The Parable of Those who Reject Multiple Chances. Blog Through the Bible Project | Dreaming Beneath the Spires
The Pharisees believed that he told this story about them, but it wasn’t just about them, it was also about us.
God gives us chance, after chance, after chance. Paul asks, Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? (Romans 2:4). But ultimately judgement comes. I have seen this in other people’s lives. And in my own.
What is the sin or patten of sin in our lives of which we most need to repent?
Because God is kind, he gives us chance, after chance, seventy times seven, sometimes.
Ultimately, if we continue in entrenched sin, plagues pile up, like the plagues of Egypt. And the, judgment comes–often in this life.
Matthew 21
33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.
The treatment of the servants mirrors what God’s prophets had experienced throughout OT history.
37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
Gentiles, to whom Paul turned when the Jews for the most part rejected the Gospel. By the second century, the church was composed mainly of Gentiles.
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’h]”>[h]?
The rejected son will receive the position of ultimate prominence and importance.
A theme throughout Scripture. God exalts the rejected–like David, or Leah, or Jesus.
43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
The parable of the wicked tenants continues the vineyard metaphor to show that God is taking away the kingdom from Israel.
44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”i]”>[i]
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
The gut wisdom of the people was deeper than the paranoid, power-hungry, threatened judgment of those with power.
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