Introduction
In the Old Testament, Israel is frequently represented as a vineyard, a vineyard so mismanaged by God’s hired tenants that the grapes are small and sour: the shrivelled, acid fruit of corruption and injustice among Israel’s kings and high priests. God sent prophets to warn them; now he has sent his own son. What, Jesus asked his rapt audience, will the owner do when his tenants kill his son, too?
HEAR another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard,* and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.*
And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.* Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.
But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir;* come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.*When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh,* what will he do unto those husbandmen?
They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.*
* The vineyard is a symbol of Israel used throughout the Old Testament; a particularly poignant example, which Jesus clearly had in mind when he told this parable because much of the language is the same, is the Song of the Vineyard in Isaiah 5.
* “He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes... he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.” Isaiah 5:2,7.
* That is, the prophets. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee!” Luke 13:34. The prophets were ignored, and the punishment was the Babylonian Captivity of the sixth century BC, which saw the Babylonian Empire annex Judah, destroy the Temple in Jerusalem, and carry off the nobility of Jerusalem to Babylon as trophies. See 2 Chronicles 36:5-23.
* The term ‘son of God’ was patient of several meanings in the Old Testament; an angel, for example, though in the Psalms it typically means the King of Israel: see Psalm 2. Paul indicated that those who compassed Christ’s crucifixion did so without knowing exactly who they were dealing with: see 1 Corinthians 2:8. The parable implies that the authorities in Jerusalem had Jesus crucified to prevent him making any claim to the throne of his forefather King David.
* A reference to the crucifixion, which Jesus foresaw. It did not, of course, achieve anything favourable to those who brought it about. St Matthew and the other New Testament authors understood ‘Son of God’ to mean God’s living Word and Wisdom, ever springing from him without beginning or end, “the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodness” Wisdom 7:24-26. He is greater than Israel’s prophets or Kings Matthew 12:38-42, greater even than the angels Hebrews 1:1-4, and impossible to silence by death Acts 2:22-24.
* A fundamental belief among the Jews was that ‘the Day of the Lord’ was coming, in which God would come to Israel set everything to rights: see Malachi 3:1-4. Already they had been warned that it might not play out as they expected: see Amos 5:18.
* A reference to the Church, which included both Jews and Gentiles, fulfilling the purpose for which God made his covenant with Abraham and planted his vineyard. See Isaiah 49, and especially Isaiah 49:6.
Précis
In this parable from St Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus likens Israel to a vineyard badly mismanaged by hired hands. They beat or murder the owner’s servants whenever they visit, and even kill his son to prevent him inheriting the vineyard. Jesus asked his audience what the owner should do. They were unanimous: the vineyard must be entrusted to worthier tenants. (59 / 60 words)
In this parable from St Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus likens Israel to a vineyard badly mismanaged by hired hands. They beat or murder the owner’s servants whenever they visit, and even kill his son to prevent him inheriting the vineyard. Jesus asked his audience what the owner should do. They were unanimous: the vineyard must be entrusted to worthier tenants.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: just, may, otherwise, ought, since, until, whereas, whether.
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Word Games
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 First. Near. Therefore.
2 Heir. Render. Than.
3 Hear. Send. Tower.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Subject and Object Find in Think and Speak
Use each word below in two sentences, first as the subject of a verb, and then as the object of a verb. It doesn’t have to be the same verb: some verbs can’t be paired with an object (e.g. arrive, happen), so watch out for these.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1. Season. 2. Catch. 3. Plant. 4. Kill. 5. Draw. 6. Let. 7. Fruit. 8. Round. 9. Country.
Variations: 1.use your noun in the plural (e.g. cat → cats), if possible. 2.give one of your sentences a future aspect (e.g. will, going to). 3.write sentences using negatives such as not, neither, nobody and never.
Homophones Find in Think and Speak
In each group below, you will find words that sound the same, but differ in spelling and also in meaning. Compose your own sentences to bring out the differences between them.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
flng (11+1)
failing. feeling. filing. fleeing. fling. flung. foaling. foiling. fooling. fouling. fueling.
flange.
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