PAYDAY IS COMING

​¹ 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.
^{fruit 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 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’?”
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. Mark 12:1-12

Jesus began His ministry by teaching His disciples “Blessed are those who are poor in spirit because they will understand the way God’s kingdom works – through mercy, humility and generosity.”  Only those who are willing to abandon their own interpretation of God and expectations about Him and embrace the truth about the Father so that they can be reconnected to Him, will ever experience His life-changing power that transforms them into beloved sons.

This parable highlights the attitude of those whom Jesus called, “thieves and robbers”, the so-called “hireling” who has no love for the sheep. His only interest is the money he can make on the deal. When trouble or danger comes, he takes off because he has no connection with the sheep; so, also, the farmhands who were left in charge of the vineyard. They were in it for their own gain and had no connection with the landowner or his property.

The landowner was willing to share the grape harvest with the workers as long as they respected his right to his portion. It was an amicable arrangement as long as each honoured his part. Jesus was illustrating, among other things, what happens to people when they are ruled by the yetzer harah, the evil eye that looks inward and has no interest or concern for those around.

1. They ignore what is right and set up their own rules.
2. They have no interest in anyone else’s needs.
3. They use force to acquire what they are not entitled to.
4. Pride prevents them from admitting they are wrong and changing their ways.
5. They have no connection with the heart of the Father.
6. Compassion and morality are overruled by greed and wickedness.

The most terrible thing about the religious leaders was that they behaved like this under the cloak of religion and in the name of God. This is the power of deception. They thought it was okay but they did not realise that they were transparent before God and that payday was coming.