THE LOST VINEYARD
‘The will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others.’
Palestine was a land of vineyards (especially Judæa; Deuteronomy 8:8). The slopes of the hills even now show traces of vine cultivation; on some old coins the vine is the emblem of the country.
It was natural, therefore, for our Lord to allude to them in His teaching. See in this parable a picture of God’s dealings with the Jewish nation.
I. God’s special kindness to the Jewish Church and nation.—He dealt with them as a man deals with a piece of land which he separates and hedges in for ‘a vineyard.’ He planted them in a goodly land, and cast out seven nations before them.
II. God’s patience and longsuffering towards the Jewish nation.—What is their whole history as recorded in the Old Testament but a long record of repeated provocations and repeated pardons? They mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and misused His prophets (2 Chronicles 36:16). Yet hundreds of years passed away before ‘the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.’ Never was there a people so patiently dealt with as Israel.
III. The hardness and wickedness of human nature, as exemplified in the history of the Jewish people.—It is difficult to imagine a more striking proof of this truth than the summary of Israel’s dealings with God’s messengers, which our Lord sketches in this parable. The Son of God Himself, the well-beloved, at last came down to them, and was not believed. God Himself was manifest in the flesh, dwelling among them, and ‘they took Him and killed Him.’
IV. The lost vineyard.—Such ingratitude and unkindness could not go unpunished. The hearers of the parable admit this, when the Lord asked, ‘What shall the lord of the vineyard do?’ Our text was the answer given by those whose conduct was described. It showed they would be (1) destroyed. This was fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem when, after famine, etc., about one million Jews perished; and (2) the vineyard given to others. Our Lord made this quite clear (Matthew 21:43). They had forfeited their privileges, and the Gentiles (whom they hated) would take their place.
V. And what is the application to ourselves?
(a) The vineyard is given to us Gentiles. ‘Ye are God’s husbandry’ (1 Corinthians 3:9); grafted into the True Vine (John 15:5). The privileges given to the Jews have passed on to us. Do we value them?
(b) God expects fruit. Any one who has fruit trees looks for fruit. God expects fruit from us (Romans 6:22; John 15:8). Ought we not to make some return?
(c) Punishment and forfeiture follow upon refusal to yield fruit. The fruitless are ‘cast forth’ and ‘withered’ (John 15:6). Let us take warning by this parable.
Illustrations
(1) ‘Edersheim shows that there were three modes of dealing with land: (1) where the labourers received a third or fourth of the produce; (2) where a money rent was paid; and (3) where the tenant agreed to give the owner a definite amount of produce, whether the harvest had been good or bad.’
(2) ‘Not many years ago an English bishop met a martyr’s death in Southern seas: and when a British cruiser sought some explanation of the ruthless deed, the native islanders shot some arrows at the boat with fatal aim. Swift and terrible was the vengeance following this insult on the British flag. At once the principle in Matthew 22:7 was acted on, the murderers were almost literally destroyed and their city burnt, for firearms wrought sad havoc in their midst. So men deal with men. But, oh, the depths of the riches of the mercy of God!’