Vineyard

Luke 20:9-19

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.” ¹⁹ The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.

In one scathing parable, Jesus summarizes Old Testament history and foretells the immediate future of Himself and the people. The story is pointed and the message is not lost on the crowd or more importantly, the Jewish leadership. Throughout the few thousand years of Old Testament history, the prophets of God were regularly dismissed, ignored, and on several occasions, killed. Now the Son Himself was on the scene and He too would be killed.

The prophet Isaiah spoke of a similar picture in his prophetic writing.

Isaiah 5:1–7

¹Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

²He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

³And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.

⁴What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?

⁵And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.

⁶I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds

that they rain no rain upon it.

⁷For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!

Isaiah’s imagery is strikingly familiar to the crowd of people who are listening to Jesus and they would have made the connection, especially those Scribes and Pharisees who heard Jesus’ parable.

This parable tests the ability of the people and the religious establishment to discern whether the “critical time” is upon them in the life and ministry of Jesus. Are they able to see that Jesus is speaking this parable about his own rejection in Jerusalem? Will the parable’s indictment of their participation in that rejection lead them to repentance? The critical time is now, in this final week in Jerusalem, where Jesus is destined to die.

Just, A. A., Jr. (1997). Luke 9:51–24:53 (p. 762). St. Louis: CPH.

 

From the moment Jesus entered the holy city of Jerusalem, the scribes and chief priests were seeking an opportunity to seize him. His teaching in the temple—particularly this parable—confirmed how dangerous Jesus was for them and how important it was to “lay hands on him”. Here in this parable, we once again see that the ministry of Jesus is serious, life-altering and real. It was real for those who heard this story from the lips of Jesus and it is real for us today. The Son of God can be “thrown out of the vineyard” of our hearts just as viciously as did the temple leadership in the days Jesus walked the earth. We too have the choice to reject Him. But rejection of the Son of God is fatal. It would be nice to sugar coat that fact, but it can’t be done. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Seeking to live in His vineyard without Him is an impossible goal. But when the Son is the ruler of the Vineyard, there is grace and peace even in the most troubled of times.