Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, they will reverence my son. Mark 12:6
This parable that Jesus told comes immediately after He was challenged by the chief priests, scribes, and elders to tell where His authority came from. These men were not fools; they could tell what the parable meant. Today’s text was a well-deserved dig at their rejection of Him. These men did not reverence the Son who had come to receive of the fruit of the vineyard. Looking into our own experience, we also recall a time when we did not reverence the Son either. To our shame, we confess our rejection and disinterest. To our delight, we recall His faithfulness and love in extending Salvation to us.
As we gather to remember Him this Lord’s day, we acknowledge that the world at large does not reverence the Son. Oh, yes, at certain times of the year, they make a point to acknowledge His coming into the world and even of His death on the cross, although the raging commercialism and wanton merrymaking often make a mockery of what they are giving assent to. The religious world acknowledges Him only superficially, rejecting any claim that His birth, life, and death have on their lives. The claims of Jesus Christ to lordship in human lives is too much for sinful man to accept. And people go on in their rejection and lostness, with no reverence for the only One to whom reverence is due.
Let us this day reverence the Son. The Father sent Him to receive of the fruit of the vineyard. There is not much fruit, we acknowledge. But He comes into our midst today to receive from our hearts and lips that which is His due. Although we did reject and kill Him, yet He has forgiven us. Although we were once far away and with our backs toward Him, He has welcomed us into His presence with an eternal reception. Considering how far He had to come to redeem us, and how much He had to pay to purchase our redemption, we do well today to reverence the Son. When we realize how great was His love, in the face of our hatred and rejection, we must reverence the Son.
Undeserving yet forgiven, let us reverence the Son in His presence today. -Jim MacIntosh