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Obeying God’s Will I
By peace | April 22, 2007
Jesus implied that the violence with which the tenants treated the landlord’s servants had occurred in the past with Israel’s rejection of God’s prophets. For the early Christians, however, the story also reflected their own persecution at the hands of the Roman authorities. Many who suffered martyrdom were sustained until the end by the conviction that God’s kingdom of justice would eventually come.
In the 20th century, persecution fueled by an intolerance of others’ beliefs, nationality, or race has continued unabated. The right to speak, publish, or worship without fear of persecution is worth fighting for in any society, even if we do not agree with or relate to others’ opinions or religious rituals. Jesus encouraged people to remain true to their convictions. Strength to do so in the face of intolerance comes from faith in a just and merciful God.
Jesus told the parable of the Two Sons, recorded only by Matthew, Matthew 21:28-46, and the story of the Wicked Husbandmen, which occurs in all three Synoptic Gospels, at a critical moment in his ministry. Shortly before, he had entered Jerusalem in triumph on a donkey, much to the rejoicing of his followers.
Inside the city, he had then gone to the Temple, where he threw out those who were buying and selling goods and changing money, making it, in Jesus’ words, “a den of thieves”. While he was there, blind and lame people came to him and he healed them.
When he returned to the Temple the next day to teach, the chief priests challenged him to state what authority he had for his actions. But Jesus retorted that he would answer their question only if they first replied to his: referring to his cousin, John the Baptist — regarded by the church as the forerunner of Jesus — he asked them whether John’s authority had come from a divine or human source. They declined to answer.
Because those who had acknowledged John the Baptist as a messenger of God would also have seen the spiritual status of Jesus, it is not surprising that Jesus’ opponents were loath to admit to the divine source of John’s authority. On the other hand, they knew that if they denied that the Baptist had authority from God, they risked offending the people, who regarded him as a prophet. So, since his question had not elicited a reply from the priests, Jesus also refused to answer their probings about his own authority. Instead, he told them a parable.
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