GOSPEL OF MARK SERIES.
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THE BIBLE: GOSPEL OF MARK SERIES ICON. |
During 2019, each week, I will write
a weekly post about the Gospel of Mark, as I review and explore each of
the 16 chapters and how it may be applied in our daily lives. If you are
following this series for the first time, you will find this series under
Scripture- New Testament- Gospel of Mark.
Click here to read the first post in the series. I have written this series
in different years (2012, 2015, 2018) with some irregularity, but am determined
to complete this series this year since I am more than half way through this
Gospel.
My goal is to understand and pray the Gospel of Mark. I hope you
will join me on this journey as we travel through the liturgical season.
In today's post we explore chapter 12:1-12 which is called The Parable and the
Vineyard.
THE PARABLE AND THE VINEYARD.
Mark
has placed this parable of Jesus after the confrontation with Jesus by the
Jerusalem leaders in the temple. Their
hostility already points to their final rejection of him and their condemnation
of him to death.
The
parable of Jesus about the vineyard is not direction to His disciples, as his
earlier parables were, but to His opponents, the Jewish leaders who confronted
Him and challenged His authority. It is
a parable of God seeking the fruits of true faith from a people whom He has
repeatedly nourished through many prophets and holy people, and now through his
beloved Son, the Son of God (1L11, 8:7).
The
parable has obvious allegorical implications in its different details, and
Jesus himself seems to have intended these.
The Jews who first fear the parable, as well as the early Christians at
the time when Mark wrote, would see these allegorical details. The vineyard carefully planted and lovingly
cared for by God, is a common metaphor for the people of Israel in the writings
of the Old Testaments (Ps80:8, Is5:1, Jer 2:21). The tenant farmers who
cultivate the vineyard during the owner’s absence are the leaders of Israel,
the priests, the scribes and the elders of the people. The slaves who are sent by the owner of the
vineyard and badly treated by the farmers are the persecuted prophets of the
Old Testaments. The son killed by the
farmers is Jesus as the Messiahs, rejected and crucified by the Jerusalem
authorities.
The
teaching of Jesus about the corner -stone which holds the whole building
together quotes a psalm in the Old Testament (118:22-23). It implies a final vindication of Jesus by
God.
The
Jerusalem leaders do not listen, but see only an attack upon themselves as
leaders in Israel. The last sentence
underlines their wilful separation from Jesus and their continuing hostility to
him.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
In
our journal and/or our discussion group we may wish to reflect on this passage
as follows:
- Name the key points that you have learnt about the person of Jesus
in this passage of scripture?
- Imagine that you are one of the disciples- What do you see and hear
and feel. What can I learn from this?
- Imagine being Jesus telling the disciples and the and knowing that
they did not understand- what would you have felt?
- What is reading the Gospel passage with the eyes and ears of
disciple mean to me?
- How does Jesus show Himself as the ‘’the vineyard dresser’’ to me
om this passage?
- Consider a situation in your life today where the parable of Jesus
about the vineyard might have a meaning for you.
- Pray for people called to be God’s servants and messengers in
places and situations where they are treated badly. Is there a situation
or a person in your parish who is treated badly for doing the right thing?
- Consider how much my faith gives a special ‘taste’ to my day to day
living as a Christian, that is, one who follows Jesus as the Christ?
- What are the areas in my life I need to bring to Jesus in the light
of this parable? What questions do I want to ask Him?
- Am I willing to look into myself with honesty and ask how much do I
grasp what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus in the light of this
teaching?
- Is my faith in the divine power of Christ, whom we follow, large
enough to make us ready to follow the teachings of Jesus?
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