SR 8
September 8
Luke 20:9-19. The parable of the rebellious husbandmen in the vineyard.
In this parable the base conduct of the Jewish nation is plainly set forth. When the conduct of men towards God is represented in parables, we perceive its ingratitude and treachery more clearly than we did before. And why? Because there is no being whose claims are so little understood by men, as the claims of God.
Everyone will admit, that the lord of the vineyard had a right to demand a portion of its fruits, as rent, from the husbandmen. But God has a right to all our obedience, and to all our love. To him we owe all we enjoy, or ever can enjoy—indeed the very power of enjoyment comes from him. But how do men behave towards Him? In the same manner that these husbandmen behaved to their lord. They not only refuse to obey God, but are angry with those who reprove their disobedience.
Like these husbandmen, unconverted men become hardened in sin. The husbandmen treated the servants worse and worse. They beat the first servant, shamefully treated the second, and wounded the third. Thus sinners increase in wickedness—for every sin committed and not repented of, prepares for the commission of a greater.
If any of you who have been converted to God, look back upon your days of rebellion, you will perceive that you grew worse. There was some docility in your childhood—some fear of evil in your early youth—which were lost as you grew older. If God had not interfered by his grace, you would, by this time, have reached a higher pitch of iniquity than you ever before attained. There is even in the converted a tendency to return to their former state, and there is need constantly to apply to God for fresh supplies of His Holy Spirit, or, like a wheel upon a sloping bank, they will slide back into their old sins.
When the Savior had concluded the parable, he declared the punishment the lord would inflict on the husbandmen. "He will come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others." This prophecy was intended as a warning to the Jews, who had persecuted the prophets, and were now plotting the death of the Son of God. The people understood that the warning applied to themselves, for they exclaimed, "God forbid." If they had been as anxious to avoid sin as they were to avoid suffering, they would have escaped both. What must have been the expression of his countenance when Jesus looked upon those who had answered, "God forbid;" for it is said, "He beheld them?" It must have been a look that seemed to say, "Your sorrows are nearer than you suppose, and greater than you can bear."
He now changed the figure from a vineyard to a building, and alluded to a passage in Ps. 118, in which it is said, "The stone which the builders refused has become the head-stone of the corner." Great was the folly of the builders who knew not the value of the finest, firmest, most precious stone that had ever been hewn out of a quarry; and great would be their punishment. That stone, while it lay upon the ground, would be a stumbling-block, and those who fell over it would be broken; but it would not always lie upon the ground; it would be exalted, and falling upon the wicked, by the righteous anger of God, would grind them to powder. What does this short parable signify? When Christ was a man upon earth, those who rejected him sinned, yet not beyond the reach of pardon; but when he was exalted to God's right hand, those who continued to reject him perished eternally. The everlasting anger of God is represented by this expression, "It will grind him to powder." That blessed Savior who might, like a stone, be a support and defense, will become, if we refuse to believe in him, the instrument of our destruction. If we build upon him all our hopes for eternity, he will not fail us—but if we neglect him, he will crush us beneath the weight of his righteous indignation.