What does Matthew say the chief priests and Pharisees understood about the parables Jesus was teaching the people? See Mat 21:45. What does Luke say they and the scribes sought to do when they understood He was speaking about them? See Luk 20:19. What prevented them? See Mat 21:46; cf. Joh 7:30, 8:20, 17:1. Should…
Consider again the remorse that at various instances after the fact must have panged those who confronted Jesus and heard this parable and yet because of the political expedience of the circumstances carried out exactly what He said they would do to Him. Because the truth, like light, is self-evident so it is not easily…
Consider in this parable that Jesus plainly indicated who He was and prophetically foretold to the religious leaders what they would do to Him—what they in fact were already planning and would carry out in a matter of days. Moreover, His words to them were in the context of their fathers having done the very…
What does Matthew record Jesus as saying that makes plain the meaning of this parable? See Mat 21:43. How is this meaning related to the acted parable of the fig tree that occurred that very morning? Although certainly a loss like someone losing their job (cf. Luk 16:1-2), was it the case that the “taking…
What rhetorical question does Jesus ask in Mat 21:40 about the obvious consequences of the vine-growers misguided actions? Does He say, “If the lord of the vineyard comes…”? Notice that the Greek word used communicates both the certainty that the lord will come, but an indefiniteness as to exactly when; how is this just like…
Would the religious leaders have understood the landowner’s slaves in the parable to have been God’s prophets, or quibbled with Jesus that God had sent prophets to the Jewish nation which abused and mistreated them? Cf. Mat 23:29-30. Did they disagree with the just consequences and end of the vine-growers in the parable? See Mat…
Who does this parable say the landowner first sent to the tenant farmers to receive his share of the produce, and what did they do to them? Who do they represent? See 2Ch 24:19-21, 36:15-16, Neh 9:26, Mat 23:37, Act 7:51-52, Heb 11:32-38. What does this help us to understand about the role of prophets…
What walls of protection do men build for themselves, and why can they never provide the same security as the Lord? Cf. Isa 31:1-3. In what way do people often look to religion for a hedge of protection? Cf. Mat 23:27-28, 2Ti 3:5, Tit 1:16. Although being religious may provide a measure of security because…
To whom is Jesus primarily speaking in this parable? Cf. the previous context of Mat 21:23-32, as well as Mat 21:45. Recall that Jesus often taught in parables in order that the meaning might be hidden from those who did not have ears to hear, cf. Mat 13:9-15; was that the nature of this parable? …
Was either of the two sons in this parable blameless in regard to the father’s command? What was the fault of the first son? How is the blunt refusal of the first son to obey the father’s command like so many when first confronted with the gospel call to repentance? What does this son’s later…