When Jesus ended His parable of the two sons,
He told them another. This second parable has to do with the landowner and his
vineyard. He told this story in anticipation of the increasing hostility toward
Him. It would be a hostility that would eventually culminate in His rejection
and death. But ultimately, He would be vindicated. Jesus was giving them His view
of the events that He Himself was to be involved in. He was rejected by the
people He came to rule, but would be vindicated by God.
This parable is not only profound and solemn but
also full of power. The landowner is God, the vineyard is Israel, and the
farmers here are the leaders and officials of the nation of Israel. The slaves
in this parable are the Old Testament prophets, ending in John the Baptist. The
son of course is referring to Jesus Himself. This story is about Jesus coming
to the tenant farmers of Jerusalem. He came with God’s message demanding repentance
of them so that they could get back to the mission they were assigned – to be
the light of God and His world. In this story the officials, the representatives
of the nation, refused the demand and ended up killing Him.
In telling the parable, Jesus also quoted
from Psalm 118:22-23. He was making allusion to the dream that Nebuchadnezzar,
the King of Babylon had. For details do read Daniel 2. The dream was about the
kingdoms of the world, represented by a huge statue made up of a head of gold, a
chest and arms of silver, and a trunk and thighs of bronze, legs of iron and feet
with a mixture of iron and clay feet. Then there came a stone that struck the structure
and its feet, and shattered it into pieces. This little stone became a mountain
that filled the whole earth, representing the Kingdom of God. The little stone
is the Messiah that would come and set up the Kingdom of God. Like the son of
the landowner, the stone refers to Jesus, the Messiah. Before the stone became
established and be the chief corner stone, it must first be rejected.
When the chief priests and the Pharisees
heard the story, they knew Jesus was referring to them. They sought to seize Him
but were afraid of the people who had considered Him to be a prophet. Here’s a
call to take the mission of God, entrusted to us, seriously and responsibly
discharge it. Let’s be the true fruit-bearing
people, that had been entrusted with the Kingdom of God, that will honor Him and
bring glory to His name!
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