Matthew the apostle wrote how Jesus asked the chief priests and the elders of Jerusalem, “Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and dug a wine-press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance”, and in chapter twenty-one and verse thirty-nine of his book, Matthew shares how Jesus said, “they caught him, … cast him out … and slew him” where we read:
And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
The verse reads, “And they caught him, ...” Matthew began with the words, “and they” which means “and the husbandmen, farmers and vinedressers” “caught him” or “took up in order to carry away, procured and seized the son of the householder”. Matthew shared how Jesus said the “farmers and vinedressers” “seized” the son of the “householder”.
The verse goes on to say, “... and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.” Matthew added the words, “and cast him out” which means “and drove, expelled and compelled the son of the householder with a notion of violence out” “of the vineyard” or “pertaining to the field where the householder's fruit were grown”, “and slew him” which means “and killed, destroyed, extinguished and abolished the son of the householder”. Matthew wrote how Jesus said the “farmers and vinedressers” “threw” the son of the “householder” out of the “field of vines” and “killed” him.
When we think through Matthew's words in this verse, we can use our imaginations to understand how horrific this act was by these “farmers and vinedressers”. They “captured” the son of the “householder” who was sent to them in good faith to receive his harvest, and they carried him out of the “vineyard” and “murdered” him. Can we imagine how this “householder” will act when he discovers what they did? God sent his prophets to share with people how He would send His Messiah who would save them from their sins, and when God sent His Son Jesus to save them, they “killed” Him. Those who are wise will meditate upon Jesus' parable and submit their lives to the One who owns everything and has entrusted it all to His Son Jesus.
Next time Matthew writes how Jesus asks the chief priests and elders in Jerusalem what will happen, “when the lord therefore of the vineyard comes”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book
“Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the
marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the
Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms
Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County"
in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com
; http://www.barnesandnobles.com
; download to e-books, and find it locally at
www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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