Rejected and Exalted

Rejected and Exalted
Words of Faith 2-28-24
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2024
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><

Mark 12
He 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 went away on a journey. [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 scripture:
"'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone;
[11] the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes?"
[12] Then, they 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.

It was now the last week of the earthly ministry of Jesus. The days left were numbered. Jesus taught in the Temple during these last few days to clarify what was about to happen. He told a parable about God's relationship with Israel and us.
Much of the rural Roman Empire, including parts of Galilee, was controlled by wealthy landowners whose tenant farmers worked the land. Landowners had great power, while the tenants had none. Jesus told a story describing a most remarkable Landowner. In contrast to most situations, this Landowner planted the vineyard himself. He built the watchtower himself. He dug the winepress himself and created a wall of protection.
Listeners would have had to be impressed. Wow. Such a benevolent Landowner was never heard of! How would the tenants respond? They should have been grateful, but somehow, they forgot that they were tenants, not owners. Usually, the landowner would be justified to go so far as to send mercenaries to retake the land if the tenants did not pay the required portion of the harvest, but this Landowner was different. Instead, the benevolent Landowner sent several messengers. But in each case, the messengers were beaten and killed until finally... He sent His son.
Finally, the pointed question and answer came: "What will the vineyard owner do then? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others." Jesus actually predicted the sad and violent judgment of Jerusalem that would come in 70 A.D. when the Vineyard of Israel would be turned over to others. For twenty centuries, until the time of re-gathering Israel in the twentieth century, the Vineyard would be in the hands of others.
Jesus sharpened the focus of the parable even more by quoting Psalm 118:22-23. The story is shifted to the same matter of rejection. But now it is a stone rejected by builders rather than a son rejected by the tenants. This speaks even more to the truth of the resurrection because a slain son cannot be revived, but a rejected stone can be retrieved and used.
The stone that had been rejected will become the capstone, the head of the corner. This was the most important stone of a building. The dramatic reversal of the builders' decision and exaltation of the rejected stone speaks of God's sovereign work, which overrules rebellious human attempts to block His purposes.
But we also don't want to miss that this parable is also the story of God's relationship with us. How so? Don't we sometimes act as if we own and control the Vineyard of God? Don't we occasionally claim for ourselves the things that are a blessing built by the hand of God? Don't we sometimes reject the requests of the Landowner?
The truth is that nothing we enjoy is of our making. God planted the vineyard. He dug the winepress. He made the watchtower and the walls of protection. Yet, strangely, when He asks for a small portion from His vineyard, we often chastise the messenger. We may even seize control of what He has entrusted to us, and when He attempts to direct us, we are resistant. When in our church, family, or life, we do well to remember who planted the Vineyard and who is in charge.
The first fundamental question in life is that of ownership. We can either acknowledge the Landowner now or acknowledge Him later. We can either joyfully return a portion or argue with the prophets. We can either receive His Son or become part and parcel of His death rather than beneficiaries of His life and death. We can surrender now, or we will be forced to surrender later under terms that are not agreeable.

Lord, You are the Landowner. I praise and thank You. Everything I manage is Yours. Please guide me in the stewardship of Your Vineyard. I rejoice in the knowledge that the stone that was rejected has become the capstone. In Jesus' name, Amen.

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< ><> <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2024
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SUBSCRIPTIONS - To receive the Words of Faith devotion five days a week, send an e-mail message addressed to join-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. To stop receiving Words of Faith, send an e-mail message addressed to unsubscribe-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. The daily devotion and archive are posted at https://www.faithfellowshipweb.com/blog
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2024 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.