Lord's Vineyard in the Book of Isaiah and Gospel of Matthew

 Jeffrey A. Gibbs in his commentary on Matthew summarizes parallels between Is. 5 - "song about the vineyard" and parable of the wicked tenants (Mt. 21:33-44). We also need to remember that this passage is a part of a longer pericope (see below). 

	Isaiah 5:1-7	Matthew 21:33-44
1.	The owner carefully plants and provides for a fruitful vineyard.	The owner carefully plants and provides for a fruitful vineyard.
2.	there is no mention of others who tend the vineyard for the owner.	The owner lets out the vineyard to tenant farmers. These figures become central.
3.	Despite the owner's efforts, a problem present itself. Instead of producing good grapes, the vineyard produced bitter ones.	Despite the owner's efforts, a problem presents itself. When the owner sends two successive groups of slaves to receive fruit, the tenant farmers violently abuse the slaves and (implicitly) refuse to give the fruit. The tenants even go so far as to murder the owner's son, with the vain hope of owning the vineyard themselves.
4.	the response to the problem is to lay waste to the vineyard.	the response to the problem is to kill the wicked tenant farmers and give care of the vineyard to other, more faithful, farmers.

Jeffrey A. Gibbs, Matthew 21:1 - 28:20, Concordia Publishing House (2018), p. 1090. 

In the v. 23 of chapter 21 we enter into the Temple. Then 22:1 begins a new set of parables - and again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying... Therefore it is very appropriate to consider 21:23-46 holistically. 

1. A. 23-27, Initial question of High Priests and elders. No action on their part - afraid of the crowd.  

2.   B. 28-32, Parable of the sons in the vineyard + discussion.  

3.   B'. 33-44, Parable of the tenants of the vineyard + discussion.  

4. A'. 45-46, Reaction of the High Priests and the Pharisees. No action on their part - feared the crowd.    

Structure of Mt. 21:23-46

 It looks like two of our last Gospel reading (for Sept. 27 and Oct. 4, 2020 - Mt. 21:23-27 [28-32] and Mt. 21:33-46 respectfully) form a single structural unit. The last one (vv. 33-46) is introduced by the phrase " Hear ANOTHER parable". Which means that "the story" of two sons invited to work in Dad's vineyard should be treated like a parable too. Along with this there is a definite word parallelism between what the High Priests are thinking about John the Baptist and their reasoning behind NOT arresting Jesus (v. 26 and 46). 

A. vv. 23-27, Initial question of High Priests. No action taken (partially) - they were afraid of the crowd who considered John the Baptist to be a prophet. 

  B. vv. 28-32, Parable of the sons invited to work in the vineyard with follow up discussion who will go into the Kingdom.

  B'. vv. 33-44, Parable of the tenants in the vineyard with follow up discussion about the producing of fruits in the Kingdom.        

A'. vv. 45-46, Reaction of High Priests. No action taken because they were afraid of the crowd who hold Jesus to be a prophet.   

If this structure is correct, there is an interesting parallelism between the tax collectors and the prostitutes (vv. 31-32) and people who are producing fruits in the Kingdom (v. 43). The fruits of the Kingdom are not the status in the society or riches, but repentance, believe and change of mind(set). 

Evil Eye in Matthew 20

 In our September 20th Gospel reading (Mt. 20:1-16) there is a mentioning of Evil Eye (v. 15 - ESV puts it as "do you begrudge my generosity?"). It was (and in some places still IS) a deep rooted cultural construct in the Ancient World. I'll give you just a few examples where it is mentioned in the Bible: Deut. 15:9,10; Pr. 23:6 [ESV stingy - lit. whose eye is evil], Mt. 6:22-23. 

In this connection I need to refer to one name: Rev. Dr. John H. Elliott is Professor Emeritus of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco. He published the 4 vols. on "Beware the Evil Eye: The Evil Eye in the Bible and the Ancient World", Cascade Books, Eugene, Oregon (2016). His third volume is "the Bible and related sources", where he spent 30 pages (pp. 168-198) on our text from Matthew. His observations are based on variety of sources - Biblical, rabbinical, Greek Ancient philosophy, Church Fathers etc.

To boil down his conclusion: (1) the reference to the Evil Eye should not be dismissed or substituted in translation due to it's importance as a "technical term"; (2) there is a very strong connection between Evil Eye and  envy [envy itself should not be mistakenly take as jealousy - two very different things]; (3) reading the parable (of the owner and the workers in the vineyard) with connection to Evil Eye helps to see the stability in the structure of the story as a whole presented by Jesus; (4) the story presents God's generosity as something that fights and overtakes not only "spiritual" shortcomings  of human existence, but social and psychological as well.

Structure of the Gospel of Matthew

 Going through some material I recently came across this structural analysis of the Gospel of Matthew as a whole. It is done by H.C. van Zyl - a South African theologian who published his article in Neotestamentica (Van Zyl, H C. “STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF MATTHEW 18.” Neotestamentica, vol. 16, 1982, pp. 35–55. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43049277. Accessed 10 Sept. 2020.). 

To provide a macrocontext for his understanding of Mt. 18 his presents the work of Lohr, Ellis and Vorster who believe that Matthew composed his Gospel following way:   

A. 1-4, Narrative: birth and beginnings 

 B. 5-7, discourse: beatitudes, entry into the kingdom

  C. 8-9, narrative: authority and invitation 

   D. 10, discourse: mission 

    E. 11-12, narrative: rejection by this generation

     F. 13, discourse: parables of the kingdom 

    E'. 14-17, narrative: recognition by disciples

   D'. 18, discourse: church order

  C'. 19-22, narrative: authority and invitation

 B'. 23-25, discourse: "woe to" sayings, coming of the kingdom

A'. 26-28, narrative: death and "rebirth" (resurrection)

I believe it is very helpful tool that can help Bible students to grasp the plot and the flow of the Gospel. 

Gen. 50-15-20

 This is one of those times when consideration of the structure of the passage might reveal important truths. 

A. v. 15, Brothers "see father" dead and say to Joseph (double action)

  B. v. 16, they send a message* 

    C. v. 17a, Please forgive servants of God.     

      D. v. 17b, Joseph wept*

    C'. v. 18, Brothers: we are your servants.

  B'. v. 19-21a, Joseph's response to "father's" message

A'. v. 21b, He comported them and spoke kindly (double action).  

 

* Joseph weeps 7 time throughout the story (Gen. 37 - 50): 

1. 42:24 - 1st time seeing brothers

2. 43:30 - 2nd visit - banquet with brothers

3. 45:2 - "I am Joseph" 

4. 45:14 - Joseph weeps over Benjamin 

5. 45:15 - Joseph weeps over his brothers

6. 50:1 - Death of Jacob

7. 50:17 - Brothers try to trick him to forgive them. 

Rev. Thomas Whitelaw, D.D. puts it this way: "[Joseph weeps] pained that they for single moment have entertained such suspicions against his love". (The Pulpit Commentary, Genesis, Funk & Wagnalls Company, London and New York, 1944, p. 539).  

Rom. 3:23

 We all know Rom. 3:23 - some of us probably know it by heart - "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". 

There is a device in speech or writing called palindrome. Palindrome is a set of words or even sentences that can be read forward and backwards the same way. On of the most basic examples would be a word "racecar". 

Yet recently I saw an amazing theologically based palindrome - I am happy to share it with you: 

Dennis, Nell, Edna, Leon, Nedra, Anita, Rolf, Nora, Alice, Carol, Leo, Jane, Reed, Dena, Dale, Basil, Rae, Penny, Lana, Dave, Denny, Lena, Ida, Bernadette, Ben, Ray, Lila, Nina, Jo, Ira, Mara, Sara, Mario, Jan, Ina, Lily, Arne, Bette, Dan, Reba, Diane, Lynn, Ed, Eva, Dana, Lynne, Pearl, Isabel, Ada, Ned, Dee, Rena, Joel, Lora, Cecil, Aaron, Flora, Tina, Arden, Noel, and Ellen sinned.

Yes, even those who's name are not on the list have sinned too - that's why we have a Great Redeemer who died for everyone. But isn't this beautiful - 63 words, 263 letters - perfect palindrome that depicts a deep theological truth!   

Source: https://www.wordgenius.com/7-palindromes-that-will-make-your-head-hurt/Xr0yWBPAJQAG8w-K?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1141261102

Children in the Worship

 Ran across an interesting article that gives a helpful tips how to help children to get used to a "worship behavior" :) 

https://founders.org/2017/05/09/how-to-help-your-kids-in-corporate-worship/

The only thing I can add is kids WILL test your boundaries - they WILL do thing that you forbade them to do. Just - be prepared! As adults you might wanna discuss beforehand HOW are you going to react if this or that happens. Also, it is very helpful for you as a family when mom and dad present a "united front". Then kids will be less tempted to manipulate one of the parents into his/her "great ideas".