Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
Let us return to Mark 12:1-12. As I sometimes do after we have studied a passage in detail, I want to draw a few larger principles. One major teaching of this pericope is that God is the God of hope. Verse 1 says, “And He began to speak unto them by parables, ‘A certain man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat [winepress], and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.’” It is a marvel that Jesus, God the Son, speaks at all to these hard-hearted hypocrites; there is hope in that continued communication alone. Beyond that, the parable is a picture of hope, of blessing, of God’s perfect will for His people. The vineyard presents prosperity and peace (protected by both “hedge” and “tower”) and reveals the hope of God for all of His own. Let us not lose hope, then, for hope is God’s desire for us and gift to us. “Hope maketh not ashamed [does not disappoint]” (Romans 5:5a).