MATTHEW 21:33-43
Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.
“When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’
“But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?”
They answered him, “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.”
The Rejected Stone and the Kingdom of God – Jesus is MuslimJesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes? (Psalm 118)
Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”
Inline image
BACKGROUNDER
Jesus often tells parables that criticize the Jewish leaders. The parable he tells today may be one of the most direct: Jesus tells them that they are going to have him killed. He prophecies his own death, but also his own resurrection. How might they respond?
They continue to be angered that he claims to be the Son of God. Jesus wants them to know that God himself has sent him as his final messenger to them. But the leaders continue to believe that they are in the right about Jesus.
In the story, the landowner sends messengers for fruit. What is he looking for? Israel, the vineyard of God, is intended to be faithful to Him. God called them to himself out of all the peoples on the earth. They were to be a light to the nations. Instead, they were often unfaithful to God, worshipping idols and breaking the Ten Commandments, the God-given Law.
By the time of Jesus, the leaders had elevated themselves above most of their fellow Jews, especially those considered sinners. There was no real love of God or neighbour in such leaders’ detailed observance of the Law. Their goal had become a fearful attempt to remain pure.
Jesus’s faithful obedience to the Father is not a rejection of the Law, but a complete self-giving, ultimately on the cross. His unselfish love unites him to the outsiders, the sinners in Israel, and the other nations. And what about his killers? The Jewish and Roman leaders, are actually representatives of all of us, sinners.
Jesus took on our sin: he became sin who is without sin (2 Corinthians 5). His death for our sin is vindicated by the Father, who raises him from the dead. All of us receive the fruit of his obedience. What a wonderful reversal: we the killers of Jesus find the gates of heaven open because he goes before us. Faith and trust in Jesus begin with repentance; accepting our sin is the beginning the of our renewal.