The section which illuminated the history of Matthew’s parable of the wicked tenents being applied to the Jewish people was an intriguing discovery, as I remember multiple homilies (sermons) that I have heard on this Gospel, but these focused more on the development of one’s God-given talents. Coming from the Roman Catholic tradition, there is an emphasis on the development of moral virtues, and this parable has always held an ethical tone for me. However, I can just as easily see how the parable’s imagery can be treated in the systematic fashion it has been, resulting in the supersessionist interpretations that were discussed in the lesson.
Related to the solution provided by the lesson to this fallacious interpretation, I found it refreshing to encounter the distinctions made in the Gospels between “the Jews” as a people and “the Jews” as the temple leadership. We often forget that there are no Christians in the Gospels, per se-the religion had not departed from Judaism proper. We cannot let ourselves imagine a Christian audience for Jesus when we read the Gospels, and thus must be meticulous in how we understand the Gospel’s wording of events.
