Killing the Messenger… Standard Operating Procedure!

Mark 12:1-8 And He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard and put a wall around it, and dug a vat under the wine-press and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers. They took him, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others. He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ They took him, and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 

I believe, deep down inside we KNOW the truth. We know we have done, are doing, and will do ANYTHING to attempt escape from the  consequences of living our lie.

Since Adam, every human (except Jesus) has been born with his spiritual DNA which proclaims our self-righteousness. Without God, we will choose the path that proclaims our need and therefore our innocence, toward whatever sin it takes to accomplish the filling of our deep, deep desire for satisfaction.

We KNOW… but NO ONE ELSE can know, for then I might be judged for the sin and MY golden goose of wealth and power and happiness might be taken away.

We KNOW the TRUTH… but if it were not for the MESSENGER(s) of righteousness  we could KEEP OUR SIN(s) SECRET!

From day one of our sin, we refuse to give it up (because how then will we ever be satisfied?), and we revert to inventing and honing our Standard Operating Procedures manual, to say and do everything BUT give it up.

Some of us focus on killing the message…

In our day and age (not much different than Adam who said, “The woman YOU gave me”), we use innuendo and just a dash of “truth” to PROVE the message untrue and worthless. If those around me are truly our friends they will WANT TO BELIEVE and therefore will JOIN OUR CAUSE to spread the news. Should anyone argue, group think will isolate and bury the arguments in the fine art of “putting lipstick on the pig”… the pig of lies.

In our Scripture, Jesus is telling a parable that shows what happens when killing the message no longer works. We WILL “tweak” our SOP manual (Standard Operating Procedure)… we WILL begin KILLING THE MESSENGER…

“A man planted a vineyard and put a wall around it, and dug a vat under the wine-press and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey.

THE TRUTH! We don’t OWN the vineyard! God owns the creation of and publishing rights to us. For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. (Psalm 139:13)

GOD did all the heavy lifting of building each and every one of us. GOD put the vat in our life to make, catch, and store the wine HE intended on producing. GOD built a strong tower (Himself) to watch over His vineyard and then HE… GOD rented it out to us by giving us the lease called FREE-WILL. Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. (Psalm 139:16)

Unfortunately, free-will (ability/responsibility to choose) doesn’t take away the lease price – the care and planting and harvesting of the fruit and most of all the SHARING of the produce with the TRUE OWNER of the vineyard. Free-will doesn’t negate the wages of the choices we make… the judgement… we might call these wages, the consequences of grape-vine growing.

We celebrate the crops of glorious fruit and maybe even get drunk on the idea that we accomplish ALL OF THIS on our own. We begin to think that we CAN HAVE IT ALL so we choose to delay the consequences/wages of our lives… At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers.

We KNOW when our fruit isn’t good and/or we KNOW when it is too wonderful to part with (in our opinion)… They took him, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others.

We choose to KILL THE MESSENGER! Over and over again…

God pursues His beloved vine-growers and we beat His couriers and send them away empty-handed and wound them and treat them shamefully and even kill them.

But God… John 3:16 so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

What do we do?

He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ They took him, and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 

Still today… there are those who believe that if we can KILL GOD, we inherit the world!

We KNOW the truth… Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.

We act as if we have no part in the killing of the messenger. We blame the Jews and Romans for killing the messenger (the owner’s son). We try kill the message of our guilt… we try to turn our backs on the messenger as if HE DOES NOT EXIST… ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

THANK GOD that He had one more to send.

THANK GOD that He sent His ONLY BEGOTTEN SON and not just a parable of His Son!

THANK GOD… for today.

Luke 2:11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

Matthew 1:23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means “God with us.”

GOD WITH US…

God has NEVER given up on us!

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin (abandoning the owner of our lease) is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rather than KILLING THE MESSENGER… let us run to Him and abide in Him… let us produce His fruit in the vineyard we lease.

Let our MESSAGE, pressed from the fruit of His life in us, make the PERFECT WINE and only the PERFECT WINE, to be stored in the heart of our wine cellar…

Let us make a NEW SOP… let us celebrate the good news of great joy!

OUR SAVIOR LIVES!! The REASON for this season… Have a JOYFUL Christmas!

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible