two sons - sundayschoolsources.com

1 Two SonsMatthew 21:28-32 What do you think? A man had two sons; hewent to the first and said, Son, go and work in thevineyard today. He answered, I will not ; but laterhe changed his mind and went. The father went tothe second and said the same; and he answered, Igo, sir ; but he did not of the two did the will of his father? Theysaid, The first. Jesus said to them, Truly I tell you, the tax collec-tors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom ofGod ahead of you. For John came to you in the wayof righteousness and you did not believe him, but thetax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; andeven after you saw it, you did not change your mindsand believe from Bible ClipsWorking in the VineyardThe grape harvest in Biblical times was veryimportant.

2 Grape vines were best planted on ahillside. The grapes would catch the sun well there,and the rain would run off the slope. Often thehillside would be stepped into a series of littleterraces running along the slope. The edge of eachterrace was maarked with a wall of stones planting new vines, the farmer broke up thesoil with his hoe. Then he planted out the vines,leaving plenty of room between them. While somevines grew along the ground, others needed sticks toclimb the winter the farmer cut out dead orbroken branches. This left the healthy branches togrow and bear HarvestWhen the grapes were ready to pick, in July,august or September, the farmer s family often wentto live in a watchtower among the vines.

3 At nightthey could guard the grapes from thieves, andduring the day they picked the grapes, collect-ing them in big grape harvest was afestival time. there was muchsinging and dancing as well asplenty of hard the GrapesSome of the grapes wereeaten fresh. Some grapes werecrushed to make fresh grape-juice. Yet other grapes were spread out to dry in thesun to make raisins. But most of the grapes werepressed to make from The Kregel Pictorial guide toEveryday Life in Bible Times by Tim Dowley. Listen to another parable. There was a landownerwho planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug awine press in it, and built a watchtower.

4 Then heleased it to tenants and went to another the harvest time had come, he sent his slavesto the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenantsseized his slaves and beat one, killed another, andstoned another. Again he sent other slaves, morethan the first; and they treated them in the same he sent his son to them, saying, They willrespect my son. But when the tenants saw the son,they said to themselves, This is the heir; come, let uskill him and get his inheritance. So they seized him,threw him out of the vineyard, and killed when the owner of the vineyard comes, whatwill he do to those tenants?

5 They said to him, Hewill put those wretches to a miserable death, andlease the vineyard to other tenants who will give himthe produce at the harvest time. Jesus said to them, Have you never read in thescriptures: The stone that the builders rejectedhas become the cornerstone;this was the Lord s doing,and it is amazing in oureyes ?Therefore I tell you, the kingdom ofGod will be taken away from you andgiven to a people that produces thefruits of the kingdom. The one who fallson this stone will be broken to pieces;and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.

6 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard hisparables, they realized that he was speaking aboutthem. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared thecrowds, because they regarded him as a 21:33-46 The Rebellious