Song: King of my heart, king of my heart, Jesus you’ll always be. King of my heart, king of my heart, Jesus you are my king.

“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. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away emptyhanded.

Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.

He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, “they will respect my son.” But the tenants said to one another, “This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.” So, they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. Haven’t you read this passage of scripture (Psalms 118:22-23): ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.’” (Mark 12:1-11)

This scripture is not talking about a vineyard. Throughout the Bible parables and stories are used to describe what the promises of God and what the kingdom of God in Jesus is like. The vineyard are God’s promises.

God gave his people the gift of life, which are his words and his promises and said if you trust in me, I will be like a wall of protection around you, I will watch over you and everything you do will prosper.

But throughout the Bible as well as today people continue to reject God’s word and his gift of life. They are the tenants who in biblical accounts treated God’s prophets shamefully, beat them, killed them, and refused to give God the fruit of their labor which is that they refused to believe in God; and they are the tenants who value the laws of scripture more than the promise of belief in Jesus as the new covenant of God for salvation.

But, because God is good and his mercy endures forever; and because God is faithful and what he promised to do he is bound to do. God sent his son, Jesus to bring a new covenant of the gift of life to the earth that would be greater than all previous covenants, this promise was that whoever believes in Jesus, God accepts.

As in the parable, Jesus is the son who God sent last of all saying “they will respect my son.” God sent his son, and they killed him. But Jesus in his resurrection killed (read: destroyed) the ‘tenants’ (read: priest’s and the law’s) ability to save people from God’s judgement. After the resurrection of Jesus ‘tenants’ who were prophets and who were priests offering sacrifices to God on behalf of people to bridge the gap between man and God, was no longer necessary. Jesus through his death and resurrection became the cornerstone of the Christian faith, “the stone that the builders rejected”. The foundation that people refuse to put their faith in and believe.

So when Jesus, God’s promise to bless all people through his word, entered triumphantly into Jerusalem people were singing this psalm, Psalms 118 and praising him for being the never ending love of God given to the world. They were praising Jesus for being the fulfillment of God’s word to be the salvation promised from the law and from oppression. They were praising Jesus for being what God’s word says that he is to all who believe: a refuge from fear, the one, the God who hears, sends to help; and the one who would bring victory to those who trust in him over all their enemies.

They were praising the name of the Lord because they knew that the God that was able to bring down nations and princes by his word was now with them to fulfill a greater promise, to bring salvation and eternal life, not through sacrifices, but through a new promise. They knew that Jesus had come with the strength of the name of the Lord to champion their cause, defend them and save them from all their enemies, above all spiritual death; eternal separation from God.

When Jesus entered triumphantly as he promised they were shouting for joy because of the victory God had done in real life, through Jesus. They were praising the work that was done by the hand of God to keep his promise. They were thanking the Lord for answering their prayers for deliverance with Jesus, the salvation of the whole earth.

They were acknowledging that just as the scriptures said, that Jesus the one who was being rejected was to become the foundation of the new covenant of God and that “[He] is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalms 118:23).

People were rejoicing and were glad because it wasn’t from the works of their own hands, something they had to do, but God himself had “come and saved us” (Psalms 118:25), God had come to our defense to give us success. They were shouting “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosana, Hosana, Hosana” (Psalms 118:26). They were praising God and saying “The Lord is God, and he has made his light shine on us! (Psalms 118:27). Meaning their eyes were opened to see who Jesus is. They confessed, Jesus “you are my God, and I will praise you; you are my God, and I will exalt you (Psalms 118:28). They were giving thanks to the Lord as God who is good, and whose love endures forever (Psalms 118:29).

But not everyone was rejoicing, some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” meaning tell them to stop rejoicing and stop believing in you. Tell them you are not the one God said he would send. Jesus replied, “I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out” (Luke 19:39-44). Meaning Jesus knew something the Pharisees did not know. That he is God, that he had come to claim power over everything including the law and to fulfill it and that as God he could command physical and spiritual foundations that do not normally speak to announce his arrival as the promise God was providing. Foundations (read: rocks) of the law and foundations (read: rocks) of political and religious power and also rubble to declare that there is nothing too difficult for the Lord.  

Because Jesus knew that he would not be accepted as the son of God, as Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “if you, even you had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you, and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” (Luke 19:39-44).

Jerusalem is historically the city of God. The place where the mighty God lives and where people of God come to worship. Jesus was not weeping over city walls, he was weeping over all people and all believers, because he knew the attacks that would come to people who believe in him and how they would suffer for his sake; (John 15:18-25) and he was weeping over the blindness of unbelievers who would suffer and generations after them needlessly because of their refusal to accept Jesus as the God who leads his people to places of comfort and protects them in the presence of their enemies (Psalms 23).

Prayer: Heavenly father please open our eyes, let your light shine on us and cause us to see the hidden truth of who you are! I thank you for being the foundation of a new covenant. I thank you for the victory and salvation you have brought to everyone who believes in you.  I thank you that all power in heaven and on earth is in your hands. I thank you for being the God who is good, whose mercy and love is never ending. Thank you for sending your peace now Father I pray that you send your revelation.