Chapter Twenty
Lk. 20:1. On one of those days, when He was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and scribes came up with the elders,
Lk. 20:2. And they said to Him: Tell us, by what authority do You do these things, or who is it that gave You this authority?
The Lord, having entered Jerusalem with glory, as proof of His authority does that which cleanses the house of His Father from traders (Lk 19:45–46). He did this also at the beginning of His preaching, as the evangelist John says (Jn 2:13–18). And now He does the same again, a second time. This serves as a greater accusation against the Jews, that they were not brought to their senses by His first open admonition, but continued trading in the temple and called Him an opponent of God, whereas He honors the Father and God to such a degree that He cleanses His house from traders. In reproach of them He also brings forward the words of Isaiah: "My house shall be called a house of prayer" (Is 56:7). But they foolishly ask Him: "By what authority do You do these things?" Yet it was possible for them to understand that since He brought forward the words of the prophet as testimony that the house of God is a house of prayer, and not a marketplace and a den of robbers (for greed and trading are characteristic of robbers), then what need, after all, is there to ask Him by what authority He does these things, when one can directly conclude that God so commands through the prophet? But they ask: "By what authority do You do these things?" The Law, they say, granted the right to manage the temple to those descended from Levi; how then do You, who are not descended from the tribe of Levi, do this and seize sacred rights? But, O Jews, remember the words of David: "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek" (Ps 109:4). Melchizedek is called a priest. And Melchizedek was a priest neither according to the Law nor by descent from the tribe of Levi. For how could this be, when he lived so many years before Levi? Then, why do you demand from Christ a legal procedure? God is not subject to laws. When it was necessary, He commanded that the priests be from the tribe of Levi, but now He abolishes that law and foreordains the priesthood of Melchizedek. Therefore He also drives out those selling sacrificial animals, such as sheep and doves — on the one hand, to preserve the beauty and decorum of the temple, and on the other, to show that one should no longer believe in the propitiation of God through animal sacrifices. Thus, it would have been easy for the Lord to answer them that "so it is said," and to say that so the prophet commands, or rather, God.
Lk. 20:3. He said to them in answer: I will also ask you about one thing, and tell Me:
Lk. 20:4. Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men?
Lk. 20:5. They reasoned among themselves, saying: if we say, "From heaven," He will say, "Why then did you not believe him?"
Lk. 20:6. But if we say, "From men," then all the people will stone us, for they are convinced that John is a prophet.
Lk. 20:7. And they answered that they did not know whence it was.
Lk. 20:8. Jesus said to them: Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
However, in order to expose them for their constant resistance to the Holy Spirit and for their unwillingness to believe not only the ancient prophet Isaiah, who had perhaps been forgotten by them, but also John, who had appeared so recently and was almost immaterial and incorporeal, He in turn gives them a real and admirable question in response to their question. With this question He both silences them and shows us that if they did not believe such a prophet as John, who in their opinion was greater than He, when John testified concerning Him, then how would they have believed His answer as to by what authority He does these things? For whatever He might have said, they could in any case have twisted it and mocked it, just as they had also despised the words of John, who was held in great esteem among them.
Lk. 20:9. And He began to speak to the people this parable: A certain man planted a vineyard and let it out to husbandmen, and went away for a long time;
This parable is brief, but it teaches us much that is great, namely: that God had and showed a special providence toward the Hebrews, that they have long been inclined to murder, that the God of the Old and New Testaments is one, that the Gentiles will be brought in, and the Jews rejected. The vineyard is the Jewish church itself, the vinedressers are the scribes and Pharisees, those leading men and overseers of the people. Or: each person in himself is both vineyard and vinedresser, for each of us cultivates himself. The Lover of mankind, having given this vineyard to the workers, "went away," that is, He left them to act according to their own free will.
Lk. 20:10. And in due time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard; but the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed.
Lk. 20:11. He sent yet another servant; but they, having beaten and insulted this one too, sent him away empty-handed.
Lk. 20:12. And he sent a third; and they wounded him also, and cast him out.
He sends various "servants," that is, prophets, so as to have at least some small profit; for He desired, it says, to receive "some of the fruit," and not all the fruit. And what fruit is there from us to God, if not the knowledge of Him? And this is our gain; yet He counts our salvation and our benefit as His own. The wicked tenants mistreated those who were sent, beat them, and sent them away empty-handed, that is, they reached such ingratitude that they not only turned away from good and gave no good fruit, but also committed evil, which deserves greater punishment.
Lk. 20:13. Then the lord of the vineyard said: What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps when they see him, they will be ashamed.
Lk. 20:14. But the vinedressers, seeing him, reasoned among themselves, saying: This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.
After the prophets had endured such terrible evil, the Son is sent. "Perhaps," He says, "they will be ashamed" before My Son. He says "they will be ashamed" not because He does not know the future — namely, that they will treat Him far worse than the prophets — but because this is how it should have been: they should have been ashamed before Him. But if they were so shameless that they even killed Him, this serves as a greater accusation against them, because even after God declared that it would have been good to be ashamed before the Son, they rendered the opposite verdict. This manner of speaking is found in many places of Scripture, for example: "Perhaps... they will listen" (Jer. 26:3); "whether they will listen" (Ezek. 2:5, 3:11). In these places God speaks this way not out of ignorance of the future, but He uses such a manner of expression so that no one would say that God's foreknowledge was the necessary cause of their disobedience.
Lk. 20:15. And having cast him out of the vineyard, they killed him.
They "killed" the Son, "casting him out of the vineyard." One could fittingly say: out of Jerusalem, for Christ suffered "outside the gate" (Heb. 13:12). But since above we understood the vineyard to mean the people, and not Jerusalem, it is perhaps more to the point to say that the people did kill Him, but outside the vineyard, that is, they did not put Him to death with their own hands, but by handing Him over to Pilate and the Gentiles. Thus, the Lord suffered outside the vineyard, that is, not at the hands of the people, for they were not permitted to put anyone to death, and so He died at the hands of the soldiers. Some understood the vineyard to mean the Scriptures. Thus, the Lord suffered outside the Scriptures, that is, He was killed by those who did not believe Moses. For if they had believed Moses and occupied themselves with the Scriptures, searching them, they would not have killed the Master of the Scriptures.
Lk. 20:15. What then will the lord of the vineyard do with them?
Lk. 20:16. He will come and destroy those vinedressers, and will give the vineyard to others.
Having said this, He adds also the sentence which He is about to pronounce upon them, namely: that "He will give the vineyard to others," that is, He will give to others that grace of being called My people. Note: those who say that the vineyard signifies the Scripture seem to guess the meaning more closely, as appears from here. For the Scripture, taken away from the Jews, was handed over to us. And another, bolder person might perhaps say that the vineyard is everything spiritual, whether it be contained in Scripture and laws, or in deeds and histories, all of which the Jews were deprived of, while we enjoy it.