trust in

G-d for the unseen. We trust him to take care of us and to shed his

light on the path before us. We turn to him as the vineyard owner and

we know that he sees all that goes on in his vineyard. When he sends

his servants to give us messages we trust in his message even when we

do not understand the message. We do not lean on our own understanding

but we lean on the one who has the plan for our lives.

Where do you need to trust him more today? Are you facing a

consequence of life that is scary? Is there something going on that is

out of your control? G-d does have a plan for each and every one of

his children. And sometimes when things happen it is tempting to lose

sight of his plan. Sometimes it is tempting to rely on our own efforts

to take care of things. Most people like to feel in control of their

own lives. They do not like to give control over to an unseen G-d. It

is one thing to go to corporate worship and acknowledge him and it is

another to walk it out each day. How are you walking? Do you seek to

control things and people around you or do you walk in trust knowing

that he is in control? No one said it would be easy, but it is the

right way to live, to walk in trust of him in all things.

David Weiss