Wednesday after Oculi + Luke 20:1-19 + March 7, 2018
In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Jesus tells this parable to the chief priests and the scribes in the temple on Tuesday of Holy Week. They have tried to entrap Him by inquiring as to His authority. Christ shows them their hypocrisy by turning the question of authority back on them. “ The baptism of Joh – was it from heaven or from men? ” The chief priests and scribes won’t answer because their answer would put them in a difficult position. They are not, after all, concerned with truth. Their concern is for their own righteousness. When they come out of their huddle and confess that they don’t know where John’s authority was from, Jesus tells them the parable of the wicked vinedressers. The parable is a brief synopsis of the entire history of Israel. The kingdom of God is the vineyard. The Jews are the vinedressers to whom the landowner leased the vineyard. The landowner wants to taste the vintage so he sends his servants, the prophets, to pr...