1 – A picture of Israel, its duty and its privilege, Context – A delegation from the religious establishment comes to engage Jesus with a view to exposing him before the trusting and enthusiastic populace whose following he enjoys by discrediting his legitimacy and challenging his authority. But it backfires v23-27, and Jesus tells a 1st parable which identifies them as externally obedient but internally resistant. Now a 2nd parable shows:
1 – A picture of Israel, v33, its duty and its privilege, ‘the vineyard which your right hand has planted’ = Israel, designed to bear spiritual fruit, in the care of the tenants / vinedressers, (‘they knew he was talking about them’). They had the privilege of being the guardians of all of God’s revelation, and to them falls the responsibility for a healthy vine and harvest, especially that of love for Israel’s God and an appropriate lifestyle…
2 – v34-39, but they failed. They’ve discarded both duty and privilege, turning to other nations and their gods, despite continuing to know and benefit from His gracious, kind, longsuffering patience towards them – in which mode He sent many prophets to point out their true position, ‘day after day, again and again,’ but to no avail. ‘They went backward, not forward,’ with the consequence that “you have aroused my anger with what your hands have made, and you have brought harm to yourselves.” And so they know that the ‘son’ who’s finally sent represents Jesus Himself and their duty to recognize Him and respond accordingly. But “they took Him and threw Him out of the vineyard and killed Him.” And the consequence of this is…
3 – Israel’s duty and privilege removed and reassigned 40-46. They can see themselves what ought to happen as a result v41, and this is exactly what Jesus said will happen (which it did in a very tangible, immediate way in AD 70), to be replaced with a new arrangement (covenant), not the replacement of the old Israel, but a reconfiguration of a new Israel, a new covenant, around Jesus Himself, with new tenants to be appointed (i.e., leaders, elders), whose responsibility it is now to instruct and guide the ‘new Israel,’ that there might be much spiritual fruit. And so there is… much to pray for – we have been blessed with privileges and responsibilities – what have we done with them? Are we going forwards or backwards? Similarly, our nation and its new king, we too have rejected, but with what grace has Jesus’ true identity been revealed to us. So, pray for spiritual fruit, in individual lives and in our church, and pray for those new ‘tenants’ who now bear responsibility in leadership (especially Ciprian).