Christ shows what conspicuous obstinacy towards
God is like in this parable, where the spiritual leaders of the Jews, the high
priests, scribes and Pharisees, are depicted by the wicked husbandmen.
"A certain man
planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country
for a long time. And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that
they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen beat him,
and sent him away empty. And again he sent another servant: and they
beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away
empty. And again he sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast him
out. Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my
beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him. But
when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is
the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. So they cast
him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore shall the lord
of the vineyard do unto them? He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and
shall give the vineyard to others" (Lk. 20:9-16).
The implication of this parable is that the
servants sent by the lord of the vineyard were the Old Testament prophets and
the Apostles who then carried their work forward. Indeed, the majority of the
prophets and Apostles died by the hand of the 'wicked husbandmen'. The fruit
that the Lord expected from the Jewish people were faith and good works. The prophetic
part of the parable — the punishment of the wicked husbandmen and the bestowal
of the vineyard to others — came true 35 years after the Ascension of our
Savior, when, in the time of the captain Titus, all of Palestine was devastated and the Jews were dispersed around the
world. However, by the efforts of the apostles, the Kingdom
of God was given over to other peoples. The compassion of the
Son of God for the Jewish people, and His intention to save them from the
approaching disaster is expressed in the parable of <see next chapter>
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