Messiah in Yom HaBikkurim Chapter 58
Parable #39. Faithful & Unfaithful Sons:
- Today is Day #39
- The Thirty-ninth Mashal of Messiah
- Israel is the Vineyard of Adonai
- The Last end up First and the First end up Last
- The Outcasts enter first and the Insiders don’t enter at all!
Today is Day #39:
1. Today is “Day #39” in the forty-nine day Countdown to Shavuot.
2. Today is Thirty-nine days in the Omer.
Today is thirty-nine days which are five weeks and four days in the Omer.
היום תשעה ושלושים יום, שהם חמישה שבועות וארבעה ימים בעומר. פ
Haiyom tish’ah ushloshim yom, shehaym chamishah shavuot ve-arba’ah yamim ba’omer.
“You shall count for yourselves — from the day after the Shabbat, from the day when you bring the Omer of the waving — seven Shabbats, they shall be complete. Until the day after the seventh sabbath you shall count, fifty days.” (Leviticus). “You shall count for yourselves seven weeks, from when the sickle is first put to the standing crop shall you begin counting seven weeks. Then you will observe the Festival of Shavu’ot for Adonai Eloheinu.” (Deuteronomy).
“Blessed are You, Adonai Eloheinu, King of the universe, Who sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to count the Omer.”
ברוך אתה, אדוני אלוהינו, מלך העולם, אשר קדשנו במצוותיו וציוונו על ספירת העומר.פ
Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, melech ha’olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al sefirat ha’omer.
The Thirty-ninth Mashal of Messiah:
Mashal
אֲבָל מַה־דַּעְתְּכֶם אִישׁ הָיָה וְלוֹ שְׁנֵי בָנִים וַיִּגַּשׁ אֶל־הָרִאשׁוֹן וַיֹּאמֶר בְּנִי לֵךְ הַיּוֹם וַעֲבֹד בְּכַרְמִי׃ וַיַּעַן וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא חָפַצְתִּי וְאַחֲרֵי־כֵן נִחַם וַיֵּלַךְ׃ וַיִּגַּשׁ אֶל־הַשֵׁנִי וַיְדַבֵּר כָּזֹאת גַּם־אֵלָיו וַיַּעַן וַיֹּאמֶר הִנְנִי אֲדֹנִי וְלֹא הָלָךְ׃
אבל מה דעתכם: לאיש היו שני בנים. הוא נגש אל הראשון ואמר, בני, לך לעבד היום בכרם. השיב הראשון, אינני רוצה, אבל לאחר מכן התחרט והלך. נגש אל השני ואמר לו אותו דבר. השיב השני, כן, אדוני’ ולא הלך. פ
[Mattai 21:28] But what do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He approached the older one (the first) and said, “My son, go and work in my vineyard today.” But he (the first son) answered and said, “I do not want to,” but afterward he regretted it and went. Then he approached the second (son) and said the same thing to him as well. He answered and said, “Yes, sir,” but he did not go.”
Nimshal
מִי מִשְׁנֵיהֶם עָשָׂה אֶת־רְצוֹן אָבִיו וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלָיו הָרִאשׁוֹן וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם יֵשׁוּעַ אָמֵן אֹמֵר אֲנִי לָכֶם הַמּוֹכְסִים וְהַזּוֹנוֹת יְקַדְּמוּ אֶתְכֶם לָבוֹא אֶל־מַלְכוּת הָאֱלֹהִים׃ כִּי יוֹחָנָן בָּא אֲלֵיכֶם בְּדֶרֶך צְדָקָה וְלֹא הֶאֱמַנְתֶּם לוֹ וְהַמּוֹכְסִים וְהַזּוֹנוֹת הֵם הֶאֱמִינוּ לוֹ וְאַתֶּם רְאִיתֶם וְלֹא נִחַמְתֶּם אַחֲרֵי־כֵן לְהַאֲמִין לוֹ׃
מי משניהם עשה את רצון האב? השיבו: הראשון. אמר להם ישוע: אמן. אומר אני לכם, המוכסים והזונות יבואו לפניכם למלכות האלוהים, כי יוחנן בא אליכם בדרך צדקה ולא האמנתם לו, אבל המוכסים והזונות האמינו לו. אתם לעמת זאת ראיתם ולא חזרתם בכם אחרי כן להאמין לו. פ
[Mattai 21:31] “Which of the two did the will of his father?” They (the leading priests and elders) said to him, “The first.” (The Messiah) Yeshua said to them: “Amen, I say to you, the tax collectors and prostitutes will come before you to the kingdom of God, for Yochanan came to you in the way of righteousness (דרך צדקה-derekh tzedakah) and you (the Tzedukim and Prushim) did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. You have seen this and you have not come back after that to believe him.”
Israel is the Vineyard of Adonai:
In the mashal of the “Faithful & Unfaithful Sons” a father communicates to his two sons to go and work in his vineyard. The first son, who is the eldest son, said he would not go but later he “regretted” his decision, changed his mind, and he ended up doing the opposite of what he originally said:
The firstborn son who initially said “no” to his father at the last went to work in the vineyard.
The second son, who is the youngest, the Father asked him also to work in the vineyard and he responded immediately with, “I will, sir.” Yet this second (youngest) son never followed through. Apparently he changed his mind. So he too ended up doing the opposite of what he originally said. This means:
The second born son who initially said “yes sir” to his father at the last did not go to work in the vineyard.
Therefore, the Messiah asked, “Which of the two did the will of his father?” The obvious answer was that it was the firstborn eldest son who obeyed the father. In his follow-up remarks to the mashal the Messiah said:
“Amen (truly) I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of Adonai before you. For the ‘Grace of Adonai’ (Yochanan the prophet) came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.”
The Last end up First and the First end up Last:
The Messiah is saying here that the elite Jewish religious leaders as a group are the second born son. Is this not interesting? In all of the meshalim (parables and riddles) we have studied thus far the hyper-orthodox religious leaders (Prushim) have always been identified as the firstborn. But not here. Here the pious ones (אָדוּק-orthodox Jews) are the second born son. How can this be? How can the tax-collectors and prostitutes become the firstborn? Answer:
The *birth order is now determined by who enters into the kingdom of God first; therefore, the first to believe in the Besorah of God’s Chanan (Grace) is now the firstborn!
*See Yochanan 3:4 (rebirth); also Genesis 48; see Manasseh and Ephraim (when firstborn becomes second born son).
Point #1. At the first the non-religious Yehudim (the tax collectors and prostitutes) were not interested in serving Adonai Avinu (God our Father) in His Vineyard. They did not believe in the message of the prophet Yochanan regarding the way of righteousness (charity: the mercy, grace, kindness, and compassion of God). Yet later they regretted their decision and believed Yochanan ben Zechariah (the “”Grace of Adonai, Remembered”) and they entered “first” (they became the firstborn/firstfruits of Israel) in the service of the Vineyard (the New Yisra’el) of the kingdom of God .
Point #2. At the first the hyper-religious priestly and rabbinical Yehudim enthusiastically said they were very interested in serving God our Father in His Vineyard. However later they chose not to keep their promise; even when they had seen that their non-religious (traitorous and also immoral) fellow *Jews had changed their minds and were already serving in the Vineyard of God our Father.
*This prophetically means today: the secular, agnostic, immoral, and atheist Yehudim will enter (believe in) the kingdom of Heaven before the pious, hyper-orthodox Jews will..
What did the priests (righteous ones) and the Prushim (separated ones) do that caused their firstborn (elder) status to be lost?
The Tzedukim and Prushim are the ones who at the beginning of the kingdom of Heaven ever so politely promised Avinu Shebashamayim that they would do His will but they never actually ended up doing His will. These persons are the ones who from the start refused to believe and obey the words of the prophet of the Grace of Adonai, Yochanan ben Zecharyah ben Aaron and they are the ones from the start who refused to believe and obey the words of our Messiah, who Adonai sent in His *Name (ה’).
*The Messiah’s Hebrew name (יֵשׁוּעַ) is a compound word that means: “Salvation of Adonai” (ה’ ישועה של-Salvation of HaShem).
In stark contrast to the Jewish religious elite, the secular and non-religious (even traitorous and immoral) Yehudim of the past and now the present are now the ones most likely to enlist in the service of the redemptive work (Vineyard) of Avinu Shebashamayim. Therefore, the great irony in the history of Israel thus far, from the first century (CE) until now, is that it has been the non-religious Yehudim – the religious “outcasts” – who have been and continue to be most receptive to the teachings of the Messiah Yeshua. Therefore it is a true saying:
“The last has become the first and the first has become the last!”
Why is this? We believe the estranged secular, non-practicing Jews (religious outcasts) of the modern era are more receptive to the redemptive teachings of the Messiah today because they are not moved by a message that compels them to love Adonai Eloheinu before He loves them. In short, it is our agnostic and atheist Jewish brothers and sisters who have always been most responsive to the message of God’s love and grace; not the pious ones.
It is the common people that God’s Message of Grace appeals to the most. This is not just true of Jews; it is true of the Gentiles as well. This means most of humanity today refuses to believe in anyone or anything that is more of a judgmental threat to them than a gracious, loving help (cf. chesed, ahavah, and chen). Those persons today who live in darkness, who presently are materialists who do not believe in God, they especially are interested in the possible existence of a Divine Being who actually loves them. The depiction of God as a loving *Father is the one that is represented in all of the meshalim (parables, proverbs, riddles) of the Messiah. For it is written:
*He is Avi-khol – “The Father of All.”
כי כה אהב אלהים את העולם עד כי נתן את בנו יחידו למען לא יאבד כל המאמין בו, אלא ינחל חיי עולם. פ
For God (Abba Avinu, our Loving Father) so loved the world (all of humankind) that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but will inherit eternal life.
The Outcasts enter first and the Insiders don’t enter at all!
Tragically, hyper-orthodox Judaism has replaced the Messiah’s Message of universal Divine Redemption with their own religious system, their own oral laws (man-made rules and traditions) that are made up out of their own unconscious prideful ambitions.
These man-made laws are not positive supplements or positive revisions to the Divine revelation of the Jewish prophets and Messiah. They are destructive substitutes.
The vain philosophies and empty deceits of men have become a replacement for the Divinely inspired words of our Jewish prophets and our (Israel’s) Savior of all men (HaMoshia l’chol Adam).
Our hyper-Orthodox Jewish replacement (religious) system has led to the actual gracious, loving Presence of Abba Avinu being ignored and even replaced by an ever-growing assortment of useless laws and rituals (faking good).
The hyper-legalistic systems of rabbinic Judaism—as well as the hyper-legalistic systems of Christianity and Islam—have thus far successfully supplanted the actual writings of Moses, the (real) prophets and the (real) Messiah. Most importantly they have replaced the leadership and guidance of the Spirit of the Holy One.
These religious systems have become extensions of the dead-end faith of human pride and vanity. Rightfully so, most people do not want anything to do with organized religion. Most people today are very much sick of religion.
It is to this modern religiously indifferent “majority“ that the Spirit of the Loving Father is now most graciously speaking to today.
So what kind of son (or daughter) are you? Are you the first secular, non-religious, honest eldest son who ends-up at the end saying “yes” to the grace, mercy and love of *Abba Avinu? Or are you the second very legalistic and highly pious son (or daughter) who initially fakes being good, promises to serve in the Vineyard of Adonai (our Father) but at the close of the day ends-up saying “no” to the very gracious will and loving Presence of *Abba Avinu? (?מה דעתכם) What do you think? What say you?
*The God of heaven (إِلَهُ ٱلسَّمَاءِ), the Father of us All (אבא של כולנו).