The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 329

IIllLDY such who have not given their hearts to God; they say from time to time (at Oonfumation, for instance), "I go, sir," and perhaps e.t the moment they really have a sort of intention to keep God's holy will and commandments and to walk in the same all the de.ye of their life. But they have no strength of purpose, they have not attained to the spirit of self-so.orifice; and when they are c&lled to do work for God (whether inward or outward) which requires effort and self-denial, they shrink be.ck from the Master's service. The yoke which the Lord calls "easy" seems to them hard and rough ; the burden which the Lord calls " light" seems to them heavy and crushing; the cross terrifies them. They go not into the vineyard; they do not keep their promises; they do not work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, e.nd so they do no real work for God. 3. The appUcation. The Lord gives his testimony to John the B&ptist, as he had done before; John came from God, a preacher of righteousness. He ea.me "in the way of righteousness;" he had the righteousness of strict Levitical purity and the loftiest asceticism; he told men their duty plainly and sternly. Many notorious sinners, publicans and harlots, who bad lived in open disobedience to God, heard him and repented. These priests and scribes and elders saw and heard him; they felt the holiness of his life, the power of his preaching; they had asked him if he was the Christ, or Elijah, or the prophet that was to come. But they repented not; they believed not. The publicans and harlots went into the kingdom of God before the priests and scribes. They ought to have led the way; they ministered in the temple of God; they were the recognized teachers of the people. Yet the Lord does not shut out all hope. "The publicans go before you ; " they might follow, if they would humble their proud hearts into self-abasement and lowly obedience. Pride hardens the heart in disobedience and wilfulness; humility opens it to repentance, to the gracious voice of the Saviour. Oh that we may listen, and repent, and work for God before it be too late I III. THE PARABLE OF THE WIOKED HUBBANDMEN. 1. The stOTy, It was the well- known parable of Isaiah (v. 1-7), related again with more authority and in greater detail. The lord of the vineyard asks .again, "What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?" Hedge, winepress, tower,--everything needful had been carefully provided. But the husbandmen were rebellious; they beat and murdered the servants who were sent to receive the fruits of the vineyard, and at last they cast out and slew their lord's only son. The end pf those men must be utter destruction. Judlll3 was a land of vineyards. The Lord often drew his parables from surrounding circumstances; in Galilee, from the corn-land or the lake; in Jud1133, from the vine or the fig tree. So Christian teachers should try to give life and interest to their teaching by connecting it with matters of daily life. 2. The =ning. Isaiah tells us, "The vineyard of the Lord of hosts ls the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant." The hedge must be the Law, with its ordinances, circumci- sion, and other rites which served to separate Israel, as God's peculiar people, from othtr nations. The tower e.nd winepress have been interpreted of the temple e.nd the altar. Dut it is enough, without pressing these details, to understand the parable as meaning that God had given his people all things necessary for their spiritue.l welfare. The latter part of the parable differs from that in Isaiah. There the men of Israel are reproved: they brought forth wild grapes, not the fruits of righteousness. Here the Lord rebukes the husbandmen, the spiritual rulers of his people. The Lord of the vineyard went into a fe.r country. God did not always manifest himself as he had done on Mount Sine.i. He sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of the vineyard. '!'hose servants were the prophets, sent a.gain and aaain, to supply the deficiencies of the ordinary ministry, to warn both priests e.nd ~ople of their sins, to call both priests u.nd people to repentance. "I sent unto ~o_u," God said, by the mouth of Jeremiah (xliv. 4), "all my servants the prophets, rising early and sendina them, saying, Oh, do ·not this abominable thing that I hate I " Some of these were ~secuted, some were slain. "They cast thy Law behind their back~" (we read in the confession of the Levites in Neh. ix. 26), "and slew thy prophets whioh testified' against them to turn them unto thee." But now the Lord's eye, which had ranged over the past history of the nation, turns towards the future. The lord of the vineyard had yet one son, his well-beloved; he sent hi':'1 last,_ saying, "They will reverence my son.n The parable veils the awful mysteries which he.ng around the 334 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [cH .x.xi. 1--46,