Tuesday of the week in which Jesus died. Our Lord Jesus Christ told one of His last parables which tied up the prophecies of the Old Testament and pointed to what would happen to Him within seventy-two hours. The temple rulers had just been questioning Our Lord Jesus Christ concerning His authority. The position that they took was that they were representatives and guardians of the people; therefore, they must prevent the people from being misled. Our Lord Jesus Christ answered them in a parable showing them the kind of guardians and guides they were.

A man planted a vineyard and put a wall round it, hewed out a wine-press, and built a watch tower. - Mark 12:1 -

The One Who planted the vineyard was God Himself, as His listeners already knew from the first few verses of the fifth chapter of Isaiah. The wall that He put around it was that separated them from the idolatrous nations of the Gentiles and allowed God to tend His fruitful vine, Israel, with special care. The wine-press, which was hollowed out of rock, had some reference to the temple services and sacrifice. The tower whose purpose was the watching and the guiding of the vineyard symbolized the special vigilance God exercised over His people.

Then he let it out to vine growers and went abroad. - Mark 12:1 -

This meant the commitment of responsibility to His own people who were so guarded from pagan infection. This commitment began with Abraham when he was called out of the land of Ur, and with Moses, who gave his people commandments and the laws of worshiping the true God. As God had said through prophet Jeremiah:

I sent my servants the prophets especially. - Jer. 35:15 -

From that moment on, the vineyard of Israel should have given to God the fruits of fidelity and love proportionate to the blessings they had received. But when the owner of the vineyard sent three of his servants successively to gather fruits, they were maltreated by the vine-dressers. What these divine messengers or prophets, suffered is described in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. Saint Stephen, the first martyr, later on would describe the infidelity of the people to the prophets.

Was there ever a prophet whom your fathers did not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One; and now you have betrayed him and murdered him. - Acts 7:52 -

But God's love was not wearied out with the cruelty of the vine-dressers. There were fresh calls to repentance after each new act of violence.

Again, he sent other servants, this time a larger number; and they did the same to them. - Matt. 21:36 -

According to Mark, some were beaten over the head and used outrageously, and others killed, which signified the climax of iniquity. These statements are general, but they could nevertheless refer to the beating which was given to prophet Jeremiah and the killing of prophet Isaiah.

Then the owner of the vineyard said, What am I to do? I will send my own dear son; perhaps they will respect him. - Luke 20:13 -

God is represented as soliloquizing with Himself as if to throw His love in clearer light. What more could He do for His vineyard than He had done? The "perhaps" was not only a doubt that the Divine Son would be accepted, but also an expectation that He would not. The history of God's relation with a people was told in a few minutes.

Those who listened to Our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ fully understood the many references He had made to the way of the prophets who had been set upon by the people and their message repudiated. They had also heard Him declare Himself to be the Son of God. Under the thin veil of the parable, He was answering the question, namely, by what authority He did certain things. Our Lord Jesus Christ here not only reaffirmed the personal relationship of Himself to His Heavenly Father, but also His infinite superiority over the prophets and servants.

Then revealing to His listeners the death that He would undergo at their hands, He continues:

But when they saw the son his tenants said to one another. This is the heir; come on, let us kill him, and get his inheritance. And they took him, flung him out of the vineyard, and kill him. - Matt. 21:38-40 -

The vine-dressers are here represented as knowing the Son and the heir of the vineyard. With unmistakable clarity, the Lord revealed the dreadful doom He would suffer at their hands, that He would be cast "out of the vineyard" to the hill of Calvary which was outside Jerusalem and that He was the father's last appeal to a sinful world. There were no illusions about the reverence that He would meet from mankind. rebuffs and injuries would be the greeting extended to the Son of the Heavenly Father.

Within three days of the telling of the story, it came true. The accredited keepers of the vineyard, such as Annas and Caiphas, cast Him out from the city on to a hill that was dump and put Him to death. As Saint Augustine said: "They slew Him, that they might possess, and because they slew, they lost."

After Our Lord Jesus Christ said that those who killed the Son would lose the inheritance, He then sent the minds of His hearers back to Sacred Scripture.

He looked straight at them and said, Then what does this text of Scripture mean: The stone which the builders rejected has become the main cornerstone? - Luke 20:17 -

This was a quotation from their very familiar one hundred and seventeenth Psalm: The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.

The Old Testament contained many prophecies concerning Our Lord Jesus as a stone. Five times Our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ had availed Himself of the parable of the vine. Now after using the figure to indicate the cruelty to God's only begotten Son, sent from Heaven to secure His Father's rights, He dropped the figure altogether and took up the figure of the cornerstone. The Son of God would be the despised and rejected stone. But He foretold that He would be the stone Who would unite and bind all together.

Never is there a mention of the tragedy without the glory; so too here the evil treatment the Son received is compensated for by the ultimate victory, in which as the cornerstone He unites Jew and Gentile in one holy house. Thus, the builders of His death were overruled by the Great Architect. Even their own unconscious rejection of Him made them unconscious, voluntary instruments of His purpose. Whom they refused, God would raise up as King. Under the figure of the vineyard He foretold His death; under the figure of the cornerstone, His Resurrection. He told His own fate and destiny as if it were already done and accomplished, and pointed out the futility of any opposition to Him even though they killed Him. Remarkable words they were, from a man Who said that in three days He would be crucified. And yet they revealed in clear words what they dimly knew in their own hearts. With dramatic suddenness which caught them unaware, He anticipated the judgment he said He would exercised over all men and nations on the last day. For the moment he ceased to be the Lamb and began to be the Lion of Juda. His last days are now at an end; the rulers must decide now whether they will receive Him or reject Him. He warned them that for taking His life, His Kingdom would pass to the Gentiles:

Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and given to a nation that yields the proper fruit. - Matt. 21:43 -

Continuing the analogy, taken from prophet Daniel, of the stone which grinds to powder the kingdoms of the earth, He thundered:

Any man who falls on this stone will be dashed to pieces; and if it falls on a man he will be crushed by it. Matt. 21:44 -

There are two figures: one is of a man dashing himself against the stone that is laid passively on earth. Our Lord Jesus Christ here meant rejecting Him during this time of His humiliation. The other figure is of the stone actively considered as when it falls, for example, from a cliff. By this He meant Himself as glorified and crushing all earthly opposition. The first would refer to Israel in the present moment when it rejected Him, and for which Jerusalem, he said, would be desolate. The other would refer to those who rejected Him after His glorious resurrection, Ascension, and the progress of His Kingdom on earth.

Every man, He claimed, had some contact with Him. He is free to reject His influence, but the rejection is the stone which crushes him. No one can remain indifferent once he has met Him. He remains the perpetual element in the character of every hearer. No teacher in the world ever claimed that rejecting Him would harden one's heart and make a man worse. But here is One Who, within three days of going to His death, said that the very rejection of Him would decay the heart.

Whether one believes or disbelieves Him, one is never the same afterward. Christ said that He was either the rock on which men would build the foundation of life, or the rock which would crush them. Never did men just simply pass Him by; He is the abiding Presence. Some may think that they allow Him to pass by without receiving Him, but this He called fatal neglect. A fatal crushing would follow not only neglect or indifference, but also when there was formal opposition. No teacher who ever lived told those who heard him that the rejection of his words would mean their damnation.

Even those who believe that Christ was only a teacher would scruple at this judgment about receiving His message. But being primarily a Savior, the alternative was understandable. To reject the Savior was to reject Salvation, as Our Lord Jesus Christ called Himself in the house of Zacchaeus. the questioners of His authority had no doubt of the spiritual significance of the parable and the reference to themselves. Their motives were discovered, which only exasperated more those whose designs were evil. When evil is revealed in the light, it does not always repent; sometimes it becomes more evil.

The lawyers and chief priests wanted to lay hands on him there and then, for they saw that this parable was aimed at them. - Luke 20:19 -

The good repent on knowing their sin; the evil become angry when discovered. Ignorance is not the cause of evil, as Plato held; neither is education the answer to the removal of evil. These men had an intellect as well as a will; knowledge as well as intention. Truth can be known and hated; Goodness can be known and crucified. The Hour was approaching, and for the moment the fear of the people deterred the Pharisees. Violence could not be triggered against Him until he would say, "This is your Hour."

BY  ARCHBISHOP  FULTON  J.  SHEEN  ( 1895 to 1979 )

                                                                       Page 1
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -