Luke 20:1 Now it happened on one of those days, as
He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, that the chief
priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted Him
The priesthood and Jewish leaders tried to
destroy our Lord Jesus by finding faults in Him and His teachings so that they
could condemn Him to be a false teacher or false prophet.
Unfortunately for them, our Lord Jesus was
sent to be the perfect sacrificial Lamb of God. As a Jew and for Him to stay
sinless, He must keep the Mosiac law and the Prophets.
So they found His teachings fulfilling the
law and His mercy shown fulfilled the Prophets. He even helped John the Baptist
in his preaching and water baptism.
With all the evidence that He was sent by
God, yet they plotted to condemn an innocent man, the Son of God their Messiah
to death.
John 11:51, 53 Now this he did not say on his own
authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die
for the nation... Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death.
They Killed God's Prophets
Luke 20:9-10 Then He began to tell the people this
parable: "A certain man planted a vineyard, leased it to vinedressers, and
went into a far country for a long time. Now at vintage-time he sent a servant
to the vinedressers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the
vineyard. But the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed."
God gave the Israelites the Promise land
and had blessed it abundantly. Yet they forgot His miraculous deliverance of
the Israelites in Egypt and the conquest of Canaan land. Instead they fear the
Romans more than the Almighty God.
Because of their stiff neck and rebellious, they we're not able to
produce good fruit for the master. So
they rejected and punished every prophet sent to get them to repent from their
wickedness, unfaithfulness and abominations
Luke 20:11-12 "Again he sent another servant; and they beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And again he sent a third; and they wounded him also and cast him out."
Exposed their Murder Plan
Luke 20:13-15 "Then the owner of the
vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Probably they will
respect him when they see him'. But when the vinedressers saw him, they
reasoned among themselves, saying, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him,
that the inheritance may be ours.' So they cast him out of the vineyard and
killed him. Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them?"
Our Lord exposed their plot, that they knew
that He was the Heir or Messiah sent by God. Out of their covetousness, they
killed Him. They sacrificed Him rather than having to face the Romans. This
faithlessness was not acceptable to the Almighty God whom they had reduced to
be 'Myth' and all His mighty works as fables.
Luke 20:16 "He will come
and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others." And when
they heard it they said, "Certainly not!"
The Lord told them that He would destroy
these faithless servants (Judaism) so that salvation by grace will be given to
all mankind (others). To this they were quick to object.
Luke 20:17 Then He looked at them and said,
"What then is this that is written: 'The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone'?
Our Lord's final warning to the Israelites
was that if they rejected their Messiah they would be lost forever, for God has
make Him to be the Saviour of the world.
