WHO IS THIS JESUS TO YOU?

Mark 12:6-12

⁶ He had one other still to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them last, because he said, ‘Surely they will have respect for my son.’ ⁷ But those tenant farmers said to one another, ‘This one is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸ So they arrested him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹ What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenant farmers and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Have you not read this scripture: ‘The stone that the builders had declared counterfeit has become the cornerstone;[1] ¹¹ this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous for us to see’?” ¹² And realising that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd. So they left him and went away.

counterfeit or cornerstone?

In the parable Jesus taught, the unfaithful tenants recognized that the Son was legitimate, and they wanted to kill him to remove his authority from their lives. In Psalm 118, this Son is called the cornerstone. It was the stone which served as the pattern and foundation for the entire temple. Yet, the builders rejected it as counterfeit. Jesus combines these two parables to teach that he would be rejected by his own religious leaders even though they recognized his legitimacy and authority.

Our generation has a choice to make. We must decide whether we are going to mark Jesus as a lying self-deluded religious fanatic, or the Son of God who deserves our allegiance and obedience. Is he a counterfeit of the cornerstone?

LORD, we acknowledge the complete authenticity and authority of Jesus Christ, and declare full allegiance to him.

[1] Psalm 118:22-23.