Exposed By Vineyard Illustrations

JESUS is at the temple. He has just confounded the religious leaders who demanded to know by whose authority he was doing things. Before they recover from their confusion, Jesus asks: "What do you think?" And then by means of an illustration, he shows them what kind of persons they really are.

"A man had two children," Jesus relates. "Going up to the first, he said, 'Child, go work today in the vineyard.' In answer this one said, 'I will sir,' but did not go out. Approaching the second, he said the same. In reply this one said, 'I will not.' Afterwards he felt regret and went out. Which of the two did the will of his father?" Jesus asks. "The latter, his opponents answer.

So Jesus explains: "Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and the harlots are going ahead of you into the kingdom of God." The tax collectors and the harlots, in effect, initially refused to serve God." But then, like the second child, they repented and did serve him. On the other hand, the religious leaders, like the first child, professed to serve God, yet, as Jesus notes: "John [the Baptizer] came to you in a way of righteousness, but you did not believe him. However, the tax collectors and the harlots believed him, and you, although you saw this, did not feel regret afterwards so as to believe him."

Jesus next shows that the failure of those religious leaders is not simply in neglecting to serve God. No, but they are actually evil, wicked men. "There was a man, a householder," Jesus relates, "who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and erected a tower, and let it out to cultivators, and traveled abroad. When the season of the fruits came around, he dispatched his slaves to the cultivators to get his fruits. However, the cultivators took his slaves, and one they beat p, another they killed, another they stoned. Again he dispatched other slaves, more than the first, but they did the same to these."

The "slaves" are the prophets that the "householder," Jehovah God, sent to "the cultivators" of his vineyard." These cultivators are leading representatives of the nation of Israel, which nation the Bible identifies as God's "vineyard."

Next time: Conclusion of Exposed By Vineyard Illustrations

The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived, 1991