Mark 12:9 Commentary and Bible Study

‘What will the Lord of vineyard do?’ The appeal is to natural justice. The Lord asks the question, because he wants his hearers to give the answer. Matthew is quite clear that the people provide an answer: ‘They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.’ They know what the answer is, but in giving this answer they do not at first see the implication for their nation. But Christ confirms the answer, and Mark and Luke record his answer to his own question. Only then do the hearers grasp that he is saying that the parable means that God is going to take all Israel’s privileges away, and they immediately protest: ‘And when they heard it, they said, God forbid’ (Luke 20:16). Of course if that is what the parable teaches, then it also teaches that the nation will destroy the one sent to it by God, but they could not yet see that.Christ tells them that God would take from Israel the privileges which she had enjoyed for so long, and give them to the Gentiles (Acts 28:28). Thankfully many Jews have believed, and in the early church they were the main teachers of the Gentiles because of their familiarity with the Old Testament Scripture. But Paul is clear that many did not believe and his intention is to provoke Israel to a wholesome jealousy by magnifying his ministry to the Gentiles.‘God forbid’. ‘What an extraordinary thing! May it never be we could be rejected by God.’ They could not accept it. We who do everything right are deserving of his blessing. And the reason why they cannot accept it is they are self-righteous. Even the atheists deep down in his heart says, ‘If there is a heaven, I will not be rejected.’ Pride is close to unbelief.