PARABLE 39 — MATTHEW 21:33-44 — WICKED TENANTS OF THE VINEYARD
23 And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?
24 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things.
25 The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him?
26 But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet.
27 And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.
After this Jesus went on to tell them 2 parables, one of ”The Two Sons”, and then The Wicked Tenants in the Vineyard”.
33 Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen (tenants), and went into a far country: 34 And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen (tenants), that they might receive the fruits of it.
35 And the husbandmen (tenants) took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. 37 But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
38 But when the husbandmen (tenants) saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. 39 And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
40 When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen (tenants)?
41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen (tenants), which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. 44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.46 But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.
Discussion Questions – Parable 39
PARABLE 39 — MATTHEW 21:33-44 — WICKED TENANTS OF THE VINEYARD
1. What is the meaning of the parable of the wicked tenants? And who and what was Jesus comparing it to?
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. To get the context of what is happening, we need to look at Matthew 21:18. Early in the morning, Jesus goes to the temple courts to teach (21:23). While He is teaching, the chief priest and elders confront Him, wanting to know by what authority He is teaching. Not allowing them to control the conversation, Jesus answers the question by first asking a question (21:24-26). They do not like His question nor His response to their answer; essentially, He has told them that they can’t save face from their obvious attempt to trick Him and, therefore, He is not obligated to answer their question (21:27). What Jesus told them is that John the Baptist and He received their authority from the same source. This exchange causes the leaders to become angry and puts them in opposition to Jesus. Jesus then further frustrates the priests by telling two parables: the first one is the Parable of the Two Sons, and the second the Parable of the Wicked Tenants.
The first parable Jesus teaches tells 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 pious and appear to be people of God, but God knows the heart, and there they have failed miserably. The next 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 fully explain the implications of the disobedience of the Jewish people throughout the ages.
2. Let’s sort out the people and things in the parable (then and now) and what they represent:
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, and
6) the other tenants—the Gentiles.
3. Doesn’t it seem a bit far fetched that the tenants would hurt and kill the master’s servants and son? What were they thinking? What point was Jesus trying to make here?
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. 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.
3. Compare this parable to “the song of the vineyard” in Isaiah 5:1-7. Read and study Isaiah chapter 5.
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. The watchtower and the wall mentioned in verse 33 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.
4. What was the opportunity the wicked tenants seen here by killing the landowner’s son? Is this prophetic to what the Jewish leaders would do to Jesus?
In verses 37-39, the situation becomes even more critical. 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 (see Psalm 118:22; Isaiah 28:16). After Jesus’ death, Peter would make the same charges against the religious establishment (Acts 4:8-12). The tenants probably thought that the fight for the property was over, but it wasn’t; the owner would now appear on the scene.
5. What will the landowner now do to the evil tenants? Is Jesus forcing the Jewish leaders to realize what will happen in their disobedience? What is the main point to this parable? What is the key issue?
Jesus now (vs.40-41) asks the question, what will the owner do to the evil tenants? What He is doing is forcing the religious leaders/priests to declare their own miserable fate: condemnation for their very obvious disobedience. They answer “that he will destroy those wicked tenants and give the vineyard to others”. (Matthew 21:41; Mark 12:9; Luke 20:16)
As stated in this passage, the religious leaders realize that Jesus is talking about them. They are the wicked tenants. Therefore, these leaders become very angry and want to arrest Jesus, but they cannot because they are afraid of the large crowd who would get upset if they did.
The key to this parable is the vineyard represents Israel. The owner represents God the Father. The servants sent by the owner represent the prophets that God has sent in the past, many of whom have been mistreated and even killed by Israel and its leaders. The son represents Jesus.
When Jesus tells this parable, his main purpose is to tell the religious leaders what the reality of the situation is: God has placed them over Israel, but they (including past leaders) have been evil by mistreating his prophets.
However, Jesus is also making a statement about himself in relation to God, since he is the son of the owner of the vineyard. He is even predicting his death at the hands of the religious leaders.
6. What did the Jewish leaders do once they realized Jesus was talking about them?
Verses 45 and 46 give us three insights to the actions of the religious leaders. 1) They are jealous and envious of Jesus’ popularity with the common people. This trespasses 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.
7. How can this parable be applied to you life?
We apply this parable to our lives by asking two questions; first, have you come to know Christ as you Lord and Savior, or have you rejected Him like the Jewish leaders 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. Second, 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, study God’s Word and pray for guidance, seek His will for your life and live out that will as best as you can, moment by moment, day by day.
8. Is there an area of your life where you resist God’s authority?
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