Hear another parable

The two parables in the reading today underline the inevitable sentence passed upon the nation in view of persistent refusals to accept their Messiah. The illustration of the householder and the vineyard draws substantially on chapter 5 of Isaiah’s prophecy. There the nation is seen as a choice vine, nurtured, protected, and given every opportunity to produce the best of fruit. The heartbreak and disappointment of the householder is tangible when the privileged vine produced only wild grapes and the cry is heard, ‘What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done?’ The retribution which followed left the once cherished vine broken, trodden down, and laid waste. In the Lord’s application of this prophecy He focuses on the husbandmen, rather than the vineyard, revealing their despicable treatment of the householder’s servants and, above all, of the son and heir.

In the second parable he likens the provision offered to the nation as an invitation to a wedding feast, with no expense spared. Their base ingratitude was revealed by the Lord’s words that many ‘made light of it, and went their ways’, while others even ill-treated and slew those who brought the invitation! Again, just reprisals followed and ultimately the wedding was seen to be ‘furnished with guests’, not least with those who once seemed to have no chance of a place at the table. The parable, of course, has dispensational and kingdom implications, with the guest not having a wedding garment an example of profession without possession, like the tares among the wheat.

The clear teaching of the Lord was not lost on the chief priests and Pharisees, ‘they perceived that he spake of them’, and they ‘sought to lay hands on him’. The Lord would later say to Pilate, speaking particularly of Caiaphas the representative of the nation, ‘he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin’. Abundant evidence of His credentials had been placed before them and they still resolutely rejected Him. To sin against light and opportunity will inevitably result in severe judgement, whether it be on the nation of Israel or upon those who refuse the gospel of grace in our day!