Luke 20:9-18--The Parable of the Wicked Tenants

Luke 20:9-18
English Standard Version

The Parable of the Wicked Tenants
9 And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. 10 When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12 And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. 13 Then 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 tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ 15 And 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 those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” 17 But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone’?

​18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

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Jesus has already taught several other parables very similar to this one, and I've made reference to this one a couple of times recently as it seems to be Jesus' proclamation to the Jewish leaders that He knows exactly what they are scheming and planning for Him.  Yet, Jesus does so in a way where the rest of the people listening wouldn't perceive that Jesus was talking to the Pharisees about Himself.

This actually draws from teachings of the Old Testament prophets that many of the people would remember about the nation of Israel being the LORD's vineyard (see Isaiah 5 for instance).  Now if there's one things that the people committed to do when they came back out of captivity from Babylon, it was to keep the tithe.  The people actually owed much more than just a simple 10% in required tithes, but the picture here is of a king who is requiring a tithe be paid to him as tribute.  Since the LORD was supposed to be the King of His people, then it makes sense they might also view their tithes as tribute to Him as their king.

Notice that those who were left in charge where mere servants (slaves) of the king.  Maybe they had some authority over each other, but in the eyes of the king, none of them had any position or authority.  They were all to do with the land (the nation of Israel both as a land and a people) what the King would do with it if He were present.  This is a picture of how the nation was entrusted to religious leaders like the priests and Levites, and to political leaders like the house of Judah, an to other leaders like the Sanhedrin (the council of 70 elders that acted as the Supreme Court and like Congress for these people).  All of these leaders failed to pay tribute to God with their hearts which is what God required first before any money.  When the servants failed to pay tribute at the proper time, the LORD sent them other servants as messengers (especially the prophets) to call the people back into right relationship with Him.  They were urged to repent and change their actions which were currently in a state of rebellion against God, and they were warned if they did not change their ways that the LORD their King would have to come in judgment against their rebellion.

They treated these messengers from the LORD with contempt and abused them and in so doing, they told God exactly what they thought of Him and His covenant and His ambassadors.  They would rather die than submit.  Do you think that's a harsh interpretation?  See how the story plays out.  They imagine that they can defy God and continue to keep for themselves what belongs to Him and not have to pay any tribute.  They who are only slaves fancy that they can be like the King and be in charge and that the King will leave them alone if they just kill all His messengers including His own Son (see verses 13-15 because this is where Jesus lets them know that He knows they are out to kill Him).

What will God do to these wicked tenants?  Of course the people are caught up in the story and they are probably yelling something like, "Crucify them, crucify them."  They knew that justice and even vengeance belong to God and that His wrath would be poured out on the wicked like these evil tenants, yet they did not make the connection that these evil tenants were some of them--the leaders of the Jews and many of the Jewish people who had rebelled against God openly and had joined with the plot to kill the prophets and would now join with the plot to kill the Messiah.  We see that the whole nation gets caught up in this.

Then Jesus makes it clear that He is the Son that is going to be rejected and killed, though the disciples and the people were not given understanding at this time (though it is possible that the Pharisees who had already rejected Him perceived that He was talking about them and hardened their hearts even more...we see some indications of this in other gospels that they reach the point of no return even though they understand exactly who Jesus is).  So then Jesus says He is the Chief Cornerstone that the builders rejected, meaning He will be the foundation that God will build His people upon.  And Jesus declares that how people respond to Him will determine whether they will be broken (again, a word related to repentance that would bring about healing) or whether the would be crushed by the judgment of God.  It will be their choice what it will mean for them to see Jesus in His Second Coming.  For some it will be a day of great joy when they will be forever united with Christ and all the enemies of God will be defeated, but for those who are the enemies of God, it will be their day of reckoning when they will be judged both in the temporal and in the eternal realms.  God's wrath will be poured out on all those in rebellion to Him and those experiencing the wrath of God will know that this is the work of Jesus, the Lamb of God who sits on the throne (see Revelation 6:15-17).  They will know their rebellion and who they are in rebellion against, and they will know they are being punished for their rebellion, and they will not change their hearts to come into submission to Jesus.  They even imagine death will be some way to escape His justice, but even death is not an escape for those who are outside of Christ.  Death is just entrance into their eternal pain and suffering they will experience outside of the place that had been created for God and men to reside together and instead men choose through their rebellion to go to the place created for the devil and his angels.