Sermon Tone Analysis

Scripture Reading

Introduction

Context...

Jesus in Jerusalem

It's approaching the time of the Passover Feast

Crowds gathering.

A buzz in the town...

Christ has already had confrontations with the religious leaders.

They were challenging his authority.

The religious leaders were trying to have Jesus arrested, put to death...

They had the power and authority, in a sense, to carry this out... but they lacked the support of the people.

Now, in the wake of these confrontations, Jesus tells them a parable.

This is a parable about the history of how the people of Israel had treated the prophets, and how they were now going to treat the Son.

The parable is directed against the religious leaders who have already rejected Jesus, and who are already looking for ways to put Jesus to death.

This interaction is between those who were responsible for the loving care over God's people, and the judgment that God would bring against them because of their failure to care for His people.

1.

The Vineyard of God

A Man planted a vineyard

Speaks of God, taking Israel, planting them...

He took them out of Egypt and made them into a nation.

Israel very aware!

According to Kent Hughes,

The vineyard/Israel connection was so much a part of their national consciousness that the very temple in which Jesus was standing sported a richly carved grapevine, seventy cubits high, sculpted around the door that led from the porch to the Holy Place.

The branches, tendrils, and leaves were of finest gold.

The bunches of grapes hanging upon the golden limbs were costly jewels.

Herod first placed the golden vine there, and rich and patriotic Jews would from time to time add to its embellishment.

One contributed a new jeweled grape, another a leaf, and still another a cluster of the same precious materials.

This vine had immense sacred meaning in the eyes of the Jews.

Ryken, P. G. (2009).

Luke (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.; Vol. 2, pp.

352–353).

P&R Publishing.

Rented it to some farmers

The fact is that God had established Israel as a nation.

They were called to live in obedience to him.

The priest of Israel had a responsibility to lead and to govern Israel according to the covenant made with them.

Go to Deuteronomy 17:2-13...

There was to be real obedience to and following after the laws of God.

The priests had a high and holy responsibility to lead God's people in His ways.

They were to teach the Israelites to obey the stipulations of the covenant of God.

The sad reality was that they failed to do this.

Went away for a long time

What happened to the vine, as it was left in the care of these tenants?

Contextual Application

NB!!!

This is God's vineyard...

The vineyard didn't belong to them... they were to look after it.

God had given to them in order to carefully steward.

Modern context.... this earth is the Lord's and all that is in it.

More critically, this church is the Lord's and everyone in it.

We've already gotten a sense of the weightiness of the responsibility upon the priests of the OT to lead God's people in accordance with the covenantal stipulations.

We need to see the significance of this in terms of God's unfolding purposes...

Many people today - some people in the church even - live as if the church is theirs...

Maybe... they live as if anything is ultimately theirs...

But at the end of the day, everything belongs to God.

The world, the church, our families, all that we own.

It is God's...

He has created it...

He has entrusted this into our care!!

2. The Prophets of God (vv.10-12)

The words of the parable

The Sending of the Prophets

God would thus send his prophets in order to warn Israel… and yes, even to warn the religious leaders who were failing to live according to the Law of God.

E.g.

Malachi… a series of statements and responsive questions…

“I have loved you.”

~ “How have You loved us?” 1:2

You have despised My name.

~ “How have we despised Your name?” 1:5

You offered polluted food on My altar.

~ “How have we polluted it?”

1:7

He no longer accepts your offering.

~ “Why does He not?” 2:13

“You have wearied the Lord….”

~ “How have we wearied Him?” 2:17

“Will man rob God?” ~ “How have we robbed You?” 3:8

“Your words have been stout against me.”

~ "How have we spoken against You?" 3:13

That's just one example...

Throughout, the prophets of God were sent in order to bring the people of God back to Him.

In this sense, they went in order to obtain from the priests and leaders and accounting of how they were producing fruit in terms of leading the people.

The prophets were sent in order to confront the shepherds of Israel (or in this case, the tenants taking care of the vineyard) in terms of the care that they were giving...

The owner ought to have been getting fruit...

The Rage against the Prophets

What happened was a rebellion against those who came in the name of God.

Jezebel and Ahab

Nehemiah

Jeremiah

New Testament example.

The point...

The prophets of God had been sent.

They were calling the people back.

The religious leaders through the course of Israels history had failed in their responsibilities

As Christ portrays this parable, he is speaking about this long history of Israel, their failure to produce fruit, and their rebellion when someone is sent to make an accounting...

Contextual Application

God has sent people time and again.

God has given preachers of the Word... that word is going out into the world.

Perhaps you have heard the word of God... You've heard of the righteous requirements of God.

You've been indulging in sin, and have heard of the truth, but you have rejected that truth.

You refuse to hear the words of those warning from the Scriptures...

Choose to continue in sin.

3. The Son of God (vv.13-15a)