Matthew 21:33-46 Mark 12:1-12 Luke 20:9-19
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33 “Listen to another parable. There
was a landowner who PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND
DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to
vine-growers and went on a journey. 34 “When
the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to
receive his produce. 35 “The vine-growers took his
slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. 36 “Again
he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same
thing to them. 37 “But afterward he sent his son
to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 “But
when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the
heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 “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
vine-growers?” 41 They said to Him, “He will bring
those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other
vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Did you
never read in the Scriptures,
‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’? 43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. 44 “And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.” |
1 And He began to speak to them in
parables: “A man PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT, AND
DUG A VAT UNDER THE WINE PRESS AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to
vine-growers and went on a journey. 2 “At
the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in
order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from
the vine-growers. 3 “They took him, and beat him and
sent him away empty-handed. 4 “Again he sent them another
slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. 5 “And
he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many
others, beating some and killing others. 6 “He
had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of
all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 “But
those vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill
him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ 8 “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 vine-growers,
and will give the vineyard to others. 10 “Have
you not even read this Scripture:
‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone;
11 THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD,
AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’?”
12 And they were seeking to seize
Him, and yet they feared the people, for they understood that He
spoke the parable against them. And so they left Him and
went away.
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9 And He began to tell the people
this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to vine-growers,
and went on a journey for a long time. 10 “At
the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, so
that they would give him some of the produce of the vineyard;
but the vine-growers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 “And
he proceeded to send another slave; and they beat him also and treated him
shamefully and sent him away empty-handed. 12 “And
he proceeded to send a third; and this one also they wounded and cast
out. 13 “The owner of the vineyard said,
‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect
him.’ 14 “But when the vine-growers saw
him, they reasoned with one another, saying, ‘This is the heir; let us kill
him so that the inheritance will be ours.’ 15 “So
they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What, then, will the owner
of the vineyard do to them? 16 “He will come and destroy these
vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others.” When they heard it, they
said, “May it never be!” 17 But Jesus looked at them and
said, “What then is this that is written:
‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone’? 18 “Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”
19 The scribes and the chief
priests tried to lay hands on Him that very hour, and they feared the people;
for they understood that He spoke this parable against them.
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Jesus tells another parable about a vineyard that was
planted and those who were left in charge.
It is clear that Jesus is speaking about the chief priests and the
Pharisees by the commentaries of the Gospel writers at the end of the
parable. While it is true that Jesus is
clearly making an accusation of the religious system of the Jews, I think it is
important for us to make some applications to ourselves today. It is easy for us to point our fingers at the
Jewish leaders Jesus confronts, but it is more important for us to look at
these same tendencies that in our own hearts.
GOD’S PROVISION: The man who purchased the vineyard made
every possible provision for it to be productive. It was well protected by a fence, fully equipped
with a press and easily monitored from the tower. All provisions had been made by the owner so
that this vineyard would be easy to manage and fully functional. This is just like the provision the Lord had
made for the nation of Israel. They were
given a land that was productive, divine protection and revelation from God as
to how they were to live their lives.
They had been blessed beyond any other nation on earth. God had done so much to assure Israel would
be productive and give Him rich fruit. While
this is certainly true of Israel and is the point of this parable; it is even
more true of us. We have been given
spiritual blessings and revelation far superior to those give to Israel in the
past. We have the indwelling ministry of
the Holy Spirit and the revelation of the New Testament and belong to the body
of Christ that has been equipped by the Spirit for our own growth. There can be no excuse for lack of
productivity on our part.
MAN’S REBELLION: These vine-growers were not thankful for the
abundant provision but became greedy and would not give the portion of the profits
from the produce that the owner deserved.
He sent multiple groups of slaves to collect what was due to him, but
the vine-growers would beat one, kill another and stone the next. There were two groups of slaves followed by
his own son whom they also took out and killed.
It seems clear that Jesus is talking about the way that God had
repeatedly sent His servants to call Israel to repentance throughout the Old
Testament. God had sent judges and prophets
that were given messages from God to bring Israel back to Himself. Instead, Israel had persisted in their
idolatry and chosen to ignore, torture and even kill many of these divine
messengers. Finally, Jesus is pointing
to His own impending death. He was the
Son that was in the parable. He had not
yet been killed, but He would soon be taken out of the city and crucified. When we rebel against God, He is faithful to convict
us of that sin. This often comes in the
form of a rebuke from a brother in Christ or discipline from the church. How do we respond to these gracious
provisions from God?
GOD’S JUDGMENT: Jesus asks for the religious leaders to make
a judgment as to how the owner of the vineyard would go about treating these vine-growers. They correctly judge that the owner will take
the vineyard away from these wretched vine-growers, bring them to a wretched
end and give it to others who would give him the proper proceeds. Jesus commends them for judging correctly and
then quotes Scripture to them so that they realize that Jesus is talking about them. Jesus is the Stone that was rejected by the
Jews and became the Cornerstone of the church.
The only way man can be accepted by God is through faith in Jesus. He will either be rejected or become the Cornerstone
on which we build our lives. Every person
must decide how to respond to the revelation God gives them and they must
decide who they believe Jesus is. He is
the Son of God. He invites us to share
in His inheritance through faith in His work on the cross. The question we must ask about this parable
is: what are the proceeds that God expects?
I believe the answer is worship.
God has done all He does so that we might worship Him. When we refuse to worship Him and turn to
false idols or strive to become objects of worship ourselves; we fall under the
judgment of God.
APPLICATION: Be thankful for the amazing and generous
provision God has given us in His Word, His Spirit, His Son and His body the
church. Let these blessings fill our
hearts with joy and our mouths with songs of praise as we worship Him for His greatness. When we sin, as we are prone to do, pay close
attention to the messengers of God that call us to repentance. Don’t be offended when confronted or disciplined
in our sin. Stand in fear of the
judgment of God and respond to the love of God shown by Jesus on the
cross. Make sure that we are worshiping
Him and not competing with Him for the worship of others.
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