Reflective Bible Study

Coming immediately following the parable Jesus shared in our last episode about two sons, Jesus continued sharing, and Jesus keeps the vineyard theme with the next parable He shares. Similar also to the last parable is the theme that this parable was spoken as a challenge to the religious leaders.

Let’s read what Jesus shared. Our parable and passage are found in three of the four gospels, but for this episode, let’s read it from Mark’s gospel, chapter 12, using the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 1, Mark tells us:

¹ Then Jesus spoke to them in parables: “Once there was a man who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a hole for the wine press, and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to tenants and left home on a trip. ² When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent a slave to the tenants to receive from them his share of the harvest. ³ The tenants grabbed the slave, beat him, and sent him back without a thing. ⁴ Then the owner sent another slave; the tenants beat him over the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵ The owner sent another slave, and they killed him; and they treated many others the same way, beating some and killing others. ⁶ The only one left to send was the man’s own dear son. Last of all, then, he sent his son to the tenants. ‘I am sure they will respect my son,’ he said. ⁷ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the owner’s son. Come on, let’s kill him, and his property will be ours!’ ⁸ So they grabbed the son and killed him and threw his body out of the vineyard.

⁹ “What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do?” asked Jesus. “He will come and kill those tenants and turn the vineyard over to others. ¹⁰ Surely you have read this scripture?

‘The stone which the builders rejected as worthless
    turned out to be the most important of all.
¹¹ This was done by the Lord;
    what a wonderful sight it is!’”

¹² The Jewish leaders tried to arrest Jesus, because they knew that he had told this parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.

In this parable, as I read it now, several phrases stood out to me within Jesus’ words to those present.

The first phrase is in verse 2, where Jesus tells us that the owner sent someone to “receive from them his share of the harvest”. This phrase stands out because the owner simply is looking for his share of the harvest, because this is his vineyard. The owner is the one who planted the vineyard, and the one who built all the surrounding structures that a vineyard needs. All the tenants are asked to do is keep what the owner has already started going smoothly.

In this scenario, the owner has every right to a share of the harvest. Technically, the owner could demand all the harvest, and then simply pay the tenants for their time, and this would be completely legal because the owner is simply the owner, even if other people did every single piece of work building the vineyard and planting the grapes.

However, the way this parable is framed, the owner is a key part of starting this vineyard, and all he asks is for his portion, which is a very reasonable, rational request. But the tenants managing this vineyard don’t have any respect for the owner, because they refuse to return the owner’s portion of the harvest.

Slave after slave is sent to ask for the owner’s portion, and the managers refuse the owner’s request, abusing some and even killing others. The owner even sends his own son believing that his son will be respected, but when the tenants see the son, they decide to kill him believing that they would then become the new owners.

This leads to the second phrase that stood out in my mind. This phrase is the rhetorical question Jesus asks then answers in verse 9. Jesus asks those present: “What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and turn the vineyard over to others.”

The one thing that the tenants don’t anticipate is the owner coming and removing them by force, but that is the only option left when those who were supposed to manage what was not theirs believe and act as though the owner has given up his rights. The managers might believe they can do what they want with the owner gone, and they might believe that the owner is never returning, but both beliefs are wrong. The beliefs are shown to be wrong when the owner does show up.

When the owner shows up, he doesn’t assume management of the vineyard, but he chooses new people to manage it after the former tenants have been removed. The assumption in this parable is that the new tenants will return the owner’s portion to him unlike the previous tenants, but this is assumed and not stated. It is very rational to conclude that if the new tenants began behaving like the prior tenants, refusing to return the owner’s portion of the harvest, then the owner would remove them and move to a third, fourth, fifth, or more group of tenants.

I have heard this parable used to support the idea that after Jesus, no more prophets will be sent to God’s people. After all, the sending of slaves ends with the sending of the owner’s son. I can understand this logical conclusion, but a more accurate conclusion is that after God’s Son came and was killed, no more prophets would be sent to the Jewish nation. The whole context of this parable centers on the Jewish nation rejecting Jesus, and if we understand the slaves that the owner sent as prophets that God sent to the nation of Israel, then all this parable says is that after the nation of Israel is no longer the tenants, God will have no reason to send prophets to them.

Prophecy continuing past Jesus is also confirmed most clearly in Paul’s letters to the early churches, when he talks about spiritual gifts. Paul expected to see prophets continue, and in every list of spiritual gifts Paul shares, the gift of prophets and prophecy are included.

This parable does not state anywhere that God stops sending messengers to His people. It simply says that the messengers God sends in the future will be to those who are managing God’s vineyard.

The last phrase that stands out in my mind is the first part of Jesus’ quotation from the Old Testament. Jesus reminds those present in verse 10 that: “The stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most important of all.”

In first century culture, the two big messengers God sent were rejected as worthless by the Jewish leaders. These two big messengers were John the Baptist and Jesus. Both John and Jesus’ ministry pointed people back to God, and both of their ministries had value in God’s eyes because they both gave God the glory. However, both John and Jesus were rejected by the spiritual leaders.

Reading the reaction the Jewish leaders had to Jesus’ parable and teaching tells us that they knew exactly what Jesus meant. They knew Jesus had told the parable against them, and regardless of whether they understood all the nuances involved in the message, these leaders continued down the path of rejecting Jesus over letting the message challenge them to change their ways.

We face the same type of challenge today: Will we reject Jesus like the leaders of the first century and try to live without acknowledging God as the rightful owner of everything, or will we accept Jesus into our lives and return to God what is rightfully His?

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, continue seeking God first and choose to acknowledge His ownership of everything in this world. Decide today to see yourself as a manager and choose to return God’s portion to Him. Returning God’s portion means more than simply returning a tithe of the money we earn. Returning God’s portion relates not only to money, but to time and talents as well.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself. Don’t take my word for anything you learn from the gospels without studying it out for yourself. While what I share are things that I have learned while studying, I would rather you discover these truths directly from the Bible, because when you open your heart and mind to God through studying the Bible, you are strengthening your relationship with Him.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue moving through John’s gospel and focusing in on the events John tells us led up to Jesus being crucified, we come to a fascinating point in this story. In our last episode, we focused in on a subtle shift in wording that takes Jesus’ supposed innocence and shifts it to assumed guilt. However, I suspect that Pilate does not realize this shift in his presentation, because in our passage for this episode, we again see Pilate try to free Jesus.

It is interesting, because the only thing keeping Pilate from declaring Jesus as free is fear of a riot. This detail is powerful because on the surface, it seems as though everyone wants the same thing. However, Pilate can see through the hostility and he understands that the thing everyone wants in this setting, which is peace, can only come through the death of an innocent Man.

I wonder if Pilate could sense that Jesus was different from other people brought before him. Our last episode hints at a very unique conversation Pilate had with Jesus that would definitely make Jesus stand out as different. Our passage for this episode adds another twist into this event, and this twist comes when the religious leaders ultimately let slip their real charge against Jesus.

Let’s read what happened. Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 19, and we will read it using the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

¹ Then Pilate took Jesus and had him whipped. ² The soldiers twisted thorns together to make a crown. They put it on Jesus’ head. Then they put a purple robe on him. ³ They went up to him again and again. They kept saying, “We honor you, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.

⁴ Once more Pilate came out. He said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing Jesus out to you. I want to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” ⁵ Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Then Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

⁶ As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. I myself find no basis for a charge against him.”

⁷ The Jewish leaders replied, “We have a law. That law says he must die. He claimed to be the Son of God.”

⁸ When Pilate heard that, he was even more afraid. ⁹ He went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus. But Jesus did not answer him. ¹⁰ “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you understand? I have the power to set you free or to nail you to a cross.”

¹¹ Jesus answered, “You were given power from heaven. If you weren’t, you would have no power over me. So the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

¹² From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free. But the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are not Caesar’s friend! Anyone who claims to be a king is against Caesar!”

¹³ When Pilate heard that, he brought Jesus out. Pilate sat down on the judge’s seat. It was at a place called the Stone Walkway. In the Aramaic language it was called Gabbatha. ¹⁴ It was about noon on Preparation Day in Passover Week.

“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.

¹⁵ But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Should I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

¹⁶ Finally, Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be nailed to a cross.

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.

In this final portion of Jesus’ trial and condemnation, two statements stood out to me.

The first statement is when Pilate pulls Jesus back into the palace and questions Him again. Jesus is silent, but when Pilate claims to have the power to release Jesus or to kill Him, Jesus tells Pilate in verse 11, “You were given power from heaven. If you weren’t, you would have no power over me. So the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

Jesus shifts the focus off of Pilate and off of Himself. While acknowledging that Pilate does have power, Jesus shifts the focus onto the power that Pilate has being given to him from an outside source, and ultimately while it was Rome who put Pilate where he was, there was no doubt that God, or at least the Roman gods, had favored Pilate over the other governor options.

Unlike any other person who would have been brought before Pilate, Jesus seems to understand and accept why He is there more than the religious leaders understand why they are demanding His crucifixion. I suspect this bothered Pilate a little, because everything about Jesus was fascinating and not punishable by death.

However, it is interesting that while Pilate says He has the power to free Jesus, everything in this passage frames Pilate as trying to free Jesus and ultimately failing. Jesus rightly concluded that those who brought Him to Pilate were guilty of a greater sin.

The second statement that stood out to me was the religious leaders’ last statement in this passage and this trial. When given the choice to acknowledge who their king was, these leaders could have said God, which should have been their answer. However, instead, they give public allegiance to Caesar in verse 15 saying, “We have no king but Caesar.”

The greatest sin these religious leaders make isn’t crucifying the Messiah that God sent to them. Their greatest sin is rejecting the God they claimed to serve and replacing Him with a human emperor. Either these religious leaders are openly lying to Pilate, which wouldn’t be hard to believe, or they truly had rejected God as their King in favor of Caesar.

Looking at the actions and attitude of these religious leaders suggests that they had rejected God because they rejected Jesus. In bringing Jesus to trial and pushing for His death, these representatives of God had broken multiple laws of God, including laws against lying, laws against cheating, and laws against killing. In order to sentence Jesus to death, these leaders had to abandon all of God’s laws to bring Jesus to justice. These leaders justify their actions by claiming they are following God’s law when Moses told them that anyone who claims to be God must be put to death.

However, Moses didn’t frame this law this way. The law in question is related to blasphemy, and blasphemy is speaking out against God, or belittling God in some way. In the religious leaders’ minds, a human claiming to be God ultimately cheapens God, and this would fall under the category of blasphemy. However, nothing in this law stops God from stepping into history as a human.

Looking at Jesus’ life, everything He did pointed people to God, and everything Jesus did uplifted the perception of God those in the first century had. If people had the impression that the Old Testament God was mean, hostile, and looking for reasons to punish sinners, Jesus came to change this impression by showing us a more accurate picture of God’s love. Jesus’ life did not cheapen God in any way, and because of this, Jesus’ life was not guilty of blasphemy.

The religious leaders reject Jesus on some minor technicalities, and on Jesus not fitting their stereotypical picture of who the Messiah would be. These religious leaders openly side with Caesar against God’s Messiah showing everyone just how far they had fallen from God’s ultimate plan for their lives.

However, Jesus chose the cross. Nothing in this passage hints at Jesus wanting or desiring freedom. While Pilate tries to free Jesus because he understands Jesus is innocent, Jesus willingly walked the path of torture and death because it ultimately shows us how far God was willing to go to demonstrate His love for us.

God loves you and God loves me. Jesus died on the cross because He wants us to know just how much God loves us. When faced with God’s standard, we deserve death. However, through Jesus, God paid our debt, and He now offers us a new life with Him!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life. Choose to accept Jesus’ gift and declare your allegiance to God over any and every other ideology present in today’s world. When faced with a choice, choose the path of love, the path of forgiveness, the path that values life, and the path brings glory to God.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Through a personal relationship with God built on the foundation of prayer and Bible study, discover how much God loves you and how much He was willing to go through to be able to bring you home with Him!

But until that happens, and as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Moving into the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, it seems as though Jesus turns up the pressure with the illustrations He shares. In Jesus’ parable for this episode, Jesus is talking with the religious leaders on one of the early days of the week He would be crucified. As we read this parable and the ones that follow, I don’t think it will be much of a shock that the priests and Pharisees present would have wanted to get Jesus out of the picture. The religious leaders definitely understood Jesus’ parables were shared as a challenge to them.

The short parable we are focusing in on for this episode comes from Matthew’s gospel, chapter 21, and we will read it from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 28, Matthew quotes Jesus saying to the religious leaders:

²⁸ “Tell me what you think about this: A man had two sons. He went to the first son and said, ‘Son, go and work today in my vineyard.’ ²⁹ The son answered, ‘I will not go.’ But later the son changed his mind and went. ³⁰ Then the father went to the other son and said, ‘Son, go and work today in my vineyard.’ The son answered, ‘Yes, sir, I will go and work,’ but he did not go. ³¹ Which of the two sons obeyed his father?”

The priests and leaders answered, “The first son.”

Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes will enter the kingdom of God before you do. ³² John came to show you the right way to live. You did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. Even after seeing this, you still refused to change your ways and believe him.

In this short parable and passage, Jesus emphasizes two very important and profound ideas.

The first of these ideas is that talk is cheap, while action has value. I know if I were given the choice to have someone tell me they would help me versus someone actually helping me with a task, I would choose the help over the promise almost every single time.

It is the same way with God. Through Jesus’ parable and the religious leaders’ response, we know God values someone who obeys Him much more than someone who says they will obey, but then who breaks their word.

Interestingly enough, both sons broke their word, but one broke their verbal agreement by not coming, while the other decided to come after saying that he would not. While the ideal would be for one son to say they would come help in the vineyard, then follow through by actually coming and working in the vineyard, when given the choice, action always beats talk.

It is interesting in my mind that Jesus transitions out of the parable with the question that He does, because by answering this question, the priests and leaders end up incriminating themselves. By answering that the first son obeyed because he followed through and helped in the vineyard, Jesus is then able to point out the truth that this parable has a parallel in John the Baptist’s ministry.

Because of the ministry of John the Baptist, some of the worst sinners in the region changed their lives and returned to God. In contrast, when hearing John’s challenge to the religious leaders, most religious leaders disregarded John’s message and warning. Whether they disregarded John’s message because they didn’t think John was speaking truth, or whether they disregarded John’s message because they simply didn’t like the words, or even if they disregarded John’s message because they didn’t like John, their refusal to accept God’s challenge through John sets up their rejection of Jesus.

In Jesus’ concluding remarks, we discover that any message that gets us to turn towards God and away from sin is a message that is worth paying attention to. Any message that prompts us to turn back to God and away from sin is a message from the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t really matter who or where the message came from, because a message to turn back to God can only come with the Holy Spirit’s prompting.

While Jesus challenges the religious leaders in a direct way with the last verses, Jesus’ message gives us hope because while the religious leaders are being challenged, Jesus is giving assurance to everyone who has turned away from sin and back to God who might doubt that they have been saved. Someone who feels they may have gone too far or done too many bad things might doubt God’s love and saving ability. In Jesus’ message, any person who returns to God, regardless of how bad they feel their past or present is will enter God’s kingdom before someone who lived a life they felt did not need a savior.

God’s kingdom will be populated with more people who realized they needed a Savior after they screwed up their lives here on earth, than it will be filled with people who believed they didn’t need a Savior. Actually, there might not be anyone in heaven who believes they lived so good that they didn’t need Jesus.

We all have screwed up our lives here on this earth to some degree or another. That is the nature of sin and its effect on our lives. However, Jesus came to be the remedy for sin and to take our punishment for sin onto Himself, opening up the way for us to be saved forever. God offers the gift to anyone and everyone who is willing to accept Jesus into their lives and accept the gift God offers.

God is happy to reward all who turn away from sin and back to Him.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, continue seeking God first in your life. Choose to let God lead and guide you each and every day and let Him lead you away from the sin in your past. Pay attention to every message challenging you to turn away from sin and back to God because messages like those have the Holy Spirit’s fingerprints present.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow personally closer to God each and every day. As you pray and study, be sure to open your heart to God and let Him come into your life and into your circumstances.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we move through John’s gospel, and specifically focusing closely at how John describes the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, I am amazed by an event that John seems to skip over. While describing Jesus’ questioning before Annas in the last passage, following the questioning, John tells us Jesus is then taken to Caiaphas.

However, while the other gospels include a trial in front of Caiaphas, John skips over this event, possibly because he was not present for it, or perhaps because John wanted to emphasize more details about Jesus’ time with Pilate.

This leads us to our passage for this episode, which focuses in on Jesus’ time with Pilate while the Jewish leaders are pressing for Jesus’ death. Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 18, and we will read it using the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 28, John tells us:

²⁸ Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. ²⁹ So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”

³⁰ “If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.”

³¹ Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”

“But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected. ³² This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.

³³ Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

³⁴ “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”

³⁵ “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”

³⁶ Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

³⁷ “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

³⁸ “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. ³⁹ But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”

⁴⁰ They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.

In this passage, I am amazed by a slight twist in perspective. This prompts me to wonder if there were more Jews present than simply the religious leaders. I suspect this was the case, otherwise Pilate’s actions would not make sense.

This perspective twist is found in the last portion of verse 38 and in verse 39. In these verses, John tells us that after questioning Jesus, Pilate “went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, ‘I find no basis for a charge against him. But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release “the king of the Jews”?’”

This statement does not make logical sense. If Pilate does not find a basis for any charge against Jesus, then Jesus would be unjustly arrested, and He would deserve freedom regardless of any custom present in the region.

However, as soon as Pilate has finished declaring Jesus’ innocence in his eyes, He offers to free Jesus as a prisoner. The only way this makes sense is if Pilate believed that the Jews present were there independent of the religious leaders, and not part of the same group. The religious leaders had brought Jesus to him because they wanted Jesus dead, and because of this, it makes no rational sense that Pilate would ask these same religious leaders if they wanted Jesus freed after declaring Jesus’ innocence.

I suspect that Pilate believed the crowd of Jews present were Jesus’ allies and not hand-picked leaders from the surrounding regions. Since this was Passover weekend, the chief priest and religious leaders in Jerusalem would have a crowd of synagogue leaders present from all over the region, and with the influx of people visiting Jerusalem for this festival, they could easily pull a crowd of anonymous looking Jews who were all opposed to Jesus.

However, in Pilate’s conclusion, He subtly shifts focus from assuming Jesus’ innocence into assuming Jesus’ guilt. From what John describes mixed with what other gospels share about this event, I suspect that Pilate was surprised with the response the crowd of Jews gave him.

This leads us to a powerful truth we can learn from this event. When the crowd shouts back that they don’t want Jesus, but that they instead want Barabbas, they are picking their picture of who the messiah would be over the Messiah God ultimately sent. Barabbas had taken part in an uprising, and he was slated to face the cross that weekend, but Jesus’ arrest and condemnation gave Barabbas a second chance at freedom.

In a powerful, while somewhat ironic way, Jesus takes the punishment of the messiah the Jews chose, and Barabbas represents the worst in humanity. Jesus took the punishment of a criminal onto Himself when He did not deserve it, and since we have all broken God’s law, we are all criminals based on God’s standards. While we all deserve death, Jesus stepped into history to take our place, dying a death He did not deserve, so that we could have the promise and assurance of eternal life, a gift we don’t deserve, because God loves us that much!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life, and choose to accept the gift Jesus offers to each of us by repenting from sin, which is the spiritual way of saying that we turn away from living sinful lives and place our focus on Jesus. Intentionally place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus and in His sacrifice to cover your sins, and be sure to say Thank You to God by living each day moving forward for Him.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to discover what God and Jesus are like. Through the pages of the Bible, discover how much God loves you, and what Jesus was willing to face in order to give you the opportunity of a new life with God. When we prayerfully focus on Jesus, we invite the Holy Spirit into our lives, and we intentionally move closer to Jesus and closer to God.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!