Matthew's version (21:33-46) of The Parable of the Tenants has long been one of my favorite stories. I think I first liked it because I think of myself as a rebel, and here Jesus appears to "set up" the religious leaders of the day. He must have been a fantastic story-teller, and here the chief priests and elders are SO into the story that they answer His question without thinking (verse 41) and so condemn themselves.
However, after thinking about it, He wasn't looking to make them look stupid as they blundered into His "trap." He "saw in every soul one to whom must be given the call to His kingdom" (Desire of Ages, p. 151). What He really wanted was for them to think about all God had done for the Jews, and how their time of probation was nearly over, and how their only hope was to realize they were rejecting the Messiah and to STOP and to accept Him.
The Parable of the Tenants connects to Isaiah chapter 5, where Isaiah asks, "What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it?" (verse 4).
And of course, this applies to us Seventh-day Adventists today, too. What more could God have done for us? Given us a special message, a prophet, told us that we are in the very last days? What more could He have done? What are we doing?
Any comments? (I wonder sometimes if I'm the only one who reads this!)
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1 comment:
Well, this isn't really in response to the blog posted, but rather adding something based on today's Sabbath school discussion.
Someone asked if the Pharisees had taken a stance on the tax question. I really don't think they had.
We know from the Bible in the preceding chapter (their response to Jesus' question about John the Baptist) that they were afraid of the people. We also know that that's why they held off arresting Jesus.
The people might have taken either side of the tax/no tax question, and the Pharisees might have been waiting for Jesus to walk into their trap not only so they could report Him to the Roman soldiers or denounce Him as not a good Jew, but because He was bound to disagree with the people, who could then rise up as a mob and do their dirty work for them.
I also think that their initial flattery of Jesus before they popped the $1,000,000 question (pun not orignially intended but left as-is) was a reflection of their fear of the people, who looked up to Jesus. Perhaps they wanted the people to think they weren't trying to trick Jesus, that they respected Him.
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