The Householder And The Husbandmen.
1. AND Iesus said,
Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, who planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen and went into a far country.
2. And when the time of the ripe fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants and beat one, and stoned another, and killed another.
3. Again he sent other servants, more honourable than the first, and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
4. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves. This is the heir, come let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him and cast him out of the vineyard and slew him.
5. When the lord (of the vineyard) cometh what will he do unto those husbandmen?
They say unto him,
He will miserably destroy those wicked men and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
6. Iesus saith unto them,
Did ye never read in the scriptures, The Stone (which the builders rejected) the same is become the head of the Pyramid? This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvellous in our eyes?
7. Therefore say I unto you, The Kingdom (of God) shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this Stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind them to powder.
8. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.
9. And the disciples asked him afterwards the meaning of this parable, and he said unto them,
The vineyard is the world, the husbandmen are your priests, and the messengers are the servants of the good Law, and the Prophets.
10. When the fruits (of their labour) are demanded of the priests, none are given, but they evilly treat the messengers who teach the Truth (of God) even as they have done from the beginning.
11. And when the Son (of Man) cometh (even the Christ of God) they gather together against the Holy One, and slay him, and cast him out of the vineyard, for they have not wrought the things of the Spirit, but sought their own pleasure and gain, rejecting the Holy Law.
12. Had they accepted the Anointed One (who is the corner stone and the head) it would have been well with them, and the Building would have stood, even as the Temple of God inhabited by the Spirit.
13. But the day will come when the Law (which they reject) shall become the head stone, seen of all, and they who stumble on it shall be broken, but they who persist in disobedience shall he ground to pieces.
14. For to some of the angels God gave dominion over the course of this world, charging them to rule in wisdom. in justice and in love. But they have neglected the commands of the Most High, and rebelled against the good order of God. Thus cruelty and suffering and sorrow have entered the world, till the time the Master returns, and taketh possession of all things, and calleth his servants to account.
15. AND he spake another parable, saying:
A certain man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard, and he answered and said, I will not, but afterwards he changed and went. And he came to the second and said likewise, and he answered and said, I go, sir, and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father?
16. They say unto him,
The first,
and Iesus saith unto them,
Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and harlots go into the kingdom (of God) before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness and ye believed him not, but the taxgatherers and the harlots believed him, and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterwards, that ye might believe him.
Order Out Of Disorder.
17. AND the Lord gathered together all his disciples in a certain place. And he said unto them,
Can ye make perfection to appear out of that which is imperfect? Can ye bring order out of disorder?
And they said,
Lord, we cannot.
18. And he placed them according to the number of each in a four-square order, each side lacking one of twelve ( and this he did, knowing who should betray him, who should be counted one of them by man, but was not of them)
19. The first in the seventh rank from above in the middle, and the last in the seventh from below, and him that was neither first nor last did he make the Centre of all, and the rest according to a Divine order did he place them, each finding his own place, so those which were above, were even as those which were below, and the left side was equal to the right side, and the right side to the left, according to the sum of their numbers.
20. An he said,
See you how ye stand? I say unto you, In like manner is the order of the Kingdom, and the One who ruleth all is in your midst, and he is the centre, and with him are the hundred and twenty, the elect of Israel, and after them cometh the hundred and forty and four thousand, the elect of the Gentiles, who are their brethren.
LECTION 68. -Again, studying these "dark sayings" so difficult to understand, recourse has been had to certain figures known to the early Gnostics. (See the "Squares and Circles" by the Editor of this Gospel.) The Magic Square of 11 has been found wonderfully to explicate, symbolically at least, to the mystical, the meaning of the passage. The form exactly illustrates what the Lord in symbol taught to his disciples of the bringing forth of order out of disorder, perfection out of imperfection, and out of deficiency fulness. Compare the Magic Square given below with the natural square which anyone can form by writing the numbers in consecutive order; the result is at once seen, and may help to arrive at the meaning of this very mystical passage:- See Square