The Parable of the Vineyard. Luke 20:1-26

Notes

1. Jesus had not studied in the schools, and held no certificate of authority as a teacher. Therefore the priests and scribes determined to challenge His right to teach, hoping thereby to silence Him. But Jesus did not lay Himself open to any retort from them, and asked them another question, instead of replying. They were qualified teachers. They had their diplomas, and were duly authorized to teach the people; they were doctors of divinity. Therefore they ought to have been able to answer immediately so simple a matter, and one of so great importance to the people, as the origin of the teaching and baptism of John. They dared not bring a charge against John, because they were most anxious to stand well with the people; and they dared not confess the truth, lest they should convict themselves. So they said that they could not tell whence John's baptism was. But if they could not answer that question, they thereby showed that they themselves had no right to claim to be teachers. And if they were incompetent to teach the people, they were certainly incompetent to catechize Jesus. Thus were they silenced. The teachers whom Jesus sends will often find themselves questioned as closely as Jesus was; only the wisdom which He had will enable them to answer discreetly. He did not revile them, nor speak one disrespectful word, yet by a simple question He forced them to convict themselves of incompetency.

2. On the parable of the vineyard, see Ps. 80:8-18; Isa. 5:1-7. See 2 Chron. 36:14-16 on the sending of the servants, and the way that they were treated. The object in killing the son was to "seize on the inheritance." Satan has laid claim to the inheritance, namely, this earth. He sought to kill Jesus, so that he might have His inheritance. To possess the inheritance of Christ was the object of the ambition that caused Satan's fall from heaven. The spirit of Satan in the hearts of the wicked Jews led them to say, "If we let Him thus alone, all men will believe on Him; and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation." John 11:48. They did not know that the only way for them to obtain the inheritance was in Christ. See Eph. 1:11.

3. When the priests and scribes sought to catch Jesus with flattering words, they forgot that it was His Spirit that inspired these words, "A man that flattereth his neighbor spreadeth a net for his feet" (Prov. 29:5); and also the words, "Meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips" (Prov. 20:19). The first approach of flattery or fawning should put a man on his guard.

4. How easily Jesus answered their question, without laying Himself open to the least criticism. "Whose image and superscription hath it?" They said it was Cæsar's. If it was Cæsar's, then it was obvious that it belonged to him. In saying that the money had Cæsar's superscription, they answered their own question.

It is not necessary to do more than point out the fact that this makes a complete and everlasting distinction between the affairs of civil government and those of God. The things that have Cæsar's superscription are to be rendered to him, and those that have the stamp of God are to be rendered to Him. That does not mean that if Cæsar,—the civil power,—has committed a forgery, and has put his superscription on that which belongs to God, we are therefore to render it to Cæsar. That would not be obeying the Lord. It would be rendering to Cæsar the things that belong to God. Religion is from God, and therefore in matters of religion no one is of right subject to the State. And no one can pay any attention to what the State may say in matters of religion, without robbing God of His due.

Christians, being in this world, are to be subject to the authority of civil power. This does not say that they are to obey the laws of the land when they conflict with the laws of God, for, in that case, the civil power has no rightful authority. Christians are to pay tribute to the government, not because as Christians they seek the protection of the State, but because, as subjects of the Prince of Peace, they are to live peaceably with all men, as far as lies in them. He who breaks the peace is breaking the laws of the kingdom of heaven. But he who disregards a human law that conflicts with the law of God, is not thereby breaking the peace, because the keeping of the perfect law of God is the only thing in the world that brings perfect peace.