Mark 12:1-12

Rachel Workman: 12 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. I do wonder what inheritance Jesus was speaking of here. In killing Jesus what inheritance could the religious leaders possibly hope to gain? Did they misunderstand the eternal inheritance we receive or were they so caught up in this world that this is the inheritance they wanted. It kinda sounds like it to me. They didn't want their authority to be overthrown. But they knew. There is no way they couldn't have known that Jesus was the real deal.
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’^[a]?”
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.

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John Burnett:  12 And He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard and put a ^[a]wall around it, and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower, and rented it out to ^[b]vine-growers and went on a journey. ² At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers. ³ They took him, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴ Again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. ⁵ And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others. ⁶ He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ But those vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ ⁸ They took him, and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹ What will the ^[c]owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers, and will give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Have you not even read this Scripture:

‘The stone which the builders rejected,
This became the chief corner stone;
¹¹ This came about from the Lord,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

¹² And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the ^[d]people, for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so they left Him and went away.  The Pharisees knew that He was talking about them but they were still blind to the fact that He knew what they were conspiring to do to Him.  The cornerstone of a building had to be perfect or the building would not be sound or stand for a long time.  Jesus Christ was the perfect cornerstone.  The people (vine growers) who do not repent and put their trust in the Son will be destroyed.   Thank you God for opening my eyes and showing me my need for a savior, Jesus Christ.

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Tomorrow's reading for Mark 12:13-17

¹³ Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. ¹⁴ They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax^[b] to Caesar or not? ¹⁵ Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”
But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” ¹⁶ They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
¹⁷ Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”
And they were amazed at him.