The Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers
Text: Matthew 21:33-46 Speaker: Pastor Matthew Ude Festival: Trinity Passages: Matthew 21:33-46
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Matthew 21:33-46
Isaiah begins nearly the same the parable with the implication that this is a love song. And certainly this parable is a love song from the Lord to His people. True it contains also a dire warning if they will not listen, but the fact that Jesus cares enough to warn his people is part of the indication of His great love for them. Remember that this takes place during holy week, just days before his coming death. Yet his concern is not for His death but the death of His people.
The Lord provides everything His people need.
Both parables, the one in Isaiah and in the Gospels, begin the same way with a description of everything the Lord has done for his people.
He planted the vineyard on a fertile hill. He put a wall around it to keep out wild animals and those who might seek to steal the fruit. He dug a winepress. This is no easy thing. A winepress is a large basin and has to be solid stone. So really He chipped a winepress out of stone. He also built a tower. It was common in that time to build towers and set a guard in them during the time of harvest to make sure that no one came to steal the fruit when it was ripe. All of this is to say the Lord did everything possible to make sure the vineyard thrived.
In the case of Israel we see this intensity of the Lord grace to give them all that they needed. He brought them out of Egypt. He provided for them in the wilderness. He drove the Canaanites out of