Parable #39 The Wicked Tenants In The Vinyard
Parable #39 – Matthew 21:33-44The Wicked Tenants of the Vineyard?”
1. Let’s sort out the people and things in the parable (then and now): what does the vineyard represent? Who does the vineyard owner represent? The servants the owner sent to the vineyard? The tenants?The son of the vineyard owner?2. Doesn’t it seem a bit far fetched that the tenants would hurt and kill the master’s servants and son? What were they thinking? Why would they do such a thing? Can you imagine anyone today doing something like that? 3. Compare this parable to “the song of the vineyard” in Isaiah 5:1-7. 4. What does the parable tell us about the fate that awaits those who reject Jesus as the Messiah or as the son of God? (Matthew 21:41. In reporting the same parable, Luke says, “[the master] will come and kill those tenants…”) 5. Who are the “other tenants” mentioned in 21:41? 6. What is the meaning of the scripture that Jesus quoted in 21:42? (Psalm 118:22) 7. How can we avoid letting the crowd (or our friends and peers) from making decisions for us? Is there an area of your life where you resist God’s authority? 3. Isaiah 5:1-7— A Song about the Lord’s VineyardNow I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard:My beloved had a vineyard on a rich and fertile hill.2 He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with the best vines.In the middle he built a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks.Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were bitter.
3 Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah, you judge between me and my vineyard.4 What more could I have done for my vineyard that I have not already done?When I expected sweet grapes, why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes?
5 Now let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard:I will tear down its hedges and let it be destroyed.I will break down its walls and let the animals trample it.6 I will make it a wild place where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed, a place overgrown with briers and thorns.I will command the clouds to drop no rain on it.
7 The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.The people of Judah are his pleasant garden.He expected a crop of justice, but instead he found oppression.He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of violence.
1, 4, 5. With some parables, it is easy to determine the different meanings to Jesus’ audience and to us today. But with this parable it is a bit more difficult. It is fairly obvious that in Jesus’ day, this parable described both what had happened (the Jews rejection of the message of the prophets and of John the Baptist) and what would happen (Jesus’ death on the cross and, ultimately, God’s judgement against the Jews after which the Gentiles became the tenants and were welcomed into the kingdom of God). But what does this parable mean to us today? First of all, we Gentile Christ followers have become the tenants minding the vineyard. But what is the fruit of the vineyard and who are the representatives or servants of God who have been sent to collect the fruit? When you think about it for a minute, it’s quite clear. Just a few chapters further on (Matthew 25:34-46), Jesus says “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” So what Jesus is saying in this parable is that God expects us to use the gifts he has given us to help the poor. It’s a simple as that. Read those verses in Matthew and the parable will be fully explained.