Parables #39 The Wicked Tenants
Parable #39 – Matthew21:33-46 “The Parable of the Vineyard?”The Parable of the Vineyard appears in three of the gospels (Matthew 21:33-46 Mark 12:1-12 Luke 20:9-19), with Matthew’s account being the most complete. However, there are additions in the others; hence, it is wise to study all three accounts so as to achieve the greatest understanding. As with all the parables that we studied so far , to get the context of what is happening, we need to look at the parable in context so let’s start by getting some information leading to this parable a few verses earlier Matthew 21:18.18 In the morning, as Jesus was returning to Jerusalem, he was hungry,Early in the morning, Jesus goes to the temple courts to teach Matthew 21:2323 When Jesus returned to the Temple and began teaching, the leading priests and elders came up to him. They demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?”While He is teaching, his listeners the chief priest and elders confront Him, wanting to know by what authority He is teaching. Not allowing them to control the conversation, what did Jesus do? He answers the question by first asking a question 24 “I’ll tell you by what authority I do these things if you answer one question,” Jesus replied. 25 “Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human?”They talked it over among themselves. “If we say it was from heaven, he will ask us why we didn’t believe John. 26 But if we say it was merely human, we’ll be mobbed because the people believe John was a prophet.”
They did not like His question nor His response to their answer; essentially, He told them that they can’t save face from their obvious attempt to flatter Him and, therefore, He is not obligated to answer their question 27 So they finally replied, “We don’t know.”And Jesus responded, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I do these things.What Jesus then tells them is that He received His authority from the same source as John the Baptist. This exchange causes the leaders to become angry and so they apposed everything that Jesus said.
Jesus then further frustrates the priests by telling two parables: the first one is the Parable of the Two Sons we studied that parable last week and today the second is the Parable of the Vineyard, sometimes called the Parable of the Wicked Tenants.In the first parable Jesus teachesus, by telling the priests that they have claimed to accept the message from God but they have failed to live up to it by being obedient. Outwardly, they are religious and appear to be people of God, but God knows the heart, and it is there that they have failed miserably. This parable (the Parable of the Vineyard) is like pouring salt on a wound. Just in case they didn’t fully understand (which they did), Jesus gives a much clearer picture of what He means. Obviously, this further infuriates the priests, but it also gives the others who were present an opportunity to hear Jesus explain the implications of the disobedience of the Jewish people throughout the ages.So let’s continue with the parable The Parable of the Tenants
33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill himand take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:“‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes’(Psalm 118:22,23 )?43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”(Some manuscripts do not have verse 44 )
Lets look at the background:There are 6 main characters in this parable: 1) the landowner—God, 2) the vineyard—Israel, 3) the tenants/farmers—the Jewish religious leadership, 4) the landowner’s servants—the prophets who remained obedient and preached God’s word to the people of Israel, 5) the son—Jesus, 6) the other tenants—the Gentiles. The imagery used is similar to Isaiah’s parable of the vineyard (it would be wise to study this also) found in Isaiah chapter 5.A Song about the Lord’s Vineyard
5 Now I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard:My beloved had a vineyardon a rich and fertile hill.2 He ploughed the land, cleared its stones,and planted it with the best vines.In the middle he built a watchtowerand 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 vineyardthat I have not already done?When I expected sweet grapes,why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes?5 Now let me tell youwhat I will do to my vineyard:I will tear down its hedgesand let it be destroyed.I will break down its wallsand let the animals trample it.6 I will make it a wild placewhere the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed,a place overgrown with briers and thorns.I will command the cloudsto 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.Judah’s Guilt and Judgment
8 What sorrow for you who buy up house after house and field after field, until everyone is evicted and you live alone in the land.9 But I have heard the Lord of Heaven’s Armiesswear a solemn oath:“Many houses will stand deserted;even beautiful mansions will be empty.10 Ten acres(Hebrew A ten yoke, that is, the area of land plowed by ten teams of oxen in one day.) of vineyard will not produce even 21 litres (Hebrew a bath) of wine.en baskets of seed will yield only one basket(Hebrew A homer [5 bushels or 220 liters] of seed will yield only an ephah [20 quarts or 22 liters]. ) of grain.”11 What sorrow for those who get up early in the morninglooking for a drink of alcoholand spend long evenings drinking wineto make themselves flaming drunk?12 They furnish wine and lovely music at their grand parties—lyre and harp, tambourine and flute—but they never think about the Lordor notice what he is doing.13 So my people will go into exile far awaybecause they do not know me.Those who are great and honoured will starve,and the common people will die of thirst.4 The grave(Hebrew Sheol) is licking its lips in anticipation,opening its mouth wide.The great and the lowlyand all the drunken mob will be swallowed up.15 Humanity will be destroyed, and people brought down;even the arrogant will lower their eyes in humiliation.16 But the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will be exalted by his justice.The holiness of God will be displayed by his righteousness.17 In that day lambs will find good pastures,and fattened sheep and young goats( The Greek version) and Hebrew reads “and strangers.”) will feed among the ruins.18 What sorrow for those who drag their sins behind themwith ropes made of lies,who drag wickedness behind them like a cart!19 They even mock God and say,“Hurry up and do something!We want to see what you can do.Let the Holy One of Israel carry out his plan,for we want to know what it is.”20 What sorrow for those who saythat evil is good and good is evil,that dark is light and light is dark,that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.21 What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyesand think themselves so clever.22 What sorrow for those who are heroes at drinking wineand boast about all the alcohol they can hold.23 They take bribes to let the wicked go free,and they punish the innocent.24 Therefore, just as fire licks up stubbleand dry grass shrivels in the flame,so their roots will rotand their flowers wither.For they have rejected the law of the Lord of Heaven’s Armiesthey have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.25 That is why the Lord’s anger burns against his people,and why he has raised his fist to crush them.The mountains tremble,and the corpses of his people litter the streets like garbage.But even then the Lord’s anger is not satisfied.His fist is still poised to strike!26 He will send a signal to distant nations far away and whistle to those at the ends of the earth.They will come racing toward Jerusalem.27 They will not get tired or stumble.They will not stop for rest or sleep.Not a belt will be loose,not a sandal strap broken.28 Their arrows will be sharpand their bows ready for battle.Sparks will fly from their horses’ hooves,and the wheels of their chariots will spin like a whirlwind.29 They will roar like lions,like the strongest of lions.Growling, they will pounce on their victims and carry them off,and no one will be there to rescue them.30They will roar over their victims on that day of destructionlike the roaring of the sea.Ifomeone looks across the land,only darkness and distress will be seeneven the light will be darkened by clouds.
Let’s start with verse 3333 A certain landowner planted a vineyard, built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country. The watchtower and the wall mentioned here are means of protecting the vineyard and the ripened grapes. The winepress is obviously for stamping out the juice of the grapes to make the wine.The farmer was apparently away at the time of harvest and had rented the vineyard to the tenants. This was customary of the times, and he could expect as much as half of the grapes as payment by the tenants for use of his land. 34 At the time of the grape harvest, he sent his servants to collect his share of the crop. 35 But the farmers grabbed his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36 So the landowner sent a larger group of his servants to collect for him, but the results were the same.Verses 34-36 tell us the landowner sent his servants to collect his portion of the harvest and how they were cruelly rejected by the tenants; some were beaten, stoned, and even killed. Then he sent even more the second time and they received the same treatment. The servants sent represent the prophets that God had sent to His people/Israel and then were rejected and killed by the very people who were claiming to be of God and obedient to Him. Jeremiah was beaten Jeremiah 26:7-117 The priests, the prophets, and all the people listened to Jeremiah as he spoke in front of the Lord’s Temple. 8 But when Jeremiah had finished his message, saying everything the Lord had told him to say, the priests and prophets and all the people at the Temple mobbed him. “Kill him!” they shouted. 9 “What right do you have to prophesy in the Lord’s name that this Temple will be destroyed like Shiloh? What do you mean, saying that Jerusalem will be destroyed and left with no inhabitants?” And all the people threatened him as he stood in front of the Temple.10 When the officials of Judah heard what was happening, they rushed over from the palace and sat down at the New Gate of the Temple to hold court. 11 The priests and prophets presented their accusations to the officials and the people. “This man should die!” they said. “You have heard with your own ears what a traitor he is, for he has prophesied against this city.”Jeremiah 38:1-28John the Baptist was killedMatthew 14:1-12When Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee,[a] heard about Jesus, 2 he said to his advisers, “This must be John the Baptist raised from the dead! That is why he can do such miracles.”3 For Herod had arrested and imprisoned John as a favour to his wife Herodias (the former wife of Herod’s brother Philip). 4 John had been telling Herod, “It is against God’s law for you to marry her.”5 Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of a riot, because all the people believed John was a prophet.6 But at a birthday party for Herod, Herodias’s daughter performed a dance that greatly pleased him,7 so he promised with a vow to give her anything she wanted. 8 At her mother’s urging, the girl said, “I want the head of John the Baptist on a tray!” 9 Then the king regretted what he had said; but because of the vow he had made in front of his guests, he issued the necessary orders. 10 So John was beheaded in the prison, 11 and his head was brought on a tray and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. 12 Later, John’s disciples came for his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus what had happened.and others were stoned 2 Chronicles 24:2121 Then the leaders plotted to kill Zechariah, and King Joash ordered that they stone him to death in the courtyard of the Lord’s Temple.In this parable Jesus is not only reminding the religious establishment what they were like, but He was putting in their minds a question: how could they claim obedience as God’s people and still reject His messengers? We don’t know how many servants the owner sent, but that is not what is important; the theme is God’s repeated appeal through His prophets to an unrepentant people. In the next verses 37-39, the situation becomes even more critical.37 “Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’38 “But when the tenant farmers saw his son coming, they said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Come on, let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ 39 So they grabbed him, dragged him out of the vineyard, and murdered him.The landowner sends his own son, believing that they will surely respect him. But the tenants see an opportunity here; they believe that if they kill the son they will then receive his inheritance. The law at the time provided that if there were no heirs then the property would pass to those in possession (possession is nine tenths of the law). This amounts to conspiracy to commit murder by the Jewish leadership, and it is prophetic in the sense that Jesus is now telling them what they are going to do to Him Psalm 118:2222 The stone that the builders rejectedhas now become the cornerstone.Isaiah 28:1616 Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:“Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone.It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never be shaken( Rom 9:33 1 Pet 2:6.)After Jesus’ death, Peter would make the same charges against the religious establishment Acts 4:8-128 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of our people, 9 are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed? 10 Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene,[a] the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead. 11 For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says,‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.
The tenants probably thought that the fight for the property was over, but it wasn’t; the owner would now appear on the scene. 40 “When the owner of the vineyard returns,” Jesus asked, “what do you think he will do to those farmers?”41 The religious leaders replied, “He will put the wicked men to a horrible death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him his share of the crop after each harvest.”
Jesus now asks the questionvs.40-41, what will the owner do to the evil tenants? What He is doing here is forcing the religious leaders/priests to declare their own miserable fate: condemnation for their blatant disobedience. This is similar to the question that Nathan put to David 2 Samuel 12:1-7So the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story: “There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor. 2 The rich man owned a great many sheep and cattle. 3 The poor man owned nothing but one little lamb he had bought. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man’s own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter. 4 One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But instead of killing an animal from his own flock or herd, he took the poor man’s lamb and killed it and prepared it for his guest.”
5 David was furious. “As surely as the Lord lives,” he vowed, “any man who would do such a thing deserves to die! 6 He must repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he stole and for having no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul.
Up to this point, Jesus has been dealing with the immediate situation of Israel and its past disobedience; Now Jesus leaves open the question of what Israel’s leadership is going to do with the Messiah, the Son of God, whom He refers to as the “chief cornerstone” (vs 42)42 Then Jesus asked them, “Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures?‘The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.’(Ps 118:22-23 ) Cornerstones and capstones are used symbolically in Scripture and picture Christ as the main piece of the foundation of the church and the head of the church, respectively. Jesus is the beginning of and is foundational to the church, and He now stands over the church in His rightful position of honor, guiding the church to fulfill its divine destiny. This verse makes clear prophetically how Jesus will be rejected by the religious establishment and ultimately be crucified Psalm 118:22-2322 The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.23 This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.The key to understanding this parable and what it says about the religious leaders is found in verse 43, where Jesus makes their lack of obedience personal. 43 I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the proper fruit. 44 Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on.[]”44 Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on.[]”Jesus tells the leaders that because of their disobedience they will be left out of the kingdom of heaven (individually and as a people); that they have let their opportunity for the time being slip away and it would be given to the Gentiles (“other tenants”verse 41). This was more than they could tolerate, as we see in verses 45 and 46. 45 When the leading priests and Pharisees heard this parable, they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers. 46 They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesus to be a prophet.He is saying that there will be a new people of God made up of all peoples who will temporarily replace the Jews so that Jesus can establish His church. This will change the way God deals with man, from the old dispensation of the law to a new dispensation of God’s grace. It will usher in a period of time where man will no longer understand forgiveness of sins as man’s work through what he does or doesn’t do or by the sacrifices of animals on the altar, but by the work of Christ on the cross.
It will be a time where each individual can have a personal and saving relationship with the One and only God of the universe. The exciting part of the verse is the phrase “who will produce the proper fruit. this gives authority to the church to share the gospel of Christ to the lost of the world. Up to this time, the Jews felt that they had automatic membership in God’s kingdom because of their relationship to Abraham; this is why they put so much emphasis on genealogies. But the new people of God would truly have what God wanted for Israel all along: a personal and holy relationship that would be honored through the spreading of God’s word to all peoples Exodus 19:5-65 Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. 6 And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.’ This is the message you must give to the people of Israel.”Jesus continues the stone metaphor in verse 44 to show how a stone can be used to build something beautiful, such as His church, or it can be used to crush and destroy, depending on the situation. This could be compared to God’s word: to some it is salvation, peace and comfort. To others it is foolish and disconcerting because of its ability to convict man of his sins 2 Timothy 3:1616 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.Verses 45 and 46 give us three insights into the mind of the chief priest of the religious establishment. 1) They are jealous and envious of Jesus’ popularity with the common people. This encroaches on their authority and power to govern. 2) They have come to the realization that Jesus is talking about them. This hurts their pride and embarrasses them in front of the people. 3) They understood the analogy of the son and that Jesus was referring to Himself. This would be blasphemous to them, and they would now seek to kill Jesus. From here the leaders would meet in secrecy to plot how they would get rid of Jesus. Why all the secrecy?The people thought of Jesus as a prophet from God; arresting Him could cause an uprising. An uprising would jeopardize the leaders’ relationship with the Roman authorities, something that the Jews did not want at any cost.How can we apply this parable ?We can by asking two questions; First, have you come to know Christ as your Lord and Savior, or have you rejected Him like the Jewish leadership did? The process is simple, as long as you are sincere in seeking a relationship with Christ. You need to recognize your sins, and then accept Christ as the only One who can save you from the penalty of your sins. Secondly, if you are a believer, what have you done with Jesus? Are you like the bad tenants, rejecting His Word and living a life of disobedience? If you are, you need to study God’s Word and pray for guidance, seeking His will for your life and living out that will as best as you can, moment by moment, day by day.