12:1
The religious leaders tried to avoid the issue when Jesus questioned them about John the Baptist, but ultimately there is no avoiding God and our responsibility towards Him. So Jesus spoke to them in parables to bring the real issue home to them. Jesus tells of a man who planted a vineyard. It is worth noting that in Isaiah 5 Israel is likened to a vineyard. A wall was built around the vineyard, and he built a watchtower. So the vineyard belongs to the man, and he has provided everything that it needed. He then went away, renting the vineyard to some farmers. So the farmers were tenant farmers, and they would owe the owner a share of the proceeds from the vineyard. This would be well understood, a bit like franchising.
12:2-5
So at harvest time the owner sent a servant to collect his share of the harvest. But instead of giving the servant a share, the farmers beat him up and sent him back empty-handed. A series of servants were sent, and the treatment from the farmers got progressively worse. They were variously beaten up and even killed, none was given a share of the harvest to take back.
No comments:
Post a Comment