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Sound & Season is a daily audio devotional designed to connect the routine moments of life to the rhythms of the Church seasons.
This is Sound and Season. It's Monday, 29th day of Lent. Our passage today comes from the gospel of Mark chapter 12 verses 1 through 12. And Jesus began to speak to them in parables. A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower and leased it to tenants and went into another country.
Jeffrey Heine:When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit from 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 he sent another, and him they killed, and so with many others, some they beat and some they killed. He had still 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?
Jeffrey Heine:He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to another. Have you not read the scripture, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing and it is 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. This is the word of the lord.
Jeffrey Heine:Thanks be to God. The parable of the tenants depicts God giving creation over to be stewarded by humanity, only to have humanity assault and assail the prophets of God. In the parable, after the assault and murder of God's representatives, he decides to send his son, but out of lust to steal the son's inheritance, the tenants murder the son. Jesus knew his rejection and suffering were at hand. Even this parable solicits further murderous desire in the scribes and the rulers.
Jeffrey Heine:We should remember that although we easily and frequently deceive ourselves, Jesus cannot be deceived by our craftiness or deceit. Jesus is the son who is sent by his father to confront wickedness, and it is Jesus who will receive the punishment for our wickedness, and the inheritance that we will receive is by his grace. Lord, hear our prayer and let our cry come to you. Let us pray. Gracious father, whose blessed son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the light of the world, will you ever more shine the light of the knowledge of the glory of God into our hearts.
Jeffrey Heine:By your grace, oh Lord, grant us the spirit of wisdom and of revelation and the knowledge of Christ our king so we might love him, trust him and obey him from our hearts. O lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have have mercy on us. Glory to the father and to the son and to the holy spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and will be forever. Amen.