Evil Tenants Are Evil Leaders

“The Saint is a medicine because he is an antidote. Indeed that is why the saint is often a martyr; he is mistaken for a poison because he is an antidote. He will generally be found restoring the world to sanity by exaggerating whatever the world neglects, which is by no means always the same element in every age. Yet each generation seeks its saint by instinct; and he is not what the people want, but rather what the people need… Therefore it is the paradox of history that each generation is converted by the saint who contradicts it most.”
- GK Chesterton

Mark 11 - Review and Vital Context For What’s Next
²⁷Again they entered Jerusalem. As Jesus was walking through the Temple area, the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders came up to him.
²⁸They demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right to do them?”
²⁹“I’ll tell you by what authority I do these things if you answer one question,” Jesus replied.
³⁰“Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human? Answer me!”
³¹They talked it over among themselves. “If we say it was from heaven, he will ask why we didn’t believe John.
³²But do we dare say it was merely human?” For they were afraid of what the people would do, because everyone believed that John was a prophet.
³³So they finally replied, “We don’t know.”
And Jesus responded, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Note that the leading priests (Sadducees), the teachers of religious law and the elders come thinking they have the authority to question Jesus’ authority.
They don’t have the clout to question a dead prophet’s authority and they don’t have the clout to withstand the crowd’s examination of their own disbelief and lack of authority.
As we look at Jesus’ parable about the Vineyard owner, the vineyard, and the evil, wicked tenants, make a note to look at the OT in Isaiah 5 and Jeremiah 12 - particularly Jeremiah 12.10– Shepherds who are invaders!
Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have trampled my plot of land.
They have turned my desirable plot into a desolate wasteland.

Mark 12
¹Then Jesus began teaching them with stories: “A man planted a vineyard. He built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower.
Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country.
²At the time of the grape harvest, he sent one of his servants to collect his share of the crop.
³But the farmers grabbed the servant, beat him up, and sent him back empty-handed.
⁴The owner then sent another servant, but they insulted him and beat him over the head.
⁵The next servant he sent was killed. Others he sent were either beaten or killed,
⁶until there was only one left—his son whom he loved dearly. The owner finally sent him, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’

Edwards:
“The climax of the parable comes in 12:6: “ ‘He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved.’ ” What farmer in his right mind would surrender his son to such tenants? It is a question worth asking, for it suggests the indefatigable love of God. True, according to Jewish law a son possessed legal rights that a slave did not; thus, the son is “the heir.” In sending the servants the owner appealed to the integrity of the tenants; in sending his son he appeals to the right of law, for the son was the only person, save himself, who possessed legal claim over the vineyard. This is why the owner says, “ ‘They will respect my son.’ ” The son goes as the father’s representative, with the father’s authority, to the father’s property, to claim the father’s due.”

Mark 12.7
“But the tenant farmers said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’
⁸So they grabbed him and murdered him and threw his body out of the vineyard.

No longer content with the owner’s produce, the farmers go for his property as well. “‘Come, let’s kill him,’” they say.
Those are the same words spoken by Jacob’s sons when they connived to dispatch the beloved Joseph- Genesis 37:20.
If the farmers kill the heir, they reason, then they will become the heirs.
If humanity can dispense with God, or even kill God, then humanity can become God.

Mark 12
⁹“What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do?” Jesus asked. “I’ll tell you—he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others. ¹⁰Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures?
‘The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.
¹¹This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.’”

Edwards:
“‘He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others,’” says Jesus. By Mark’s day, the “others” were certainly understood to mean Gentiles. Yet that is not to suggest that either the verse or its understanding was a product of the later Gentile mission. Mark 7:24–8:10 anchors the inclusion of Gentiles to the essential mission of Jesus, and the quotation of Isaiah 56:7 in the clearing of the temple, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’” reveals that Jesus condemned the temple system for its failure to include Gentiles.’”

Mark 12.12
The religious leaders wanted to arrest Jesus because they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.

So the leaders are rightly condemned because they plot and plan to do EXACTLY as the wicked tenants in the parable did.
They know who Jesus is and they want their way and will kill whoever it takes to preserve it.
What about you and me? Are we entitled to our own lives? Are we tenants who fill our own purpose and preferences, or did God make us for His purpose?

Colossians 1
¹⁵Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
¹⁶for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.

Caesar’s Property and God’s Property
Mark 12.13
Later the leaders sent some Pharisees and supporters of Herod to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested.
¹⁴ “Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. You teach the way of God truthfully. Now tell us—is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?
¹⁵ Should we pay them, or shouldn’t we?”
Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and said, “Why are you trying to trap me? Show me a Roman coin, and I’ll tell you.”
¹⁶When they handed it to him, he asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

¹⁷“Well, then,” Jesus said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”

His reply completely amazed them.

Why this trap question?
If Jesus supports taxes, they think it will make him unpopular with the people. - Since that pressure has governed all their actions, they think it will govern Jesus as well.
If Jesus says “NO” to taxes, it makes Jesus an enemy of Rome.
Note that Jesus did not carry ‘the coin of the realm’.
The King of Heaven is not preoccupied with the currency of that kingdom.
Or this kingdom we live in, either.

Edwards:
*”There is some irony in the fact that the inquirers possess the requisite coin for the tax, whereas Jesus does not. “Apparently, they show more complicity in the tax system than their question suggests.” *

And I’ll add that they’re eager to show how they are ingrained into the system of government.
Jesus does acknowledge the legitimacy of human government. So does the Bible.

Romans 13.1-7
Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God.
²So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves.
³For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the one in authority? Do what is good, and you will have its approval.
⁴For it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For it is God’s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong.
⁵Therefore, you must submit, not only because of wrath but also because of your conscience.
⁶And for this reason you pay taxes, since the authorities are God’s servants, continually attending to these tasks.
⁷Pay your obligations to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes, tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor.

See Also:
1 Timothy 2.1-6
I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.
²Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.
³This is good and pleases God our Savior,
⁴who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.
⁵For,
There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus.
⁶He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.
This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time.

1 Peter 2.13-17
¹³For the Lord’s sake, submit to all human authority—whether the king as head of state,
¹⁴or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right.
¹⁵It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you.
¹⁶For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.
¹⁷Respect everyone, and love the family of believers. Fear God, and respect the king.

Persecution has led to the greatest growth of the church, the body of Christ.
When government and church become intertwined, it leads to growth of compromise and heresy.
The Theological Declaration of Barmen was written by a group of church leaders in Germany to help Christians withstand the challenges of the Nazi party and of the so-called “German Christians,” a popular movement that saw no conflict between Christianity and the ideals of Hitler’s National Socialism.
In May 1934, the German Christians had corrupted church government by making it subservient to the state and had introduced Nazi ideology into the German Protestant churches that contradicted the Christian gospel.
An obvious parallel in our day is groups like “Evangelicals for Harris” or “Evangelicals for Trump”.
Not that either are Nazis, but they’re both eager to co-opt Christianity to serve their own purposes and desires for ruling in the US Government.

The Barmen Declaration includes six theses:

The only source of revelation is the Word of God — Jesus Christ. Any other possible sources (earthly powers, for example) will not be accepted.
Jesus Christ is the only Lord of all aspects of personal life. There should be no other authority.
The message and order of the church should not be influenced by the current political convictions.
he church should not be ruled by a leader (“Führer”). There is no hierarchy in the church.
The state should not fulfill the task of the church and vice versa. State and church are both limited to their own business.
Therefore, the Barmen Declaration rejects
(i) the subordination of the Church to the state and
(ii) the subordination of the Word and Spirit to the Church. ”
We reject the false doctrine, as though the Church in human arrogance could place the Word and work of the Lord in the service of any arbitrarily chosen desires, purposes, and plans.”

On the contrary, the Declaration proclaims that the Church “is solely Christ’s property, and that it lives and wants to live solely from his comfort and from his direction in the expectation of his appearance.”
“Rejecting domestication of the Word in the Church, the Declaration points to the inalienable Lordship of Jesus Christ by the Spirit and to the external character of church unity which “can come only from the Word of God in faith through the Holy Spirit.
“Thus alone is the Church renewed”.

“If you want to be part of ‘Evangelicals for anyone …’ we must make it Jesus.
“Therefore it is the paradox of history that each generation is converted by the saint who contradicts it most.”
- GK Chesterson

In summary, the exclusive command of the New Testament regarding government is:
Pray for the leaders
Pay your taxes
Submit until the government kills you for not submitting to it as unto God.
Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s; Give to God what belongs to God.
You belong to God.

Colossians 1.16
Everything was created through him and for him.