Hey everybody! Thank you for joining me in daily Bible reading as we seek to glorify Jesus, know Him more, and interpret the truth of His Word.
If this is your first time going through the Bible, I am incredibly excited to have you here. If this is your 5000th time, I am humbled that you are here and hope you grow in your relationship with Jesus along with me. May we all seek to know Him more and apply what we learn to further our mission of spreading the gospel. If you missed a day and want to catch up, visit the archives page HERE! But there is no shame if you start today! Day 243, Matthew 21:33-41 — Parable of the Landowner Matthew 21:33-41 (NASB1995) “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. 35 The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. 37 But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” 41 They *said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.” Context Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem has roused the religious leaders into questioning His authority since He is not associated with the Sanhedrin and holds no position of human authority. Teachers in ancient Jerusalem often lectured in the temple courts and those who experienced public dishonor would attempt to regain it by publicly confronting their opponent. This is what the Sadducees do to Jesus. However, Jesus knows they intend to discredit or accuse Him further instead of having a productive debate. Therefore, Jesus responds with a question of His own about John the Baptist’s authority and teaches multiple parables to show the Sadducees their error. Review Yesterday, we read the parable of the two sons and discussed its interpretation. The image is of a vineyard owner with two sons who he tells to go work in the vineyard. The first son rejects his father’s request. However, he eventually becomes convicted of his disobedience and obeys his father’s command. Conversely, the second son says he will work in the vineyard, yet does not. Jesus uses this parable to show these religious leaders their hypocrisy, disobedience, and lack of convictions. Jesus then compared the Sadducees to tax collectors and prostitutes. He does this to show that entering heaven is not just a matter of outward displays of obedience, but an inward change of heart leading to repentance. Many tax collectors and prostitutes did the will of God by believing and turning from their sin like the first son, while the leading Sadducees are like the second son in that they say the right things and seem righteous in their works, yet they disobey God with their hearts. Discussion Today, we read another of Jesus’ parables about the landowner. To the same group of Sadducees, Jesus says, “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey.” In its cultural context, the initial image here is of a landowner who plants a wall around his vineyard to protect it from thieves and wild animals. He also digs a wine press to quicken the process and builds a tower so his servants can keep a watchful eye out for surrounding trouble. Finally, rents his vineyard out to gain a profit while he goes on a journey. Many wealthier landowners in ancient Israel would rent out their land to various merchants and live off the rental income. Think of this as investing in your retirement with high-yield dividend-earning stocks and bonds. This parable also references Isaiah 5:1-7, which metaphorically describes God as the landowner and the vineyard as Israel and its leaders.[1] The tenants of the vineyard in Jesus’ current parable are the religious leaders. In the Isaiah passage, the vineyard eventually produces “worthless grapes”, leading to its destruction. In short, Jesus is using this parable to show how the religious leaders (vine-growers) have tended to the spiritual state of Israel (vineyard). Jesus continues, “34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. 35 The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them.” This part of the parable speaks of the servants of the vineyard or Old Testament prophets who delivered messages from God to the vine-growers or religious leaders.[2] However, Jesus reveals the vine-growers did not receive these messages. Instead, they beat, torture, and stone these servants, which describes what the religious leaders of Israel did to God’s Old Testament prophets and other special messengers (Jer. 26:20-23; 37:15; 38:6; 2 Chr. 24:21; 36:16, 18; 2 Ki. 17:13; Neh. 9:26).[3] Just like the vine-growers rejected the servants, Israel's leaders rejected the messengers of God. Jesus adds, “37 But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.” Here we see the landowner send his son to the vine-growers to collect his fruitful crops, but they do not receive him either. Instead, they kill the landowner’s son and attempt to steal the land. This foreshadows what the religious leaders will do to Jesus in the coming days, as they reject His message to repent and turn their hearts back to God. The Father sent Jesus to provide salvation to the people of Israel, but the religious leaders have spurned Him at every opportunity instead of repenting. Jesus then asks the Sadducees, “40 ‘Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?’ 41 They said to Him, ‘He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.’” Jesus’ question is rhetorical at this point, yet these religious leaders are completely oblivious that it is referring to them. This makes their response self-condemning, as they rightly assume a dreadful end to the vine-growers in the parable.[4] Through this parable, Jesus declared Himself as the Son of God once again and predicted His own death at the hands of these religious leaders. Furthermore, He has directly warned of God’s coming judgment against them if they remain unrepentant. Yet, they remain ignorant of this plain truth, which we will read about tomorrow as we conclude this parable. Application This parable reveals how terrible Israel’s leaders were throughout history. The amount of times God sent messengers to warn them of His coming judgment is amazing. Yet, they rejected nearly every single one—including Jesus, as we will soon see in its totality. We should not directly apply this passage to ourselves, as it was intended for the leading Sadducees in Jerusalem. However, there is a theme about repentance we can apply. The religious leaders repeatedly rejected Jesus just as they rejected the Old Testament prophets and messengers. Yet God gave them chance after chance to repent. Likewise, these Sadducees self-condemned themselves and rejected Jesus on the cross, but could have still repented and turned to Him for forgiveness and salvation. Similarly, we have all rejected Christ at one time or another—some more than others. But there is still hope in Christ to repent of unbelief and sinful behavior and turn back to God. There is forgiveness and grace found in Christ, no matter how many times you have rejected Him. This rejection does not mean blatant unbelief and blasphemy, but anytime we go against God’s standard. Most people reject God in some way each day, but those who know Christ know we have grace and forgiveness in His blood. However, this does not provide us a license to continue in sin. We must turn back to God and flee from the sins that keep us in bondage. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit gives us discernment and convicts us away from such sin. However, we must respond to this leading and genuinely repent. If not, we are no better than these unbelieving Sadducees who blatantly rejected Jesus. May we praise, worship, honor, and glorify Jesus every day in all that we do while continually pursuing righteousness, holiness, and forgiveness as He forgave us. Looking Ahead Thank you for joining today’s daily Bible reading! Next, we read Matthew 21:42-46. I hope you join me! I have made commenting available, so please feel free to discuss the reading and ask questions. If you do not want to discuss publicly, you can reach out to me privately. We are on this journey together. References [1] Craig Keener, “IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, Second Edition.” [2] Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, “Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary.” [3] Keener, “IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, Second Edition.” [4] Doug O’Donnell, “New International Greek Testament Commentary.”
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