Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.
6 “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
7 “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
9 “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture:
“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
11 the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
12 Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away. Mark 12:1-12
The religious leaders did not have truth on their side. If they had, then hauling Him away would have been justified. They knew that He was speaking about them and they couldn’t tolerate the uneducated and common people calling them out.
Their ancestors had killed the prophets and now they wanted to kill the Messiah. Their hatred and disdain for this man was evident every time He confronted them. They were reaching a breaking point. Something would have to happen soon lest they get in trouble for taking the matter into their own hands. Instead, they would have surrogates handle the matter.
When it comes down to it, these leaders were cowards. They’d never be able to debate the issues on an intellectual level so they plotted to kill him, which made no sense.
There will be friends, relatives, and acquaintances in your life that just make no sense. No amount of logic would dissuade them from making disastrous decisions. And they do it often. It’s like watching a train wreck in slow motion. You can talk to them until you’re blue in the face but they’ll still make bad choices.
That gives us an opportunity to pray for them. We pray for wisdom and discernment and safety for innocent people in their paths. And of course pray for their souls.