Matthew 21:33-44 contains the most violent, direct, and clear parables in Jesus’ ministry. In the wake of this parable, we are told that the chief priests and leaders “perceived that He was talking about them,” and the stakes seem to be at an all time high for Jesus (vs. 45).
“‘There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally, he sent his son to them, saying, “They will respect my son.” But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, “This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.” And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ They said to him, ‘He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.’”
While some of Jesus’ parables are rather simple, like the parable of the sower, this one has multiple layers and quite a bit of action! At first glance, this may seem like a straightforward story of some “wicked tenants,” but as with all of Jesus’ parables, when one understands the deeper implications of what Jesus is saying, this parable makes the reader appreciate God’s plan of salvation through His Son, Jesus.
Perhaps the most direct way to understand and interpret this parable is with Hebrews 1:1-2: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 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.” We know from the Old Testament that God’s messengers have always been extremely unpopular. I especially think of Jeremiah, who is even known as “the weeping prophet” and wrote a book called “Lamentations”! Jeremiah knew explicitly that not many people would listen to him, and yet he still did his job anyway. He spread the message that God was going to send Judah into Babylonian captivity for their sin, knowing that he would be ridiculed and persecuted for it. In Jeremiah 20, Jeremiah is beaten and put in stocks for preaching against the evil that was being done in Judah. Unfortunately, there are many stories just like this throughout the Bible, of people being offended by God’s message of repentance and change and “shooting the messenger,” so to speak. The foremost example of this, of course, is Jesus Himself, the Son of God, who was sent by the Master, and killed by His own creation.
In the New Testament, Stephen is on trial and about to be stoned to death for preaching the truth of Jesus, and he does not hold back as he sees that his audience is increasingly angry with him, going so far as saying, “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it” (Acts 7:51-53). What Stephen knew and demonstrates even in his death is that all throughout history there have been “stiff-necked” people who refused to listen to difficult teaching and judgment, and wanted to (and often did) kill those who taught such things. This is why Jeremiah and Stephen’s jobs were so hard, and ultimately why Jesus died! Many people are simply too angry and bitter to be able to handle the truth of their situation.
The biggest lesson to be learned from the parable of the wicked tenants and the profound history represented by it is this: do not join the wicked tenants. In other words, do not join in the evil plotting of those who, “will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears…accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and…turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
Be one of the people who cling to Jesus, and honor and respect the Master’s Son. Be one of the servant’s who seeks to serve the Master no matter the cost, no matter the culture; because “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
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