Introduction

Some people like to say that this is a parable about ‘The wicked tenants’ but by the time we have finished, you’ll see that it’s more like the parable of ‘The rejected Son’.

We all know what the Pharisees and Sadducees were like, they hated Jesus, and they were always plotting for a way to get rid of Him. And there were many reasons for this but one of the main reasons they wanted Jesus out of the way was because they couldn’t or wouldn’t accept who Jesus was. They were always questioning His authority, Mark 1:21-22 / Mark 11:27-33.

They wouldn’t answer Him because they feared the people. And it’s with this final rejection of the source of the Lord’s authority that Jesus goes on to tell them the parable.

This parable tells us a lot about our God, mankind and Jesus Himself.

First, let’s look at what it says about our God. This parable tells us four things about our God.

‘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.’ Matthew 21:33

1. Our God is a gracious God.

The Jewish leaders forgot to look back into their history and recognise just exactly who they were and where they came from. In Ezekiel 16 we find a very graphic picture of what the nation of Israel was like when God took them under His care, Ezekiel 16:4-7. And then God goes on to describe how they grew up into something beautiful and how they were like a queen.

But what a pathetic and helpless and hopeless picture this is. These religious leaders had forgotten just who they were and where they came from.

They were God’s people and God owned them. It was God who made them into the nation that they were. It was God who cared for them when they were lying by the side of the road hopeless.

And when Jesus says that a man planted a vineyard, Matthew 21:33 / Mark 12:1 / Luke 20:9, He’s telling us that man was God, it was God who planted the vineyard.

And notice that the vineyard was given everything it needed to do its work. It was given a wall around it to mark out its boundaries, to keep out robbers and to defend it from wild boars, Matthew 21:33 / Mark 12:1.

There was also a winepress in the vineyard where people would trample all over the grapes with their feet, Matthew 21:33 / Mark 12:1. And underneath the winepress, there was a wine vat and that’s where all the juice from the grapes would flow.

And they were given a tower, Matthew 21:33 / Mark 12:1, and it’s in this tower that the wine would be stored, and the people would also live there too.

And it’s from there, that they could look out for robbers at harvest time, that’s why it’s called a watchtower, Isaiah 5:2. The vineyard owner gave the vineyard everything it needed to make their work easy and profitable.

And notice that God didn’t just give them a task to do, He also gave them the means by which to do those tasks, 1 Peter 4:10. When Jesus is talking about those who were given talents, He said one had five talents another had two talents and yet another had one talent. But Jesus clearly tells us in Matthew 25 that all were given a talent.

But He says, we have a talent, and we need to use and develop that talent the best we can because if we don’t, He will give it to someone else who will use it, Matthew 25:28.

2. God trusts us enough to do the work at hand.

The owner of the vineyard went away on a journey, Luke 20:1. God trusted the tenants to run the vineyard by themselves while He was away.

The responsibility of sharing the good news about Jesus Christ with people is in our hands, Matthew 28:19-20. God trusts us enough to do that and He trusts us enough to give us freedom of choice about how we do that and how we live our lives.

God has entrusted us to look after His work here on earth but unlike those tenants, we don’t have any rights. We don’t have any right to abuse the Word of God.

We don’t have any right to compromise the Word of God. We don’t have any right to abuse any of the gifts He has given us. But God trusts us enough to allow us to make mistakes and do so much for ourselves.

‘When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.’ Matthew 21:34-36

3. Our God is patient.

Notice how the master sent servant after servant, Matthew 21:34-37 / Mark 12:2-5 / Luke 20:10-13. We know that Jeremiah was a prophet of God who was beaten up time and time again by the so-called leaders of God’s people, Jeremiah 37:15.

Uriah is another prophet that was killed by the so-called leaders, Jeremiah 26:23. Zechariah was another prophet who was killed by the so-called leaders, 2 Chronicles 24:21.

Hebrews 11:37 tells us that many of God’s servants ‘Were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted, and mistreated.’

These servants of God were God’s holy prophets who were treated like this. And even after the first one was abused and ill-treated, God still didn’t get angry with them and come after them with vengeance. Oh no! He gave those tenants chance after chance, to respond to His appeals.

And He does the same with people today. He doesn’t cast us away after we sin as Christians. He gives us chance after chance to live holy lives and gives those who aren’t Christians time to become Christians, 2 Peter 3:9.

‘Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.’ Matthew 21:37-39

Notice that Jesus doesn’t call Himself a servant here, Matthew 21:37-38 / Mark 12:6-8 / Luke 20:13-14. He deliberately removes Himself from the succession of prophets. He says they were servants, but He is the Son.

And so, because Jesus was always being questioned about His authority, He tells them right to their face, that He is the Messiah. They knew that He was the heir, they knew they were going to kill Him, Luke 20:18.

He says they were servants, but He is the Son, Matthew 28:18 / John 13:3 / John 17:2 / Hebrews 1:2. They knew that He was the heir, they knew they were going to kill Him.

“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” “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.” Matthew 21:40-41

4. God will serve justice.

These tenants pushed their luck, they pushed God’s patience, 2 Peter 3:10. And like this parable tells us, the world can push its luck with its disobedience and rebellion but there’s a time coming when justice will be done. People will either be born again or wish they hadn’t been born at all, Hebrews 9:27.

And unlike the world believes, our God has the right to judge the world. Our God is a patient God and He as the owner of our souls has the right to expect us to work in the field with the gifts He has given us. He has given us everything we need for life and godliness, 2 Peter 1:3.

It’s because of their lack of faithfulness to God, that Jesus asks these leaders the question, Matthew 21:40 / Mark 12:9 / Luke 20:15. These tenants pushed their luck, they pushed God’s patience.

And like this parable tells us, the world can push its luck with its disobedience and rebellion but there’s a time coming when justice will be done, 2 Peter 3:10 / Hebrews 9:27.

Our God is a patient God and He as the owner of our souls have the right to expect us to work in the field with the gifts He has given us. He has given us everything we need for life and godliness, 2 Peter 1:3.

This parable also tells us two things about mankind.

1. Mankind thinks it can get away with sin.

Sometimes in the world’s judicial system people fall through the cracks and get away with their crimes, but God’s justice system doesn’t have any cracks.

Remember God’s people hadn’t heard a word from God for 400 years, they hadn’t heard a word from any prophet until John the baptiser came along. Out of sight, out of mind, is the phrase they might have used.

They must have thought that God was too far away to do anything about the situation. Luke tells us in his account in Luke 20:9, that He was away for a ‘long time’.

And so, because of that silence, they may have thought that God was dead and out of the picture. Oh, but how wrong they were and how wrong people are today who think that there’s no God or He’s a dead God.

People today think they can get away with their sinful behaviour, but our God is very much alive, Acts 14:15 / Revelation 1:18. We don’t come together every week to remember a dead God, our God is alive and well today and when He returns the whole world is going to know about it.

2. We can lose our privileges.

This parable has the story of what was still to come. The Jews had all the privileges of being God’s chosen people. They also had many responsibilities, which went along with those privileges. But these people enjoyed all the blessings from God.

He looked after them, He provided their everyday needs, He provided wisdom and guidance, food and shelter. He took care of all their needs as we looked at earlier.

And as soon as Jesus mentioned a vineyard, the Jews would know exactly what it meant. They would cast their minds back to Isaiah 5 where Isaiah is talking about the vineyard.

The problem is this parable doesn’t mean much to us today but to a Jew Isaiah 5:1-7 was a very important part of Israel’s history, which they couldn’t ignore or forget.

Have you ever sat and listened to a sermon and thought to yourself, is that preacher speaking about me? Is God speaking to me through that preacher? Sometimes we think maybe He’s not speaking about us, but there are times when it’s so much in our face, that we know that God is speaking to us.

The religious leaders knew exactly what Jesus was going on about. These tenants or Jewish leaders knew Jesus was speaking about them but as usual, they failed to listen and do their job.

In Matthew 23 we find Jesus talking about the so-called spiritual leaders of the Jewish nation and he says in Matthew 23:16 ‘Woe to you, blind guides!’ He calls them ‘Blind fools!’ in Matthew 23:17.

In Matthew 23:19 He calls them ‘Blind men!’ In Mathew 23:23 He says, ‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!’ And on and on He goes.

But the point is that the Jewish leaders were supposed to produce the fruit, Matthew 21:34 / Mark 12:2 / Luke 20:9, and they were supposed to protect the rest of the vineyard. They were supposed to watch out for robbers, but they didn’t because they didn’t do their job properly.

And it’s because of their lack of faithfulness to God, that Jesus asks these leaders ‘what then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others,’ Matthew 21:40 / Matthew 21:43 / Mark 12:9 / Luke 20:15

In other words, all the privileges, all the responsibilities of being a child of God were going to be taken away from the Jews and given to a people who will be grateful for everything He has done and will do for them, Matthew 21:41 / Mark 12:9 / Luke 20:16.

The Jewish nation will be done away with, and another nation will be raised. A nation of people who will obey His words and take their responsibilities seriously, a nation of Christians.

And that would have hurt, ‘the Gentiles being a part of the kingdom of God. Never!’ A Jew would say. All the privileges the Jews had with God were now going to be available to all who would be obedient to the Gospel of Christ, Ephesians 3:4-6.

‘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’?’ Matthew 21:42

Those listening to Jesus are clearly shocked by His words and say, ‘God forbid!’ Luke 20:16. And so, it’s then that Jesus quotes Psalm 118:22-23 / Matthew 21:42 / Mark 12:10-11 / Luke 20:17. This stone, which was the keystone for the building, the most important stone of all, was being rejected, Matthew 21:44 / Luke 20:18.

The Jewish leaders rejected the Christ, their long-awaited Messiah, Isaiah 8:14-15 / Isaiah 28:16 / Daniel 2:44ff / Zechariah 12:3 / Luke 20:18 / Romans 9:33 / 1 Peter 2:8.

The Jewish leaders rejected Christ, their long-awaited Messiah. Despite knowing this, they didn’t want to accept Him, Matthew 21:45-46 / Mark 12:12 / Luke 20:19. This was a right in your face parable.

The stone the Jewish leaders rejected has now become the cornerstone of a new building, the church, Acts 4:8-12. In other words, the life, death and resurrection of Christ, the very words and the teachings of Christ are the very foundation that Christianity is built.

“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. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” Matthew 21:43-44

All the privileges, all the responsibilities of being a child of God were going to be taken away from the Jews and given to a people who will be grateful for everything He has done and will do for them. Jesus was the stone of Daniel 2 that broke into pieces and consumed all the power that was exerted by world kingdoms, Daniel 2:24-25 / Daniel 2:44-45.

The Jewish nation will be done away with, and another nation will be raised. A nation of people who will obey His words and take their responsibilities seriously, a nation of Christians.

And that would have hurt, ‘the Gentiles being a part of the kingdom of God. Never!’ a Jew would say, Ephesians 3:4-6. All the privileges the Jews had with God were now going to be available to all who would be obedient to the Gospel of Christ.

‘When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.’ Matthew 21:45-46

They understood what Jesus was talking about with the parable, the chief priests and Pharisees didn’t want to accept Him. Instead, they looked for a way to arrest Him but because of fear of the people, they couldn’t at this time. They knew even the people believed that was a prophet.

In Matthew we find Jesus talking about the so-called spiritual leaders of the Jewish nation and he calls them, ‘blind guides! Matthew 23:16. He calls them ‘Blind fools!’ Matthew 23:17. He calls them, ‘Blind men!’ Matthew 23:19, and He calls ‘hypocrites!’ Matthew 23:23.

But the point is that the Jewish leaders were supposed to produce the fruit, and they were supposed to protect the rest of the vineyard. They were supposed to watch out for robbers, but they didn’t because they didn’t do their job properly.

They rejected Him, John 1:11 / John 3:16, and they crucified Him outside the city, 1 Corinthians 2:8 / Hebrews 13:12-13.

Conclusion

When it comes to dying most of us don’t know how or when that’s going to happen. But Jesus knew when and how He was going to die. The cross of Christ didn’t come as a surprise to Jesus but it was still a brutal and shameful way to die, Hebrews 10:5-10.

Jesus Christ was born to die, that’s why He came to earth in the first place. He knew He was going to have to suffer and be mocked both physically and mentally. But it’s because of His willingness to go to the cross, that we can come together and worship Him every week.

And what a privilege that is, to be a part of God’s kingdom. The question is, what are we going to do with Him? Are we going to reject Him as our Saviour or are we going to accept Him as our Saviour?

The Jews were awaiting their Messiah, He came, and they missed it. If you’re not a Christian today, then like we said earlier, God is patient with you, not wanting you to perish, 1 Peter 3:9.

But He offers you salvation today, He wants to be your personal Saviour, so don’t be like the Jews and miss out.

The Parable Of The Wicked Tenants