Season
of Lent
Fourth
Sunday: Matthew 21:33-44
THE PARABLE OF THE TENANTS
INTRODUCTION
The parable of the tenants is a metaphorical
presentation of the salvation history. God took particular care of
Israel, his vineyard. However, the leaders of Israel were unfaithful
tenants who did not give God, the owner, the share of produce in time.
When God sent prophets as his representatives to them, they maltreated
the prophets. God was patient and sent more servants. However, the
Israelites persecuted and killed them. Finally, God sent his only son,
Jesus. The tenants killed him with the false hope that they could take
over the vineyard. Instead, God destroyed the unfaithful tenants and
entrusted the field to faithful stewards who would produce good fruits
for God. Now we are the tenants of God and it is our responsibility to
produce a good yield for His vineyard, the church.
BIBLE TEXT
(Matthew 21:33) Listen to another parable:
“There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it,
dug a hole for the winepress, built a watchtower, leased the vineyard to
tenants and then went to a distant country. (34) When harvest time came,
the landowner sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of
the harvest. (35) But the tenants seized his servants, beat one, killed
another and stoned a third. (36) Again the owner sent an even larger
group of servants, but they treated them in the same way. (37) Finally,
he sent his son, thinking ‘They will respect my son.’ (38) But when the
tenants saw the son, they said to each other: ‘This is the heir. Let us
kill him and his inheritance will be ours.’ (39) So they seized him,
threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. (40) Now, what will the
vineyard owner do with the tenants when he comes?” (41) They said to
him, “He will bring these wretched men to a wretched end, and lease the
vineyard to others who will give him his share at the proper time.”
(42) And Jesus replied, “Have you never read what the Scriptures say?
The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This
was the Lord’s doing; and we marvel at it. (43) Therefore I say to you:
the kingdom of heaven will be taken from you and given to a people who
will bear its fruits. (44) (Whoever falls on this stone will be broken
to pieces, and he on whom it falls will be crushed).”
INTERPRETATION
Background of the story
We will better understand the parable of the
tenants if we see what happened before Jesus taught this parable in
Matthew’s gospel. Jesus entered the Temple of Jerusalem while people
greeted him saying “Hosanna to the Son of David” (Matthew 21:1-11). He
cleansed the Temple by driving out all those who were doing business
there (Matthew 21:12-13). Jesus cursed the fig tree that did not produce
any fruit (Matthew 21: 18-22) which symbolized the fruitless Jewish
leaders. The chief priests and the elders questioned Jesus’ authority
when he returned to the Temple (Matthew 21: 23-27). Then Jesus taught in
parables directed to his opponents there. The parable of the two sons
(Matthew 21:28-32) preceded the parable of the tenants. In that parable,
one son disagreed to obey the father and later changed his mind,
represented the sinners who followed Jesus. The other son agreed to obey
but did not, symbolized the Jewish leaders.
The parable of the tenants was also an attack
of Jesus on the elite Jews who were members of the Sanhedrin. At the end
of this parable, Matthew states how the listeners reacted.
“When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard
these parables, they realized that Jesus was referring to them.”
(Matthew 21:45). So, this parable is a figurative representation of
the salvation history of the past, present, and future. Its basis is the
vineyard of the Lord in Isaiah 5:1-7 that ends stating: “The vineyard of
the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are
his pleasant vine. He looked for justice, but found bloodshed; he looked
for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.” (Isaiah 5:7).
(Matthew 21:33) Listen to another
parable: There was a landowner who planted a
vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug a
hole for the winepress, built a watchtower, leased the vineyard to
tenants and then went to a distant country.
Listen to another parable.
There was a landowner who planted a
vineyard.
He put a fence around it.
Dug a hole for the winepress.
Built a watchtower.
The details of arrangements made for the
vineyard show how well God cared for Israel and they lacked nothing from
God’s part for its flourishing and safety. In Isaiah 5:4a God asks:
“What more was there to do that I have not done for my vineyard?”
He leased the vineyard to tenants
He went to a distant country.
(34) When harvest time came, the
landowner sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the
harvest.
When harvest time came
His servants
(35) But the tenants seized his
servants, beat one, killed another and stoned a third.
According to Isaiah 5:7b, God who gave
exceptional care for Israel, “looked for justice, but found bloodshed;
he looked for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.” They fell
into idolatry and rebelled against God and his representatives. The
Israelites persecuted prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah, and
many others. Just before the martyrdom of Stephen, he said: “Was there a
prophet whom your fathers did not persecute? They killed those who
foretold the coming of the Just One whom you have now betrayed and
murdered” (Acts 7: 52). When Jesus Christ came, the leaders of Israel
had deviated from their call and were misguiding the people. In this
parable, Jesus implies these leaders as the unfaithful and murderous
tenants.
(36) Again the owner sent an even
larger group of servants, but they treated them in the same way.
Though Israel maltreated God’s servants in
the past, God was patient and continued sending more prophets. That
lasted until John the Baptist’s mission. Thus God gave Israel several
opportunities to repent. However, their cruelty continued.
(37) Finally, he sent his son, thinking
‘They will respect my son.’
At last, God sent his son Jesus Christ
seeking the spiritual fruits from God’s vineyard. Instead of respecting
God’s son, they plotted to kill him and take over the inheritance. Jesus
was predicting what would happen to him.
(38) But when the tenants saw the son,
they said to each other: ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him and his
inheritance will be ours.’
At least some enemies of Jesus knew that he
was the Messiah. They could not accept his teachings or could not
acknowledge him in public. Jesus’ teachings were a threat to the Jewish
leaders’ selfish lifestyle. So, by killing him, they assumed that they
could win the people, claim the vineyard of God, and do whatever they
wanted. Thus, their ambition was to upgrade themselves from tenants to
the lords of the vineyard.
(39) So they seized him, threw him out
of the vineyard and killed him.
Jerusalem was the vineyard of the Lord. Jesus
was predicting how his enemies would take him outside the city of
Jerusalem and kill him referring to what the tenants did to the son.
Thus, Jesus predicted his death.
(40) Now, what will the vineyard owner
do with the tenants when he comes?
Here the Lord allowed the listeners,
including the chief priests and the Pharisees (Matthew 21:45), to judge
what would happen to themselves. That was the fulfillment of Isaiah 5:3,
“Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and
my vineyard.”
The listeners of Jesus found two offences of
the tenants: They did not give the owner what was due from the produce.
Second, they maltreated his prophets and even killed his son. Thus,
Jesus presented the upcoming God’s reaction on the unfaithful Jews.
(41) They said to him, “He will bring
these wretched men to a wretched end, and lease the vineyard to others
who will give him his share at the proper time.”
The story’s conclusion comes not from Jesus,
but from his listeners. The unfaithful tenants who were “wretched” would
face a “wretched” death. That happened after 40 years in 70 A.D., when
the Roman army destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem and the Jews there.
However, God restored his vineyard, the church and entrusted it to new
tenants, the disciples of Jesus. They would give the produce at the
proper time. Thus, Jesus implied the transition from the old to the new
Israel that happened on the day of Pentecost. The Church is the new
vineyard of God. We, the disciples must cultivate, bear good fruits, and
hand them over to God.
(42) And Jesus replied, “Have you never
read what the Scriptures say? The stone which the builders rejected has
become the cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing; and we marvel at it.”
Jesus then shifted the metaphor of the
vineyard to a building, the tenants to the builders, and the murdered
son to a once rejected and later upgraded cornerstone. The focus of the
allegory shifted from the unfaithful and murderous tenants to the Son of
God, Jesus.
Jesus quoted from Psalm 118:22–23 that the
early church used later as a prophecy of Jesus’ resurrection. The basis
of this psalm is a stone that the builders of the Temple kept away from
the site without knowing the chief architect’s plan. Later he used that
as the chief cornerstone when he bonded together the two walls of the
Temple. The Psalmist used this as a parable of David’s selection as the
king, and Israel as the chosen nation out of all the nations in the
world. Though the chief priests and the Sanhedrin who were the builders
of the Temple rejected Jesus, he became the cornerstone of the new
Temple, the church. God, the chief architect made Jesus as the corner
stone uniting two walls: the Jews and the Gentiles (Ephesians 2:19-22).
(43) Therefore I say to you: the
kingdom of heaven will be taken from you and given to a people who will
bear its fruits.
Jesus gave the parable’s application here. He
used the kingdom of heaven in the vineyard's place. He told of those who
rejected him and led him to crucifixion that God would take away the
responsibility of the Kingdom from them because of their unfaithfulness
to God and rejection of the Messiah. After his resurrection, Jesus
entrusted his church to the 12 apostles and confirmed it with the Holy
Spirit’s descend upon them on the Feast of Pentecost.
(44) (Whoever falls on this stone will
be broken to pieces, and he on whom it falls will be crushed).
This is the same as in Luke 20:18 and has
reference to Isaiah 8:14-15. Here the “stone” stands for Jesus and the
“fall” stands for the destruction of those who feel offense of him. In
the olden days, farmers used stone for winnowing by threshing the grain
to separate it from the chaff. At the end times, Jesus the stone will
separate the righteous and destroy the evil.
It has reference to the imagery of Daniel
2:35 where Daniel interpreted the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream
of a strange statue. Daniel said: “The iron, clay, bronze, silver, and
gold all crumbled at once, fine as the chaff on the threshing floor in
summer, and the wind blew them away without leaving a trace. But the
stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the
whole earth.” The stone in the dream is Jesus, who would finally destroy
all the pagan kingdoms and rule the whole earth.
Stoning to death was the Jewish method of
capital punishment. That involved throwing the culprit to a pit of
stones face down and then stoned until the person died. Thus, the stone
becomes an agent of destruction for the evildoers. At last, Jesus will
destroy those who reject him and reward the faithful tenants. Let us
always remain faithful to God and present fruits of our lifetime labor
at the last judgement.
MESSAGE
1. God takes care of us, like a landowner
does for his favorite vineyard, by providing everything we need and
protecting us from all harms. As children of God and as his tenants, we
are accountable to God in submitting fruits of our Christian living.
2. We need to respect the representatives of
God that include our parents, teachers, mentors, and our ecclesial
leaders. They must lead us according to God’s plan for us. They are also
answerable to God for their responsibility. When we respect them, we
respect God. If we disregard them, we are doing the same to God.
3. A true representative of God must do what
God wants in pastoral care rather than providing what the people
demands. Aaron’s failure was that he pleased the people and angered God
by yielding to the people’s demand for golden calf worship. Pastoral
leadership is challenging. We need to pray for the pastoral leaders and
missionaries.
4. Rejection and persecution in this world
for the sake of the Kingdom of God is a gain in the Kingdom of Heaven.
5. God being tolerant, sent his son Jesus to
give us an opportunity to repent and reconcile with Him. Jesus will
gather us at the last judgement that would determine our reward or
punishment depending upon how we respond to Jesus’ teachings. If Jesus
selects us to be at his right side, he will present us as the fruits of
his vineyard to God the Father.