The Wicked Vinedressers

Good morning and welcome to Our Daily Walk.

Audio version at http://tinyurl.com/34twqu

Most people are familiar with the concept of renting or leasing property. A person pays the landlord an amount of money for rent and lives in the landlord’s house.

But land can also be rented or leased. Although the term isn’t used as often today, the concept of sharecropping is still an idea we can understand. In many cases the land owner has too much land or is unable to farm all of it himself. So he will lease this land out to others who wish to work it and make a crop. Rent might be paid in currency or in a percentage of the crops that were harvested.

The owner of the land puts his trust into those who agree to work the soil and put in a crop. He expects a harvest to be coming for that becomes part of his payment for allowing the people to live on that land.

In the time of Jesus the area of Palestine was in turmoil. Many landowners would let out their land for others to oversee while they would travel abroad to escape the dangers. Dishonesty and pilfering were common in those days. And it was common for the rent payments of currency or harvest to be less than expected or withheld altogether.

Jesus focuses on this very concept as He addresses some of the religious rulers of His day. The priests, Levites and elders were jealous of Jesus and were making attempts to put Him away. This parable of the wicked vinedressers is found in Mark 12:1-12, Luke 20:9-18 and our reading from Matthew 21:33-46.

“Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.”

“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”

They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:’ The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD's doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

“Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”

Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.

Jesus here was speaking directly about the manner in which the Jews, represented here by the vinedressers, had refused to give back to God and had dealt horribly with God’s messengers. But their actions to the servants of God were nothing compared to their goal of killing the Son. Their lives had become so filled with pride and self-preservation that they had falsely assumed that the vineyard was theirs and not God’s.

God, represented here as the landowner, had given the Jews every possible advantage. The hedge, winepresses and tower were all tools with which to function in safety and to produce much fruit. God had delivered them from bondage, given them a land of promise and had protected them from their enemies.

Yet when God desired their obedience and repentance they rebelled against God’s messengers. In the end, Jesus foretells of His own death by the hands of the ones who should have been trustworthy and true.

The Pharisees and chief priests finally catch on that Jesus is speaking about them. This causes them to want to eliminate Jesus even more. How sad.

If not careful, we also can be guilty of not giving to God what is His to have. Friends, God provides us with so many blessings in this life. He provides us with comfort, peace, intelligence and ample opportunities to be a productive person for His cause. When God expects His harvest will we be ready to deliver what is His?

On Our Daily Walk today, may we be reminded that all that we have really belongs to God. May we fight the temptation to withhold anything from Him that He expects or desires.

Our thought for the day: “He who delays repentance pawns his soul to the devil.”

May God bless you on your daily walk.