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Luke 20
Jul 3, 2008 13:12:34 GMT -8
Post by Josh on Jul 3, 2008 13:12:34 GMT -8
Post your comments/ questions, discussion starters on Luke chapter 20 as replies to this post.
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Luke 20
Jul 3, 2008 13:14:41 GMT -8
Post by Josh on Jul 3, 2008 13:14:41 GMT -8
The Parable of the VineyardLuke 20:9-19 9He went on to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. 10At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. 12He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. 13"Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.' 14"But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. 'This is the heir,' they said. 'Let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' 15So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. "What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others." When the people heard this, they said, "May this never be!" 17Jesus looked directly at them and asked, "Then what is the meaning of that which is written: " 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone'? 18Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed." 19The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.This, Jesus’ last parable in Luke and his last parable before his crucifiction, could in many respect be considered the crowning parable of the gospels as it embodies the heart of God’s eternal message to His people. Also, it could be considered Jesus’ “last straw” parable- the one that finally pushes the Pharisees and other religious leaders over the edge into the chasm of their plans to put Him to death. The first point I want to make about this parable is that it has a “long memory” as the NIB commentary says. In it’s symbolic imagery, it hearkens back all the way to the beginnings of God’s people Israel- all the way back to the early parts of the Old Testament and sums up the whole Scripture from that point to Jesus’ present time in succinct simplicity. Who is the Landlord? God, the Father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob What is the Vineyard? Israel (first, national Israel, but then the heavenly Israel) Who are the Tenants? The leaders of Israel- those whom God has allowed authority over His vineyard Where did the Landlord/ God go? We had some speculation on this last Sunday. Various views might hold that perhaps this refers to God revealing Himself directly to Israel on Mt. Sinai, but then retreating His presence to some degree afterword (Cyril of Alexandria). Maybe it refers to the times of His testing silence. Perhaps, in a way, it reaches back all the way to the separation of Adam and Eve from God. Possibly a bit of all three. One thing that must be said here is that this parable is a great example of how the life of Jesus “cannot be adequately understood in isolation” from the OT (NIB). This parable relies on the force of the entire Old Testament to give it gravity and narrative power. For instance, note how Jesus in this parable borrows from the collective memory of Israel, first penned by Isaiah the prophet: Isaiah 5:1-7 The Song of the Vineyard 1 I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. 2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. 3 "Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? 5 Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. 6 I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it." 7 The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.[note: there is irony here in verse 7 because the Hebrew words for justice and bloodshed sound similar, as well as the words righteousness and distress] Now, if you read the parallel account in Matthew 21 and Mark 12, you will notice even more similarities between Jesus’ parable and this passage from Isaiah (such as the details about the Vineyard*) But, in any case, notice the similarity between verse 4 above and verse 13 in the Luke parable. In both passages, God engages in a plaintive soliloquy, agonizing over what he should do with his people. *One early church father (can’t remember just now) intriguingly postulated that the wall, winepress, and watchtower in Matthew and mark represent the law, the sacrificial system, and the temple.
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Luke 20
Jul 3, 2008 13:22:12 GMT -8
Post by Josh on Jul 3, 2008 13:22:12 GMT -8
Next, who is Jesus saying the vineyard will be given to?
There are many clues in the passages that make it plain he's referring to the Kingdom of God he has spoken so much about, ie. His Bride, the Church.
Especially in his references to the "stone the builders rejected" and to Himself as a stone that "crushes", Jesus makes it plain that He is founding the kingdom anticipated by Daniel and the other prophets:
Daniel 2:31-35
31 "You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32 The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
Daniel 2: 44-45
44 "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. "The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy."
Not only is Jesus saying he's going to hand the kingdom over to those who not only hear his word but produce the fruits of repentence (as he's been saying throughout the gospel), he's also telling them in no uncertain terms that a terrible judgment in about to fall on them. He'll touch more on this in Luke chapter 21.
This talk of judgment must be seen in light of Jesus' tears over Jerusalem in Luke 19. Thought judgment is coming and must come, God still desires that none perish.
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Luke 20
Jul 3, 2008 13:32:00 GMT -8
Post by Josh on Jul 3, 2008 13:32:00 GMT -8
I think this passage says a lot to us as well. As stewards of God's vineyard we are not immune to the mistakes of the previous tenants. And we have not, in the history of the church, been immune to His chastisement*
A couple take-aways:
1. Notice the progressive hardening of sin in this passage. The tenants don't start off totally even, but over time their greed turns into a willingness to commit increasingly rebellious acts. This is reminiscent of James 1:14-15:
but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Sin only gets work when it is untended. This is true of sin in our individual lives and sinful systems within the church.
2. On the other side of the coin, thankfully, there is also evident in this passage the progressive extension of God’s grace reminiscent of Romans 5:20:
But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.
God is willing to match our rebellion with shocking grace
3. Still, this passage points out that in the continued refusal of his grace there is only eventual judgment. Grace rejected becomes condemnation.
4. With privilege comes responsibility- what privileges do you and I have? What responsibilities do we have? Which ones have we actually taken on? Do we wake up in the morning seeing ourselves as the Tenants of His vineyard. Because we are, no matter what we think, if we are in Christ.
5. We can’t forget who owns the Vineyard. What happens when we start to forget?
6. Producing fruit is our job. Jesus said that the true members of the kingdom are those who produce fruit. This is a big theme in Luke. We produce the fruit not out of fear, but out of thankfulness for the incredible privileges He has bestowed on us as His tenants.
Robin pointed out that whereas in the old covenant, the tenants seem to not have had ownership in the vineyard, in Christ, we, the new tenants, do have a share in His ownership. That's just one of the many privileges that should inspire us to get to work!
*though, I'd argue from Scripture that God does not judge His church quite like he did the nation of Israel
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Luke 20
Jul 3, 2008 13:50:19 GMT -8
Post by christopher on Jul 3, 2008 13:50:19 GMT -8
I would agree with that. Matthew's version seems to say that the "nation" that vineyard is given to will produce the fruits thereof (Matt 21:43). So God doesn't annul the covenant altogether. But I think that, just as He did with Israel, He does allow the church to go through "dark ages" so to speak as a judgment (as you also pointed out). But ultimately, many places in scripture indicate that the church will ultimately persevere and bring forth the fruits God is looking for. That at least is encouraging to know as we can sometimes look at the Church in a pessimistic way. The bible gives us every reason to be optimistic about her future.
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Post by Josh on Jul 5, 2008 9:16:53 GMT -8
This makes me think of Isaiah 54, which I take to be a prophecy about the church in this present age.
In particular, two verses:
9. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again.
and
15a. If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing...
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