"And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some. Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?"
In today's lesson, Jesus told the scribes, priests, and elders, the parable of the "Lord of the vineyard and his husbandmen".
That parable is an analogy of the history of God's once chosen people, the Jews, and how they had failed and denied Him through their disobedience of Him and His laws.
The parable describes how that, every time God sent a prophet to deliver and heal Israel, that prophet wound up tortured and eventually, either chased away or killed.
The "Son" mentioned in the parable, represents Jesus Himself, the Son of God. The rebellious and denying Jews ridiculed and eventually crucified Him Just as Jesus said they would.
There are two individual lessons contained in today's quote, the first relates how the Jews had failed God many, many times.
The second concerns this part of the quote, "What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others."
Jesus very plainly tells us herein that the "chosen" relationship the Jews had enjoyed with God would be revoked, or taken away, ("he will come and destroy the husbandmen") when they killed (crucified) Jesus, the Son.
It also tells us, in essence, that the "chosen" status that once belonged exclusively to the Jews, would thereafter be taken from them and bestowed upon someone else. A further study of the gospel tells us that through the work of the Apostle Paul and others, the Gentiles inherited that "chosen" status through membership in His kingdom (The Church).
Ironically, there are many "Christians" today who still believe the Jews, as a nation, remain God's chosen people and that we should protect them at all costs. That assertion is simply and scripturally unfounded.
This parable clearly establishes that after the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, the Church would become, and would remain, the chosen of God.~
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