(^) “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied,
“and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him
his share of the crop at harvest time.”
(^) Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The
stone that the builders rejected has become the capstone; the
Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes?’
(^) “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away
from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. He
who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom
it falls will be crushed.”
(^) When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables,
they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to
arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people
held that he was a prophet .
(^) (Matthew 21:33–46)
(^) Note how Jesus appeals to their sense of right and wrong. He is
making his appeal to their consciences. “When the owner of the
vineyard comes, what will he do?”
(^) He asks them to make a judgment. They judge correctly. Then he
shows them that they have indicted themselves. Verse 45 shows that
they got the point; Matthew says, “they knew that he was talking
about them ... ”
(^) Here is the pattern. Christ appeals to their conscience so they
cannot escape the implications of their sin. Thus, he deals with the
root problems, not just the surface issues.
(^) Their original question in Matthew 21:23, “By what authority are
you doing these things and who gave you this authority?” sounded
like a question about the source of his authority. It was, however, a
challenge to his authority. His answer drew the battle lines. He
asserted that his authority was from God. While they did not repent,
barré
(Barré)
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