Mark 12 Devotional

The Son Sent Last

“Finally, having one beloved son, he sent him to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.”Mark 12:6 (BSB)

Jesus tells the religious leaders a story they recognize is about them (12:12). A man plants a vineyard and leases it to tenants. Again and again he sends servants to collect his share, and again and again the tenants beat them, insult them, and kill them (12:2-5). Finally he sends the one he has left, his beloved son, expecting them to respect him. They kill him and throw him out of the vineyard (12:6-8).

The parable shows God's patience as clearly as human rebellion. The owner keeps sending long after anyone would have stopped, and the one he sends last is the one he loves most. Jesus then points to the psalm about a stone the builders rejected that becomes the cornerstone, something only the Lord could do (12:10-11). Their rejection will not have the last word. Paul asks how the God who did not spare his own Son could fail to give us everything else with him (Romans 8:32). A God who sends his Son to rebels can be trusted with what you need today.

To think about: What do you find hardest to entrust to God, and how does the sending of his beloved Son speak to that?