The Mississippi enterprise. (Jackson, Miss.) 1938-current, 1959-02-28
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
March l, 1859
By Rev. Geo. Harper,
511 Avenue G.,
Greenwood, Miss

By Rev. Geo. Harper,
511 Avenue G.,
Greenwood, Miss
THE PARABLE OF JESUS
REJECTION.
General Lesson Text - Mat
thew 21:33-46, Print = Mat
thew 21:33-43.
MEMORY SELECTION -
He is despised and rejected of
men. isaiah $3.50. 1t would
seem that all men should have
welcomed Christ in His first
coming and accepted Him, for
He came to redeem men. How
ever, this was not so, for the
prophet gave a true picture of
Him that He would be despis-
ed and rejected. Men first re-
jected His spoken word, then
they rejected His works. Both
His message and miracles were
discounted. During His earth
ly life, men did not see the
beauty that was in Him, there
fore, He was rejected and be-
came the man of sorrows. In
stead of being despised and re-
jected, He should have been
loved and accepted. His life
was bounded from the cradle
to His grave. Almost all men
were against Him, even the
Jews, Pharisees, Sadducees,
Herodians, priests, scribes,
lawyers and Gentiles. He was
despised so greatly that men
condemned Him to be cruel
fled.
THE VINEYARD PREPAR-
ED:
Hear another parable:
There was a certain house
holder, which planted a vine
yard, and hedged it round a.
bout, and digged a winepress
in it, and built a tower, and
let it out to husbandmen, and
went into a far country"-This
parable was told to contrast
Israel with the non Jewish peo-
pies of the days of Jesus, for
Israel was like the brother
who promised to obey his faith
er but did not, and the Gen
tiles were like the brother who
refused at first to obey his
father but afterward repetned
and obeyed. Immediately fol-
lowing this Jesus told the Par
able of the Wicked Husband
men. 1t was because one par
able followed the other that
Jesus said, Hear another par
able" An analogy cannot be
made to accurate in every de-
tail, but if it is good it will
cover the main points which
need focused attention. In this
parable the householder rep
reSentS God, the vineyard is
the kingdom of heaven. The
husbandmen represented the
Jewish leaders who seized re-
ligious control of Israel and
prosecuted those whom God
sent to rectify conditions. The
messengers who were sent by
the householder to exact the
fruits of the vineyard repre-
sented the prophets and men
of God who were sent from
God to reform both the people
and their leaders. "And when
the time of the fruit drew
near, he sent his servants to
the husbandmen, and went into
a far country" = The vine
yard was leased but not given
to the husbandmen. Their re-
sponsibility was to tend the
vineyard and to give to the
owner that portion of fruit
which had been promised him
in the agreement. The master
was kind enough to send for
his portion of fruit; he did not
require the husbandmen to
bring it to him.
THE WICKEDNESS OF THE
HUSBANDMEN:
"And the husbandmen took
his servants, and beat one and
killed another, and stoned an
other" The true servatns of
the Lord were hated because
they were threat to the wick
edness which the people had
chosen to be in, therefore they
were prosecuted in various
ways. Some were stoned, some
were beaten, and some were
even killed, in much the same
4 Il A.