A Warning About Receptivity, Pt. 1
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When warning lights flash on the dashboard, there are basically two kinds of drivers in this world––the ones who pull over and the ones who put a piece of tape over the light! Pastor Nick Gatzke runs a diagnostic to helps us find out how we really respond when God flashes a warning
I want to ask you to open a Bible with me to the Gospel of Mark chapter 11. And as you do, I wonder what grid you use to evaluate your life. I’d imagine that some of us probably haven’t thought that much about it and others perhaps a bit more. Some of us go through our days and look in the mirror, see how we look, see how we feel, and that might be the extent of our self-evaluation. And as it turns out, you don’t even need to look in the mirror anymore to see how you’re doing.
According to a recent study, you just have to look at your dog. I got a chuckle the other day as I read the latest in a number of articles over the last years of a study that is looking at how people and pets look alike. This particular study was from the research unit at the University of California in San Diego, and it produced a panel of student judges that was able to match 16 out of 25 purebred dogs to their owners. And the reason for this, research say, is that because dog owners tend to choose a pet bearing their resemblance in some way.
The panel didn’t do quite as well matching the results for mutts. Because as one of the researchers explained, when dog owners select a dog, they have in mind what an adult purebred looks like. And there’s no guarantees at the eventual appearance of a mongrel. And it becomes difficult to pick a dog that resembles you. The study also identified similarities between pets and people beyond physical characteristics. Some of them actually point to personality traits as well. For example, happy, outgoing, and affectionate dogs tend to be owned by warm and friendly people.
Hairless, pop-eyed, pug-nosed pooches are, well, you get the idea. That got me thinking. It got me thinking about how my dog matches or doesn’t match me, or maybe my wife. But beyond that, the story made me wonder something more important. If I stood in a group of people from all kinds of backgrounds of belief, would the panel of judges match me with one of the more unique aspects of my life? Would that panel of judges match me with the most important person in my life? Would that panel of judges match me up to Jesus?
Turns out that your dog might not be the best grid for evaluating your life. But it begs the question, does the grid that you use for evaluating your life show who you are like and who you are following? This morning, we’re turning our attention to Mark 11, starting at verse 27, and Jesus tells a parable. The parable is more than just an ancient story. It’s more than just an interaction between Jesus and the scribes in the temple. This parable actually gives us a warning and helps us to serve as a grid in which we evaluate our life.
I think you’ll see what I mean. As we go about our time together. So turn with me, Mark chapter 11. And we pick up this morning at verse 27. This is what it says. It says that “they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him. And they said to him, “by what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them? And Jesus said to them, I will ask you one question. Answer me. And I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.” And they discussed it with one another saying, “if we say from heaven, he will say, then why did you not believe him? But shall we say from man?” They were afraid of the people for they all held that John really was a prophet. So they answered Jesus, we do not know.”
“And Jesus said to them, “neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
“And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the wine press and built a tower and leased it to tenants and went into another country. When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again, he sent to them another servant and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. And again, he sent another and him they killed. And so with many others, some they beat and some they killed. He still had one other, a beloved son. Finally, He sent him to them saying, they will respect my son. But those tenants said to one another, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours. And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this scripture? The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing and it was marvelous in our eyes.”
“And they were seeking to arrest him, but feared the people for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.” Jesus enters the temple. And upon his entry, the scribes and the Pharisees take note and they stop him before he gets too far into the courtyard.”
It was just a day or two earlier that Jesus had turned over the tables, had rebuked the leaders publicly, had taught on the nature of prayer and the importance of it in the temple and prayer as a sign of a vibrant faith in God.
And so understandably, the scribes and the Pharisees don’t want a repeat of events because chances are they’re back to business as usual in the courtyard of the temple. And so they come and they confront Jesus and they ask him the question, by what authority are you doing these things? These things like teaching out against us. These things like turning over the tables. These things like stopping the commerce that needs to happen for the sacrifices to take place. And by whose authority do you do them? Now they know the answer already before they even ask it.
They know what he’s going to say. Jesus has already indicated that God is his father and he comes from God. He’s already indicated, and they heard it, that he himself claims to be God. And yet they ask him again anyway. And they ask him in the temple in hopes that if he answers the same way this time, because it’s in the temple, that the charge of blasphemy will stick against him. And so they set the trap. Ah, but the prey becomes the predator. And he actually sets the trap for them.
“And he says to them, I will ask you a question. And if you answer it, I will give you the answer to your question. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? And of course, as the text tells us, they don’t want to answer that it’s from heaven because then they will be accused of unbelief. And they don’t want to answer that it’s from man because it will upset all the people who believed that John was a prophet. And so Jesus hears them say, We don’t know.
And refuses to answer their question regarding his authority. And instead of answering, he would tell a parable. A parable that would not only answer the question, but a parable that would serve to help evaluate their and all others receptivity to himself. It helps us in the same way. The parable is like so many other parables. A parable by its very nature is meant to communicate a specific point as the story unfolds. And in this story, there is a clear parallel that happens from the very beginning between the temple and the system of the Jewish leaders, the Sanhedrin, and the vineyard of the parable.
The imagery of a vineyard was a national symbol for Israel. In fact, Jewish historians talk about how in the temple itself, there was a decorative golden vine that was spread over a doorway with jewels that represented the glory of this nation. One historian writes “a golden vine with grape clusters hanging from it was placed above the door. and wound itself around the pillars. This vine was decorated with costly gifts, brought to the temple, and was described in the Mishnah as a golden vine stood over the entrance to the sanctuary, trained over the posts. And whosoever gave a leaf or a berry or a cluster as a freewill offering, he brought it and the priests hung it.” And so Jesus is giving the parable. The Jews are listening and the leaders are the ones who it is directed at. And everyone knows what he’s talking about. He is talking about them. He is talking about himself. And beyond that, we must remember that he is talking to us.
Because this is a parable about receptivity. And the issue of receptivity is not just an issue for first century Jews. It’s an issue for you and it’s an issue for me and really for every person, even today. And so the parable begins with an understanding of a purpose. The owner purchases a vineyard and it was worked by the tenants? The tenants are expected to take care of the vineyard and farming a vineyard is not like farming other types of fields because the tenants are in charge of farming a perennial crop.
And it takes a long time for vineyards to come into their season of harvest, sometimes up to five years before they will produce a grape yield that is worth keeping. And so the owner has a significant financial investment. The tenants are expected to return to the owner what is rightfully his. And in the immediate context, of course, of the vineyard representing the temple, we see that God from the very beginning has given a responsibility with an expectation to the leaders in Israel, but he’s condemning their actions of worship.
The tenants of the temple. The temple itself was established as a place to worship God, to pray to God, to have God’s mediated covenant with his people through their sacrifices. God’s presence was supposed to fill the place and the priests themselves were supposed to function in a manner that was on behalf of the people. It was not to be a place of mere ritual, but of genuine seeking of God. It was not to be a place of the pride of men, but it was to be a place that pointed to the glory of God.
It was not to be a place of financial corruption, but rather a place of generosity and offering to God. And yet the religious leaders, just like the tenants of the vineyard, have stolen the things of God. And so we see that God responds patiently, and lovingly as he repeatedly reveals his desires. In the parable, he sends servant after servant to collect grapes and to speak to the tenants. It says in verse three, look at it with me. “After sending the first servant, the tenants took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again, he sent to them another servant and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. And he sent another and they killed him. And so with many others, some they beat and some they killed.” The servants are met with scorn, ridicule, and ultimately physical violence.
Now to attack the master’s representative is to attack the master himself. And one might think that upon attacking the master’s representative, that the master would indeed come back with swift vengeance and to exact a greater pain upon the tenants than they inflicted upon the servants. But that’s not what this master does. Instead, he patiently and lovingly sends another servant. to reveal his desires, and then another, and then another. You see, this is the story of God’s people Israel throughout the Old Testament leading to the time of Jesus and the way that they treated the prophets of God.
Remember what a prophet was in the Old Testament? A prophet would be a representative of the master, a representative of God himself. He would speak for God to the people and reveal the desires of God for the people. And most often the message of the prophet was simple and clear. It was repent of your sin and turn back in faithfulness to God. And yet Israel had a very mixed history of responding to their prophets. In fact, more often than not, they treated them with disdain. And you can understand why.
Nobody likes to be told that they are in rebellion to God. Everyone, including you, including me, wants to believe that God will overlook our rebellion and just focus on the good things that we do or our positive qualities. All of us struggle in different ways with self-interest and… worldly desires that outweigh a desire for the Lord. And perhaps you can relate. Jeremiah chapter seven speaks of the dynamic between God and his prophets and his people. It says this in verse 25, it says, from time to time, God speaking, “from the time your forefathers left Egypt until now, Day by day, again and again, I sent you my servants, the prophets, but they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their forefathers.” And we know it to be true in history.
First Kings chapter 19 tells us that King Ahab killed the prophets of God and then sought to kill the greatest of them, Elijah, and drove him into the wilderness into hiding.
Tradition tells us that the prophet Isaiah was sawn in half by the wicked king Manasseh. Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet because all of the scorn and persecution that he endured. And 2 Chronicles 24 tells us how the prophet Zechariah was stoned to death in the court of the house of the Lord. And now the latest, most recent prophet. John the Baptist had just been beheaded for calling the people of Israel to repent of their sins and to show their repentance in a baptism in the river.
And these religious leaders can’t even tell you if that baptism was from God or from man. They’re ignoring the messengers of God, just like their forefathers. They refused. to receive. There’s something here for us because standing where we do on this side of history, God has made his desires abundantly clear. And the question then for you and for me is, well, do you receive them? Or are you one of the people who ignores the desire of the master and then only calls out to him when it suits you?
And so receive him, receive him and receive his blessing.
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This transcript was generated using AI transcription technology and reviewed for accuracy, but may contain errors. Please refer to the original audio for precise wording.
