Lesson 197 - Junior
Memory Verse
"See that ye refuse not him that speaketh" (Hebrews 12:25).
Notes
A Vineyard
As Jesus was teaching in the Temple during the last days before His death, He said, "Hear another parable." The one we study today is called the Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen. A husbandman is like a farmer; he is one who tills the soil. In this parable, the husbandmen are they who rented a vineyard to care for.
The owner had prepared the vineyard with great care, and in the best manner. No doubt, the householder or owner carefully worked the soil, and then selected choice plants for his vineyard.
The Planting
Some fields are planted with seeds -" for example, wheat. But a vineyard is started with young plants. There were no machines, which could plant the young vines. Each one had to be planted by hand. Perhaps you can picture this man as he carefully planted each vine. Some with long roots would be placed in deep holes. Others with shorter roots needed to be planted in more shallow holes. Each vine would receive the planting and care that it needed as an encouragement for growth. No doubt, the planter fixed the vines firm and straight, with plenty of room to grow. He handled them with care lest, being tender, they would be broken.
A Purpose
After the planting, the vines would need to be watered and fed. The householder had a plan. He planted the vines for a purpose. He did all he could to give them a good start. His care did not stop with the planting. The owner hedged the vineyard, to protect it. Sometimes young plants are trampled, broken, and even pulled out by animals and careless people. This would not happen to his vineyard, for a hedge was placed about it.
Fruit
The owner expected to gather fruit from the vines, so he prepared for the harvest, too. A winepress was dug, and made ready for the time when the grapes would be gathered and the juice pressed from them. A tower was built, perhaps for the convenience of the caretaker, that from it all parts of the vineyard could be watched.
All these things had cost the owner time, care, and money. When he went into a far country he did not leave his vineyard uncared for and neglected. The vineyard was rented to husbandmen. It would be only reasonable that the owner would want fruit in payment for the vineyard, so in the time of harvest he sent his servants to collect from his vineyard.
Treatment of Servants
How were the servants treated? Did they receive fruit and pay, for their master? No. One was beaten, another stoned, and one was killed by the husbandmen who were in charge of the vineyard. Other servants were sent to collect that which was due their master, but they were treated in a similar manner.
The owner was not unreasonable. The vineyard belonged to him. We do not read that he asked any rent until the harvest time. Some people want rent and pay in advance. Others would have demanded pay when there was no fruit. Still others would have the fruit delivered to them, rather than send servants for it. The owner asked only what was right and just. The husbandmen were the unreason-able and wicked ones.
The Owner's Son
In time, the owner sent his son to the vineyard, for he thought that the husbandmen would surely respect him. They did not. When they saw the son coming, they plotted against him. They put him off the property, as if it were their own. They slew him, to try to gain his inheritance. One can scarcely imagine such wicked people.
Punishment
That was the parable that Jesus taught. Of the people who were gathered about Him and who had questioned Him, He then asked what would happen to the husbandmen when the owner came. The people answered that the wicked husbandmen would be destroyed, and the vineyard let out to others who would pay of the fruits in their season.
Jesus had a purpose in telling this parable. The chief priests and elders who listened were Jewish people and very religious. They had asked Jesus what authority He had to teach as He did. In fact, they were just like the husbandmen in this parable.
The Lord's Vineyard
The owner of the vineyard represents the Lord. God has planted His people as a Church in the world. It belongs to Him. It cost Him something. The Prophet Isaiah tells about the Lord's vineyard and that it was furnished with all things necessary ([ISA:5:1-2]). The Prophet Isaiah spoke about God's people as "the planting of the LORD" (Isaiah 61:3). The Psalmist wrote about the vineyard, which God's right hand had planted ([PS:80:15]). Jesus said, "Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up" (Matthew 15:13).
The Vines
Every Christian has been "planted" by the Lord. He picked them out to be His Church and vineyard because they answered His call. God gives each person the care and encouragement needed. God has prepared spiritual food and drink for His people. Jesus said: "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14). Jesus said: "My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world" (John 6:32, 33).
God protects His people. "The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them" (Psalm 34:7). God has made all these preparations for His people. "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain" (John 15:16). "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away" (John 15:2).
The Husbandmen
God gave the Law to the Jewish people. He made a covenant with Abraham (
). Later, at Mount Sinai, God made a covenant with the Jew as a nation (Lesson 69 and Lesson 158
). The charge of God's people fell into the hands of their leaders. They were to care for God's people (His vineyard) so that fruit could be gathered for the Lord.The Servants
In time, God expected fruit; and He sent His servants, the prophets, to remind the people of their duty to the Lord, and to help with the harvest of souls. The servants -" the prophets of the Old Testament -" instructed and reproved the people. God did not demand the impossible from them. He expected the people to observe and keep the Law.
What happened to God's faithful servants, the prophets? Jeremiah was beaten ([JER:37:15]). He prophesied against the people, for they would not hearken to the words of the Lord. Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, was stoned to death when he reminded the people that they had forsaken God, and could not prosper ([2CH:24:20-22]). "They mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets" (II Chronicles 36:16). In the New Testament we read about John the Baptist, who was sent by God. He, too, was a martyr. He was beheaded when he preached against sin (Matthew 14:10).
The Son
In due time, God sent His only begotten Son ([JHN:3:16]). His own people, the Jews, hated Him ([JHN:15:24-25]). They refused Christ as they had refused to obey the prophets. They schemed against Him and made a plot, which resulted in Christ's crucifixion ([MAT:26:47-49]; [MAK:15:9-15]; [MAT:27:35]).
When the chief priests and Pharisees heard the parables of Jesus, they realised that He was speaking of them. Jesus showed them that they had rejected Him, as the husbandmen had rejected the son of the owner of the vineyard. It was even worse to reject Jesus, the Son of God, than to reject the heir to the vineyard. To reject Jesus meant rejecting eternal life. Jesus said: "Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?" Even though Christ was rejected by the Jewish people, it is still the plan of God that every spiritual house be built and established upon Christ and His teaching, as a true foundation. Christ is the chief corner stone ([ACT:4:11]; [EPH:2:20]; [1PE:2:6]).
The Gentiles
The chief priests and elders condemned the husbandmen. They were judged by their own words. The vineyard was given to another. The Kingdom of God was taken from the Jews and given to the Gentiles. Paul and Barnabas spoke of this as they said, "It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles" (Acts 13:46).
God has "let out" (rented, not given) his vineyard to us, the Gentiles, and He expects to find good fruit in our lives. If Christ looked for fruit in your life today, what would He find? Grapes that are wild, small, sour, and of no value -" fruits of the flesh? Or would Christ find in your life the fruit of the Spirit -" that which is acceptable, usable, and blest of the Lord? (Read [GAL:5:19-23]; [EPH:5:3-9].) God's people live clean, holy, busy lives for Him. "Ye shall know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:16).
Perhaps all would condemn the husbandmen for their treatment of the son and the servants. No doubt, all would condemn the Jews for their rejection and crucifixion of Christ. They rightly should be condemned for such evil deeds. But let us take a look at ourselves, the Gentiles. Many of the Gentiles, too, neglect Christ, reject Him, and even despise Him and His people. The time is coming when the door of salvation will be closed to the Gentiles. They will be given no more opportunity to be forgiven. The times of the Gentiles will be fulfilled ([LUK:21:24]). Let each one look at himself, individually. Has Christ been neglected, rejected, and put out of your life? Or have you made Him welcome and opened the door of your heart?
Questions
1. Why did Jesus teach this parable?
2. Who owned the vineyard?
3. What did he do for it?
4. Why were the servants ill-treated?
5. What happened to the son?
6. Why was the vineyard let out to others?
7. What did this parable show the Jews?
8. What do we learn from this parable?