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Copyright © 2012 J. Neely. All rights reserved.
Chapter 35 - Wicked Vine Growers
Matt. 21:40-41
40 When [hotan] the lord [kurios] therefore [oun] of the vineyard [ampelon] cometh [erchomai] , what [tis] will he do [poieo] unto those [ekeinos] husbandmen [georgos] ?
41 They say [lego] unto him [autos] , He will miserably [kakos] destroy [apollumi] those [autos] wicked men [kakos] , and [kai] will let out [ekdidomi] his vineyard [ampelon] unto other [allos] husbandmen [georgos] , which [hostis] shall render [apodidomi] him [autos] the fruits [karpos] in [en] their [autos] seasons [kairos] . KJV-Interlinear
40 'Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?' 41 They said to Him, 'He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.' NASB
The chief priests and all who happen to be nearby and are hearing this dialogue are of course human beings. I know that is obvious but it is important to note. Next all are either unbelievers, or believers who are positive or negative toward God. And last, all have brains with the ability to reason and sort out right from wrong.
Unbelievers, and negative believers have the ability to discern between right and wrong. You do not have to be exclusively in a group of positive believers in order to figure things out in life.
Jesus presents this parable and then asks them the conclusion. What does the owner do about these obviously bad vine-growers? The chief priests are delighted to be able to answer such an obvious question. You can just see them puffed up and in the presence of many people, all too willing to answer Jesus' parable. This will give them a high profile with regard to the many 'common' people who are present. They, the priests, have an opportunity to show their wisdom not only to the people, but in the presence of this Jesus of Nazareth, who has been very popular of late.
But there is a trap coming up - Psa. 118.
Unbelievers, even negative believers, have the capacity to make good decisions during the course of their normal life. They can get married, have children, even raise them up with good morals. They can engage in business with plenty of savvy, buy and sell and do whatever comes natural to mankind. But this is restricted to the realm of the carnal world (the jungle). They are excluded from engaging in the spiritual realm by virtue of their lack of positive spiritual assets. Unbelievers lack the human spirit, and negative believers lack the fellowship environment in which all spiritual phenomena functions.
How did they answer the parable? In the proper way. The owner will deal harshly with these bad vine-growers and then replace them with a better group of vine-growers. The bad ones are the unbelievers and they will be cast into the Lake of Fire for their crimes. Crimes, by the way, which they committed with premeditation and in conspiracy. Also, you can also apply this concept to the change over from the Jewish people having custody of the scriptures (the failed vine growers), to the gentiles of our current Church Age (the new custodians of the vineyard).
No unbeliever acts from their own original thinking, but all act in conspiracy with all other unbelievers, as the world provides the ideas, and the individuals act from their own thoughts which embrace the ideas of the world. All join in on the same negative path which rejects God and Christ. Thus the conspiracy concept.
The same pattern is true of negative believers. All act in unison against Gods Word, and therefore by definition they are guilty of conspiracy, among other things.
Within the world, people are capable to arriving at just decisions. But these priests are presuming that the guilty are 'others' and not themselves. They do not evaluate their own thoughts and actions of life, and do not judge themselves with regard to their relationship (or lack thereof) with God.
All believers are commanded to evaluate themselves and do so on a regular basis (daily), 'If we judge ourselves, then we shall not be judged.' This is dealing with ones status of fellowship. We are constantly (or should be) checking our own life in order to insure that we are in fellowship. We do not evaluate others. That is none of our business. We are to evaluate, to monitor, our own life in order to make sure we are where we are supposed to be - in fellowship.
Unbelievers and negative believers will commonly judge others. They will always have an opinion. They will engage in gossip. They want to make sure that 'others' know that 'they' know, and that 'they' know what 'others' should be or should not be doing.
The priests judged the vine-growers and as a result consequently judged themselves. They are the subjects of the parable and they are given the chance to make known just what the owner should do. In so doing they, from their own mouths, confirm Gods justice against themselves.
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Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.
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