The Parable of the Wicked Tenants.
This one is maybe a bit confusing to me. It seems like the people responding to Christ's question about what will happen is (at least somewhat) appropriate. Then His response is cryptic to me. Maybe it's just because I haven't had enough coffee this morning, but maybe you can help me understand what's going on here. Is Jesus differing with their opinion or just agreeing with them and then pointing out their inability to see prophecy through His words?
I love when Jesus does this: telling a story with a complex, yet obvious outcome and then simply pointing out how it's relevant to the current situation. In everyday life, I believe these kinds of connections are the basis of Deja Vu. Christ makes that connection part of the conscious rather than the subconscious.
What do you think?
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6 comments:
Heavy stuff! The Christ prophesies about the poor treatment of the previous prophets by God's people, then predicts his own death at their hands bringing the end of the age, and the removal of the Kingdom from the Jews before they are scattered and the Kingdom is given to God's new people. A lot of the Christ's other end time prophecy relates to this series of events. My advice - tread very carefully!
This is indeed a very heavy passage. I would ask that we say a prayer for insight, cooperation, and guidance, then tread together. :D
Not only is Jesus relating information using a parable (Uh oh! Watch out! He's getting out the parables!), but He's directing His statements to the ruling clergy of His time. These are authority figures that have been misusing the power given to them and He knows this. On top (or maybe because) of that, He's clearly not in a conciliatory mood. Maybe not quite in a "Get thee behind me, Satan" kinda bad mood, but He's aware of the consequences of His actions nonetheless: He's just entered Jerusalem in a boisterous (some might argue sarcastic) manner during a tension-filled time and knows His hours are numbered. He knows He will be challenged by clerical authorities who are looking for an excuse to have Him killed. If there was ever a time for the most important points to be made, this is it.
I guess a good place to start is to talk about what has been happening just before Jesus unfolds this parable. Fifteen verses earlier, He abruptly withers a fig tree that for some reason displeases Him. If we're to take the circumstances provided us in the Bible, the only reason given was that the tree had, "nothing on it except leaves." Now we can philosophize all we want and say that He could see that it wouldn't bear fruit and He was just trying to make a point regarding the importance of bearing spiritual fruit... maybe opening the door for discussing this with His disciples.
But does it seem like there's something else going on here to anyone else?
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings, but you were unwilling!"
No wonder he wept! No more warnings, the end had come for his own people, his birthright was to be given away.
In my opinion, Jesus is not only aware that He's about to meet a horrible fate, but He sees the historical repetition of man's unwillingness to believe and sees how His death could be avoided if people would just wake up from this seemingly inevitable cycle. My guess is that this doesn't make Him very happy.
He withers a tree for not bearing fruit. His disciples, given their tendency to not understand what was happening around them, were probably wondering what Jesus was up to... maybe even in awe of His ability to command and control nature. Instead of explaining why He did this, He explains that they could do this and much more if they "have faith and do not doubt". But even the words He uses to explain this seem to be laced with urgency or maybe even a tinge of sarcasm... almost like He saw that they were lusting for some supernatural abilities rather than real faith.
I still don't think that you have got it. He knows his death is inevitable and he knows that his people are out of time. He sees the apocalypse clearly. You can't hide behind faith - that is not what it is for.
And, of course, the spammers infiltrated this post and I accidentally deleted meaningful comments. Oh well.. what will it all matter in 100 years?
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