Monday Night @ First B June19th

In one paragraph

This message worked through two connected passages in Mark 12: the parable of the tenant farmers and the question about paying taxes to Caesar. The preacher traced the through-line from God's long patience with his people to the religious leaders' plot to kill Jesus, and then to what it means for a community of faith to give God what belongs to God. The setting matters. The events covered in these...

Read together

1. Mark 12:1-17 the primary text for the evening, covering the parable of the tenant farmers and the question about paying taxes
2. 2 Samuel (Nathan's parable to David) used as a parallel to show how Jesus telling a story calls out the guilty party, as Nathan's story called out David
3. Isaiah (the vineyard love song) quoted to show the vineyard imagery in Jesus' parable echoes God's love song to Israel in the Old Testament
4. Acts (Peter's speech) Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, applies the cornerstone verse to Jesus after the resurrection and ascension
5. Psalm 118 (the stone the builders rejected) Jesus quotes it in verse 10 to identify himself as the rejected stone become cornerstone
6. 1 Peter (living stones, royal priesthood) cited in the closing prayer and benediction to describe believers as a chosen people called out of darkness into light
7. Romans 12 (first two verses) raised by a participant named Ray in discussion of what it means to give God what belongs to God

Talk about it

1. The message described God's love and care for His people through the imagery of the vineyard in Isaiah, clearing the stones and planting the best vines. Where do you see evidence of that same care in your own life, even in seasons that felt bitter?
2. Nathan told David a story that made David see himself clearly, but the religious leaders in Jesus' parable only grew more angry rather than turning back to God. What do you think makes the difference between a story that leads someone to repentance and one that hardens them further?
3. The preacher said it is God's kindness that leads us to repentance. Has there been a time when it was kindness rather than consequence that turned your heart back toward God?
4. Jesus said to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to give to God what belongs to God, and the message connected that second part to being made in God's image. What does it actually look like in a practical, everyday sense to give to God what belongs to God?
5. The closing picture was of God's people as an accepting, prayerful, forgiving, devoted, and loving fellowship built around Jesus as the cornerstone. Which of those qualities do you find hardest to live out, and what gets in the way?