Sunday School Lesson 6 - Luke 20:9-19 - THE LORD'S VINEYARD
BACKGROUND: Last week, in Luke 19:29-40, we covered the story of Jesus' Triumphal Entry in Jerusalem. All the circumstance surrounding this occasion (including the parallel accounts in Matthew and Mark) completely validate that Jesus was at that time and still is the long-awaited Messiah foretold by OT prophecy! However, there was a problem. For the most part, the crowd knew who He was (His public ministry had by then made Him famous), and many of them were familiar with OT prophecy. But, He wasn't the type of Messiah they were expecting-one who would deliver them from the bondage of Rome and restore Israel's past glory-i.e., a political and military figure. But that was never His mission. Jesus didn't come to deliver them (or us) from political or economic oppression, but to "seek and save that which was lost" (Luke 18:10)-He came to save us from our sins and to reconcile us to a holy and righteous God.
This week, in Luke 20:9-19, we'll cover the Parable of the Wicked Tenants, the last of 13 Parables taught by Jesus in this gospel. Ever since Jesus' Triumphal Entry, the tensions have been running high in Jerusalem. After Jesus cleansed the Temple and began teaching the people there (19:45-48), the chief priests, scribes and elders, alarmed by His growing popularity, confronted Him and demanded to know, " by what authority You are doing these things, or who is the one who gave You this authority?" (20:1-8). In response, Jesus countered their question with a question about the source of John the Baptist's authority to baptize. Since thousands of people considered John to have been a modern day prophet, the wrong answer could cause a riot. When the religious officials refused to give an honest answer, Jesus, in turn, refused to answer their questions about His authority. Instead, He followed with this Parable. Jesus, who foreknew His destiny, taught today's Parable as an indictment of these religious leaders and also as a message to the people. Given its place within the flow of Luke's gospel narrative, the Parable offers a graphic analogy of Jesus' presence in Jerusalem in relation to the opposition which will bring about His horrific death.
Luke 20:9-16a - 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!"
Note: Bad things can happen when tenants move into a property and begin behaving like they own the place. To make matters worse, when representatives of the owner show up to collect the rent, the tenants beat them up and send them away without paying anything. In order to understand the correlation of this parable to real events, we must identify the characters:
v. 9a: "But He began to tell the people this parable:" - Although Jesus addresses the Parable to the "the people," the religious leaders of Jerusalem are really his target audience.
v. 9b: "A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while." - Israel became God's "vineyard" when He delivered them from bondage in Egypt and made a Covenant to be their God at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19-24 generally). When Jesus' audience heard this Parable, they would have immediately thought of Isaiah 5:1-7, where the prophet referred to Israel as God's vineyard and warned that God would lay waste to it because it produced only worthless grapes. The point is that God expects good fruit from his vineyard.
v. 10a: "When the time came," - The "time" would be when the fruit of the vines had reached its season and was ready to be harvested (in actuality, 4 years for a new vineyard).
v. 10b: "he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard" - This was a share-cropping arrangement in which the owner would receive an agreed share of the harvest as payment of rent. It was very beneficial for the tenants because the owner had already prepared the ground and planted the vines, and the tenants only had to invest their time. We're all familiar with the story reported in Joshua of how God gave the Israelites the Promised Land (Joshua 11:1-15), a very fertile area described as "a land flowing with milk and honey" (Deuteronomy 26:15).
v. 10: "But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed." - At this point of the Parable, using hyperbole, Jesus takes the story down a very hazardous path. The "tenants" in the immediate context, symbolize Israel's current religious leadership, which includes the chief priests and the scribes. The implication is that, by their refusal to return to God the portion of the fruit that's due to Him, they are in reality opposing Him-misusing His vineyard for their own selfish purposes.
vv. 11-12: "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." - This is an allusion to Israel's treatment of God's prophets. They killed Zechariah by stoning him(2 Chronicles 24:21); they beat Jeremiah and placed him in stocks (Jeremiah 20:2); and they killed the prophet Uriah (Jeremiah 26:21-23, not to be confused with Uriah the Hittite). With the exception of Jonah, we know that God sent 52 different prophets (includes the 17 with books named for them, plus all the others mentioned in various OT books) as His messengers over a period of many centuries to warn Israel-both its leaders and the people-to turn away from their sin or face impending judgment. The history of Israel reveals in stark detail the appalling wickedness of the human heart. It also reveals God's long-suffering patience with them. At the time Jesus spoke this parable, the fact that Judea and Galilee were provinces of Rome and Samaria had been re-populated with pagans, were all a consequence of God's judgments on Israel; and the fact that a remnant of Israel still remained, was a further demonstration of God's unremitting patience with them.
v. 13: "Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him." - In this verse, Jesus is telling His audience who He is. The son, as the father's heir and official representative, acts with the father's authority and is entitled to the same respect the tenants would show the father. The writer of Hebrews expressed the idea this way: "1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world" (Hebrews 1:1-2). At this point, the verse doesn't reflect reality; in reality God doesn't wonder about what to do next or about what will happen if He sends His Son. He had known what would happen even before time began. Moreover, Jesus' audience would have been very familiar with the explicit description of Him as the "suffering servant" in Isaiah 53:1-12. There could be no mistake.
v. 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.'" - Based upon Scripture, Jesus is implying that these religious officials know who He is and intend to destroy him anyway, so they can steal His inheritance. And in reality, this verse confirms that Jesus, the Son, knew that He would be rejected and killed-it was no surprise. Yet, in the telling of this Parable, Jesus brings out the vineyard owner's dilemma to show both the depth of God's amazing love in contrast to the incredible depravity of the human heart demonstrated by these evil "tenants"-the religious officials-who would not only disregard His Son, but kill Him for their own selfish purposes. What's truly incredible in this scenario is that the Father's love is so great that He's willing to send His beloved Son even after His servants have been abused.
v. 16a: "He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others." - In an immediate sense, as predicted by Jesus in Mark 13:2, this event took place in 70 A.D. when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman Army. Very clearly, this verse concludes that because they had rejected and killed His Son, God would turn His back on Israel and turn His work on earth over to the Gentiles, in reality all of mankind.
v. 16b: "When they heard this, they said, "Surely not!" - Notice how Jesus' Jewish listeners respond to the end of the Parable: "Surely not!" It's as if they just realized that this Parable and the coming judgment applied directly to them-Israel. The very idea that God would give Israel to others was unthinkable, impossible to imagine-for them at least.
Read Luke 20:17-19 - THE STONE THAT THE BUILDERS REJECTED
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."
v. 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'?" - Directly quoting Psalm 118:22, Jesus now shifts the allegory from a vineyard to a building. The rejected stone-the crucified Christ-will become the cornerstone of God's new edifice, the church. In the construction of a building, the cornerstone forms the basis upon which every other stone is aligned. In Ephesians, Paul spoke of "the household of God"-the church-"being built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself being the chief cornerstone" (Ephesians 2:19a-20).
v. 18: "Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him." - Having established Psalm118:22 as a messianic message, Jesus connects it with two other messianic verses: Isaiah 8:14-15 refers to stumbling on this cornerstone, and Daniel 2:44-45 talks about being crushed by the stone. Taken together, this verse warns that the cornerstone becomes a stumbling stone for those who lack faith, i.e., those who reject the messiah; and those who are crushed picture the condemned who will face the final judgment at the end of time. This warning extends all the way up to our time: The day is coming when God will demand an accounting, and the stone intended to provide a strong foundation will crush (i.e., judge) those who have failed to align them themselves in the right relationship to it. This is the ultimate fate of all those who oppose Christ.
APPLICATION-We can apply this parable to our lives by asking two questions;
1. Have you come to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, or have you rejected Him like the religious officials in the Parable? The process is simple, as long as you are completely honest in seeking a saving relationship with Christ. You need to recognize and admit your sins, and then confess that Christ is the only One who can save you from the penalty of your sins.
2. If you are a Christian believer, what have you done for Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Are you like the evil tenants, living a life of disobedience that is contrary to the commands of His Word? If you are, you need to attentively study God's Word, apply it to the way you live, and pray continually for guidance, seeking His will for your life and living out that will as best as you can, moment by moment, day by day.
