The Parable of the Tenants

Once more the gospel reading today is about The Parable of the Tenants. Basically it is a story of the line of prophets that God has sent to this world in order to inform the people what it is like in the kingdom of God. You can read this passage in your Bible in Matt.21:33-43.

 [Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people] 33 “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. 34 When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.

 35 But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. 36 Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. 37 Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 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.’ 39 They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

 40 What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?” 41 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.” 42 Jesus 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’? 43 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.”

 Again let me remind you that when his disciples asked our Lord Jesus Christ why He spoke in parables? Our Lord told them. “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” You can say that this is akin to a warning to the chief priests and the elders about their God-given mission, which they have failed before the eyes of God, which is the reason why He gave them this parable.

 I mentioned that we wrote about this parable already in past articles. So if you have already forgotten, the vineyard owner is God Himself and you can assume that the vineyard itself are the Jews, the people of God whom He even protected them with a wall. The watchtower that He erected was for the use of the priests and elders to watch over the Jews. Of course, God could have very well managed the vineyard Himself, but He allowed the priests and the elders to run and manage His vineyard as a way to test whether they are truly worthy of the kingdom of heaven.

 But as the parable goes, when vintage time came, the servants (they represent the long line of Prophets) were asked by the vineyard owner to get the produce from the tenants, but they were beaten, stoned and killed. The vineyard owner sent more servants to the tenants, but they met the same fate as the other servants. So finally, the vineyard owner sent his son believing that the tenants would respect the son, but in the end, they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him, thinking that they would get his inheritance.

 The son represents our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten son in order not to condemn the world, but to save it. But we know that this story ends with the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, the chief priests and the elders failed to recognize that Jesus was referring to Himself in this parable. So when He asked them, “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.”

 You can say that they sort of predicted their own wretched death when their hour comes. This parable also prophesies how the Jews would treat Jesus when His hour would come. Didn’t they seize our Lord Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and threw Him out of the walls of Jerusalem to crucify Him in Golgotha? The other prophesy was about what God would do to the Jews when He said, “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.”

 There is no question that the Son of Man was sent by Father God to save the people of Israel. But alas, they failed to recognize the Messiah despite the numerous prophecies announcing His coming, especially in Isaiah, where “A virgin shall bear a son and he shall be called Emmanuel.” Hence the kingdom of heaven has been given to the new tenants, people like you and me whom the Jews considered as Gentiles, who bear much fruit in God’s vineyard, and indeed more where given to those who bore God much fruit.

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