11. According to Jesus’ parable of the vineyard, what kind of treatment was the Messiah to receive at the hands of the cultivators at the time of the vintage?

¹¹ The time was due for the vintage of this symbolic national “vine” when Jesus the Son of God came as the anointed one, or Messiah, in 29 C.E. What would be the fruitage that he as God’s representative would gather from this “vine”? On Nisan 11, 33 C.E., three days before the close of his public ministry of three years and a half, Jesus illustrated the kind of reception that he would get, by telling a parable. Directing this to the chief priests and the elders in the temple by way of comment on their objections to his activities and teachings, he said:

“Hear another illustration: There was a man, a householder, who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and erected a tower, and let it out to cultivators, and traveled abroad. When the season of the fruits came around, he dispatched his slaves to the cultivators to get his fruits. However, the cultivators took his slaves, and one they beat up, another they killed, another they stoned. Again he dispatched other slaves, more than the first, but they did the same to these. Lastly he dispatched his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ On seeing the son the cultivators said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance!’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those cultivators? . . .

“ . . . Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone that the builders rejected is the one that has become the chief cornerstone. From Jehovah this has come to be, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? This is why I say to you, The kingdom of God will be taken from you and be given to a nation producing its fruits. Also, the person falling upon this stone will be shattered. As for anyone upon whom it falls, it will pulverize him.”​—Matt. 21:33-44.

12. What fruitage did the cultivators of the typical national vineyard fail to offer, and so how would God make sure of receiving the right kind of fruitage?

¹² What fruitage should the Israelite cultivators of Jehovah’s national “vineyard” have offered to his Son Jesus Christ? It should have been faith in the Son as the true, promised Messiah and the acceptance of him as the Son of the One who planted and owned the national “vineyard” of Israel. If they had rendered such kind of fruitage to the Son of God, it would have resulted in their being taken into the real Messianic kingdom of God. Because they did not produce the fruitage that should have marked the typical kingdom of God in Israel, the privilege of being God’s kingdom was to be taken from them as a nation. Hence, another nation of “vineyard” cultivators was to be created. This new nation would produce fruits suitable for God’s kingdom. Those cultivators would render the due fruits to the Divine Planter and Owner of this vineyard.

13. (a) What did the Jewish “vineyard” cultivators think they could do by seizing the inheritance of the Owner’s Son? (b) What did Jesus say would happen to the royal stone that the builders of a structure rejected?

¹³ In God’s determination of those who should enjoy the privileges of his Messianic kingdom, the important thing is “fruits.” The Jewish cultivators thought that, by withholding the rightly expected fruits and even killing Jesus the “heir” of God’s kingdom, they could grab his inheritance. They thought that they could maintain themselves in the rulership of the typical kingdom of God, under the covenant of the Mosaic law. (John 11:47-53) But not so, according to the conclusion drawn from Jesus’ parable. (Matt. 21:41) What did Jesus say about the royal Stone that the builders of a structure for God had rejected just the day previous after his triumphal ride into Jerusalem? It would be made the chief cornerstone in God’s new royal structure, the heavenly “kingdom of God.”

14. Why did Jesus not think it to be pointless for him to give the parable of the vine and the branches shortly before his arrest at Gethsemane?

¹⁴ As regards “the true vine” that Jehovah God had planted and was cultivating, Jesus knew that this could not be deadened, even though the Jewish cultivators of the typical national “vine” were allowed to put him to death later on Passover day. Hence, even though it was just before his going to the garden of Gethsemane and being arrested, Jesus did not think it to be pointless for him to give to his disciples the parable of the vine and the branches.

15. According to John 15:1-5, who is the cultivator of “the true vine,” and what does he do to the branches according to whether they bear fruit or not?

¹⁵ “I am the true vine,” said Jesus, “and my Father is the cultivator. Every branch in me not bearing fruit he takes away, and every one bearing fruit he cleans, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Remain in union with me, and I in union with you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remains in the vine, in the same way neither can you, unless you remain in union with me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He that remains in union with me, and I in union with him, this one bears much fruit; because apart from me you can do nothing at all.”​—John 15:1-5.

THE PLANTING AND CULTIVATING

16, 17. (a) When did Jehovah plant “the true vine,” and how? (b) How was Jesus Christ one greater than the patriarch Jacob, and when were “branches” produced on the “true vine”?

¹⁶ When did the great Vine Culturist plant this fruitful vine? It was in the year 29 C.E., at the time that he anointed the newly baptized Jesus with his holy spirit. (Isa. 61:1, 2) Then it was that Jehovah established the central stalk of the symbolic “vine” of the Messianic kingdom. Here we recall that the typical kingdom of Israel stemmed from the patriarch Jacob, who was surnamed Israel. He became father to twelve sons, from whom the twelve tribes of Israel sprang. (Acts 7:8-14) Thus Jesus Christ corresponded to Jacob.

¹⁷ This Greater Jacob was the central vine stalk. He chose twelve apostles, who became prospective “branches” for this spiritual “vine.” (John 15:16; 6:70) That is why, on that Passover night, he called them “branches.” But 51 days later, on the day of Pentecost, twelve faithful apostles were anointed with holy spirit. In this way they became twelve secondary foundations for the new nation of spiritual Israel. On them, the heavenly New Jerusalem is built. (Rev. 21:14; Eph. 2:20) However, on that day of Pentecost the others of that group of about 120 disciples were among the first to receive the holy spirit and speak in tongues, and by this they too were made “branches” in that spiritual “vine,” Jesus Christ.

18. What opportunity did natural Israel not seize, as set out in Exodus 19:6, 7, and to whom does Peter apply the words of that divine statement?

¹⁸ There the new nation, spiritual Israel, came into being. Natural Israel as a nation had not seized the opportunity that Jehovah, by means of his mediator Moses, had set before it according to Exodus 19:6, 7. So the words of that divine statement were applied by the apostle Peter to members of the new nation of spiritual Israel. Where? In his first inspired letter, at 1 Peter 2:9, 10, where it is written: “But you are ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for special possession, that you should declare abroad the excellencies, of the one that called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. For you were once not a people, but are now God’s people; you were those who had not been shown mercy, but are now those who have been shown mercy.”

19. After Isaiah 5:5-7 was fulfilled, what happened to the nation of spiritual Israel, and why did Jehovah give it no less attention than he gave to the typical “vineyard” of Israel?

¹⁹ Happily, the Christian nation of spiritual Israel continued to flourish after Jehovah carried out his words of warning set out in Isaiah 5:5-7, upon the symbolic “vineyard” of natural Israel. As the Cultivator of what he planted, he gives the needed attention to the “branches” of the “true vine,” Jesus Christ, no less than he gave the former “vineyard” of natural Israel down till 33 C.E. He does so for the purpose of keeping a clean, productive set of “branches” that are disciples of Jesus Christ. Suckers and dead wood should have no place among those “clean” branches. That is why, in his parable, Jesus said to his faithful apostles: “Every branch in me not bearing fruit he takes away, and everyone bearing fruit he cleans, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.”​—John 15:2, 3.

1. By Jehovah’s words at Ezekiel 15:1-5, what did he indicate to be the primary purpose of a grapevine?

WHAT, really, is the purpose of a grapevine? Long ago the Planter of the first grapevine asked his prophet Ezekiel about this, in these words: “Son of man, in what way does the vine tree happen to be different from every other tree, the shoot, that has come to be among the trees of the forest? Is there taken from it a pole with which to do some work? Or do people take from it a peg on which to hang any kind of utensil? . . . Look! When it happens to be intact, it is not used for any work.” (Ezek. 15:1-5) Clearly, then, the primary purpose of the grapevine is to bear fruit, the luscious grapes from which wine is made.​—Judg. 9:13.

2. In harmony with that purpose of the vine, what did Jesus say in John 15:16 was his thought in choosing those apostolic “branches”?

² Wine entered into the celebration of the last Passover of Jesus with his apostles. After that supper he gave his own illustration of the “true vine” and its “branches.” With this in mind he could say to his eleven faithful apostles: “You did not choose me, but I chose you, and I appointed you to go on and keep bearing fruit and that your fruit should remain; in order that no matter what you ask the Father [the Planter of the vine] in my name he might [in view of your bearing fruit] give it to you.”​—John 15:16.

3. Why is the pruning of a vine done seasonally, and what lesson should this convey to an appreciative “branch” in the “true vine”?

³ That it might bear fruit to the full, the grapevine is pruned every season. It is like what Jesus as the spiritual “vine” said: “Every branch in me not bearing fruit he takes away. . . . If anyone does not remain in union with me, he is cast out as a branch and is dried up; and men gather those branches up and pitch them into the fire and they are burned.” (John 15:2, 6) What lesson, then, does this convey to us? Well, if any one of us is a “branch” in the spiritual “vine” and values his privilege, he will not want to get pruned off. So it behooves him to bear fruit​—much of it!

THE FRUIT

4. What is the “fruit,” as indicated in the case of Isaiah 5:7?

⁴ What, though, is the fruit? The fruit, the grapes, does not picture the disciples of Christ. The branches are what picture the spirit-begotten disciples. What the fruit borne by the branches does picture the inspired Scriptures indicate. For example, when Jehovah compared ancient Israel to a vineyard, he named the fruit for which he was looking. He said: “The vineyard of Jehovah of armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plantation of which he was fond. And he kept hoping for judgment, but, look! the breaking of law; for righteousness, but, look! an outcry [like that of ancient Sodom].”​—Isa. 5:7; Gen. 18:21; 19:13.

5. In Jesus’ day, what weightier things of God’s Law were the religious leaders neglecting, and what were they teaching as doctrines?

⁵ So, as part of the fruit of that typical “vineyard” of Israel, what was looked for by Jehovah the Planter was judgment (involving justice) and righteousness, the opposite of lawbreaking and scandalous conduct. Judgment and righteousness were missing in Israel in Jesus’ day. Shortly before he was martyred at Jerusalem he said to the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees: “You give the tenth of the mint and the dill and the cummin, but you have disregarded the weightier matters of the Law, namely, justice and mercy and faithfulness.” (Matt. 23:23) On the matter of the breaking of God’s Law, Jesus further said: “You [Pharisees and scribes] have made the word of God invalid because of your tradition.” “They teach commands of men as doctrines.”​—Matt. 15:6, 9.

6, 7. (a) As in the case of natural Israel, what fruit should be looked for on the “branches” of the “true vine,” and how should this be demonstrated? (b) In Jeremiah’s day, how was Israel committing adultery in two ways?

⁶ Judgment and justice, mercy, faithfulness, righteousness, the keeping and not a twisting of God’s Law were part of the fruit that Jehovah looked for from the typical “vineyard” of Israel. To be consistent, should he look for fruit different from all that to be on the “branches” of his “true vine”? Not at all! The fruit that He desires as an adornment of those “branches” is Christlike qualities of personality. But there is more to the fruit than an idle personality.

⁷ The active expression of traits of personality is also required! For example, in the prophet Jeremiah’s day Jehovah voiced his disappointment at the fruit offered to him by the typical “vineyard” of Israel. He said: “Upon every high hill and under every luxuriant tree you were lying sprawled out, prostituting yourself. And as for me, I had planted you as a choice red vine, all of it a true seed. So how have you been changed toward me into the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine? . . . How can you say, ‘I have not defiled myself. After the Baals I have not walked’?” (Jer. 2:20-23) So another part of the fruit for which Jehovah looked from the “vine” of typical Israel was moral cleanness and the exclusive worship of Him. But, instead of finding such fruit upon its branches, Jehovah found the committing of fornication and adultery between individual Israelites, also spiritual adultery on the part of the whole nation through the making of friendly alliances with the pagan nations roundabout.​—Compare James 4:4.

8. How were the Israelites not rendering to Jehovah exclusive worship?

⁸ Furthermore, instead of worshiping Jehovah exclusively as their covenant God, the nation was idolatrously running after the Baal images and worshiping them. In effect, the “grapes” of the “vine” of typical Israel were ‘the grapes of Sodom,’ so that its “clusters” were bitter. Hence, the fruit of the Israelite “vine” included homosexuality like that of ancient Sodom. (Deut. 32:32) The undesirable fruit stands out in contrast with what God wants.

9. How must the “branches” of the “true vine” keep from spiritual adultery, even if it incurs the world’s hatred?

⁹ The unchanging God does not want either such kind of fruit on the “branches” of his “true vine,” Jesus Christ. So the spiritual Israelites of the Kingdom class must keep themselves morally clean. They must not commit spiritual adultery by making friends with this world. Nothing less than exclusive devotion to Jehovah as God is what is absolutely required of them. What do they care if the world hates them for bearing such fruit? “Because you are no part of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, on this account the world hates you.” That was what Jesus told his eleven faithful apostles on the night that Judas Iscariot betrayed him.​—John 15:19.

10. (a) The fruit of what kind of separateness and stainlessness must “branches” in the “true vine” bear, and what action does this call for on their part? (b) By not producing such kind of fruit, what loss did the nation of Israel suffer?

¹⁰ Their being no part of this world by keeping away from its politics and conflicts is the expression of the fruit of cleanness and stainlessness from this world. This fruit must characterize those who belong to Jehovah’s organization as represented by his Son, “the true vine,” Jesus Christ. They must demonstrate unqualified attachment to God’s kingdom in the hands of Jesus Christ. This calls for their open acknowledgment and acceptance of the Son of God as the long-promised Messiah, or Christ. Fruit of this kind was not presented to Jesus the Messiah by the typical “vine” of natural Israel. It failed to produce the “fruits” of the kingdom of God. This resulted in tremendous loss to them, for the kingdom of God was taken away from them and was given to the nation that would produce the required fruit, the spiritual Israel. (Matt. 21:43) This new nation is made up of the “branches” that prove their union with the “true vine” by not rejecting Jesus the Messiah as the Jewish nation did but by openly accepting him and walking in his footsteps.