Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 293
11:24–12:11
M ar k
281
no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you
believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. But when you are praying,
first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father
in heaven will forgive your sins, too.”
Again they entered Jerusalem. As Jesus was walking through the Temple
area, the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders came
up to him. They demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these
things? Who gave you the right to do them?”
“I’ll tell you by what authority I do these things if you answer one question,” Jesus replied. “Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or
was it merely human? Answer me!”
They talked it over among themselves. “If we say it was from heaven,
he will ask why we didn’t believe John. But do we dare say it was merely
human?” For they were afraid of what the people would do, because
everyone believed that John was a prophet. So they finally replied, “We
don’t know.”
And Jesus responded, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I do
these things.”
Then Jesus began teaching them with stories: “A man planted a vineyard.
He built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and
built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and
moved to another country. At the time of the grape harvest, he sent one
of his servants to collect his share of the crop. But the farmers grabbed
the servant, beat him up, and sent him back empty-handed. The owner
then sent another servant, but they insulted him and beat him over the
head. The next servant he sent was killed. Others he sent were either
beaten or killed, until there was only one left—his son whom he loved
dearly. The owner finally sent him, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect
my son.’
“But the tenant farmers said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this
estate. Let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ So they grabbed him
and murdered him and threw his body out of the vineyard.
“What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do?” Jesus asked.
“I’ll tell you—he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard
to others. Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures?
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing,
and it is wonderful to see.’”
