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Part of a sermon on Mark 12:6 preached during Advent

We've come to the time of the year that many Christian people refer to as Advent.  The word Advent just means "coming" and it refers, of course, to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ - Advent, his first coming; Second Advent, his Second Coming.

When we speak of Christ's first coming we are referring to his incarnation.  Incarnation means enfleshment, embodiment.  The Bible teaches that there is only one God but that he is in three persons.  It also teaches that there was a time in history when this one God, in the second person, the Son, took a body, a human body, and not only lived here on earth but returned to heaven; and even now there is in the Godhead a man, a human being.

Now normally during this season we turn to the Gospel of Matthew or Luke, or sometimes to John - which are the most obvious places to turn.  Sometimes we have turned to some of the Old Testament prophecies about the incarnation, or to some of the references to it in the NT letters.  In the past we have also looked at connected issues such as giving or the Second Coming.

What I want us to do this time, however, is to concentrate on a verse found in a parable that Jesus told in the last week of his life, before his death and resurrection.  The parable is actually recorded in Matthew and Luke a well as in Mark, but we will just consider Mark's record.  I particularly want us to focus on verse 6, where we read of the vineyard owner that, having sent other messengers, "He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved.  He sent him last of all, saying, 'They will respect my son.'"

The incarnation is not the only teaching in the Bible - God sent many others before he sent his Son but all were rejected

Sometimes you hear of people producing books with crazy titles like "All you ever wanted to know about everything" or "A complete history of the world", "A complete history of everything".  You have to take such titles with a pinch of salt.  Having said that, I think it's fair to say that here you have, if you like, a complete history of the world - down to about 70 AD - in one short parable.  Let me explain.

The parable is about a man.  As we go through the parable, it becomes quite clear that the man - a vineyard creator and owner, a man who has let his vineyard to tenants while he goes away on a journey - is God.  So already we have the incarnation idea in play.  Jesus is speaking about God, but he speaks of him as though he were a man.

When we read about him planting a vineyard, preparing it, and then renting it out to farmers, we may think Jesus is talking about the creation of the world, and the way God has given dominion over mankind to take care of this world until the day of judgement.

However, the use of the vineyard motif should alert us to the fact that he is talking about the people of Israel, the Jews.  Every nation has symbols.  If I say to you that the Lions were playing rugby against the Wallabies, then you know I mean that Britain was playing against Australia.  If you see a cartoon featuring an eagle and a cockerel, as long as there are some other clues there too, you will probably work out that these are references to America and to France.  In the case of Israel, their main symbol was the vine or the vineyard, as the land had grapes growing everywhere.

Look, for example, at Psalm 80:8-11 - "You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.  You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land.  The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches.  It sent out its boughs to the Sea, its shoots as far as the River."  And Isaiah 5:1-2 - "I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.  He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines.  He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well.  Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit."

So what is being spoken about here, then, is the way God first chose Abraham and brought him to the promised land; about the birth of his son Isaac; and then Jacob who became Israel, and after whose sons the twelve tribes are named.  It is speaking of the great exodus out of the slavery of Egypt under Moses and their planting in the land of Canaan.

God chose the Jews to be his people; to be, if you like, his tenant farmers on the land.  He expected, of course, for them to bear fruit in godly and holy living.  The purpose of that was that they should be a model nation that would draw all the other nations of the world to God.  This brings us on particularly then to the times of the prophets, from Elijah especially, but including all the time of Moses onwards.

The way it is put here in verse 2 is that, "At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.  But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed."  Perhaps Elijah or Moses is in mind.  Both certainly suffered greatly at the hands of the Israelites.  Jesus then goes on to say in verses 4 and 5, "Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully.  He sent still another, and that one they killed.  He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed."

This is basically the story of the Old Testament and the way the Jews, the tenants of the vineyard, were almost constantly in rebellion against God.  2 Chronicles 36:15,16 gives a similar summary: "The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling-place.  But they mocked God's messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy."

Remember Stephen's words (Acts 7:52), "Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute?"  See also Hebrews 11:35-38: "Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection.  Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison.  They were stoned; they were sawn in two; they were put to death by the sword.  They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and ill-treated - the world was not worthy of them.  They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground."

Right down to that very time, with the death of John the Baptist, the same pattern had kept repeating itself.  Now of course, there is no suggestion that every Israelite rejected every prophet, but Israel as a nation rejected every prophet God sent, and rejected his message too.

When God sent his Son, he did his utmost and sent the one whom he loved beyond any other, one he reasonably expected to be respected

So we come to the incarnation.  Hebrews 1:1-2 says, "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe."  Think then, not of a stable, but a vineyard; not a baby, but a fully grown man leaving his father to go to the vineyard.  The way it is put in verse 6 is very moving and poignant.  Here is this man.  He is simply trying to get what is rightfully his, and yet every time he sends messengers they are either beaten up or killed.

Then he, as it were, hits on an idea.  "I know," he says, "I can't go myself but I'll send my son.  It's virtually the same thing."  He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved.  He sent him last of all, saying, They will respect my son.  Perhaps you find yourself thinking, "Oh no, don't do it.  Don't be so naïve."  It is a very bold way of speaking but it brings out very well the vulnerability of God as he is presented in Scripture.  Now, of course, it is clear from elsewhere that we must not think of God making up his plans as he went along.  No, he fully intended to send his Son into the world from before the beginning.  Jesus is the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world.  However, at least two things come out by Jesus putting things in this way:

When God sent his Son, he did his utmost, and sent the one whom he loved beyond any other

We can never fully comprehend the perfect love between the Father and the Son, of course, but it is important that we see that the Son is one whom the Father truly loves.  There is absolute devotion.

It is amazing that God sent the prophets.  How patient he has been, how loving.  The Old Testament is a testimony to God's love and patience and long-suffering.

But to send his own Son!  For God to come in the flesh as he did is above and beyond by far.  How amazing.

When God sent his Son, it was reasonable that he should expect him to be respected

When Jesus's ministry began, it soon became clear that he was a prophet.  On that basis alone he should have received respect.

It was also soon apparent that this was the long awaited Messiah.  There is every reason to suppose that the people would have respected Jesus, therefore and embraced him.  People were embracing Messiahs left, right and centre at the time.

But no, even though this was the Son of God, they showed no respect, no reverence.  Indeed they rejected him.

When we think of Christmas we can be rather sentimental - the baby, the cattle and the angels, etc.  We always tell ourselves that we would be on Jesus's side - not like Herod.  But do you truly respect the Son of God?  Is your faith in him?  Or are you like the wicked tenants in this parable?