Mark 12:10-12 “And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: 11 This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?” 12 And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way.”
As we have noted in the last two devotionals there is a distinctly prophetic edge to this particular parable and in it Jesus has revealed many kingdom principles while placing a distinct focus on who He is and the death that He will soon face at the hands of the religious leaders of Jerusalem. There is no attempt to change the course of these things only an announcement of the things that will soon come to pass. His words have been direct, pointed and purposeful and He finishes this exchange with a powerful closing statement. He has been speaking to them with parabolic inference as He has confronted these leaders and as a final confirmation of both the accuracy of His parable and the coming events that He has foretold He directs them to a prophetic statement found in Ps. 118:22-23 that confirms the outcome that He has foretold.
There would be a stone that is rejected by the builders but that stone will end up being the chief cornerstone. This is a powerful message concerning the reality that those things which man rejects are often the very things that God chooses. In this case not only is the stone that is rejected by men put into use by God but it will become the centerpiece of God’s plan! Verse 11 of Mark 12 expands in a wonderful way upon the reality of this plan by saying “this was the Lord’s doing, and it was marvelous in our eyes.” Man will not be the one who promotes the Lord. It is God’s doing! Man will simply look upon what God has done and marvel at His glorious handy-work.
What is truly amazing in this parable is that Jesus tells these men through this parable that they have been guilty of a neglectful abuse of God’s vineyard. He warns them of both the certainty that they will betray Him and the judgment of God that follows. Verse 12 tells us that they KNEW that this parable was spoken against THEM! And yet they still left that encounter and immediately began to conspire of a way to kill Him; the very thing that the Lord prophesied that they would do. Truly they heard Him but never really heard Him. Perhaps in this audience there were a few who heard with open ears and withdrew from this course. Perhaps this was even the reason that Jesus spoke it forth even knowing that the outcome wouldn’t change. Perhaps through it’s telling a few men were delivered and the rest were now fully accountable to God for what they would soon do. God is always just in His dealings with man and seeks to give every chance to repent.
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