1 And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. 2 When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this Scripture:
“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
11 this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
12 And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.
(ESV)
STOP! Think a little 🤔 What is God saying to you?
- What is the writer saying?
- How do I apply this to my life?
Having just questioned His authority, Jesus responds with a parable about the Jewish leaders’ authority. He tells a story about a rich man who prepares a wonderful vineyard with all the trimmings to help it produce a great harvest. Then he leases it out to farmers and leaves for another country. At the time of the harvest, he sends a servant to come and collect his share of the crop (as rent). But the tenants beat him and send him away. The next servant is beaten and the third one sent is killed. Others were also sent and they too were beaten or killed. This parable is about Israel, God, and the Jewish leaders. It is based on a passage prophesying God’s judgement in Isaiah 5:1-7. The servants are the prophets who have been sent to collect the fruit of repentance and righteousness from Israel but they were all rejected, the last being John the Baptist. Finally, the rich man decides to send his beloved son expecting them to honour him above all the servants sent before him. But they choose to kill the son believing they can have the vineyard for themselves. Jesus asks them rhetorically, “What will the owner of the vineyard do?” He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Jesus then changes metaphor to a stone that was rejected but that God restores and makes the cornerstone, the most important stone of a building (Psalm 118:22-23). Jesus would be killed by the Jewish leaders, but God would raise Him and begin to build something new, the church to replace Israel as His next mode of reaching the world. (But God was not, and is not done with Israel). The leaders realised that the parable was speaking against them so they sought to arrest Jesus but didn’t because they feared the people.
The Jewish leaders were judged because they didn’t do what God had appointed them to do—lead Israel in righteousness. God has called you personally to yield fruit for Him (John 15:1-27). Is your life producing the fruit God wants from you or could an adjusted version of this parable be spoken against you?