The Parable of the workers in the Vineyard

1. The Parable ofthe workers in the Vineyard – 13th
September2016
“Therefore I tell you that the kingdomof Godwill be taken away fromyou and givento a people who
will produce its fruit…”(Matthew21:43).
The Parable of the Vineyard isfound inthree of the gospels namely:Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12;
and Luke 20:9-19), withMatthew’saccountbeingthe mostcomplete.However,there are additionsin
the others;hence,itiswise tostudyall three accountsso as to achieve the greatestunderstanding.
To get the contextof whatis happening,we needtolookat the backgroundforthe incident. Earlyinthe
morning,Jesusgoestothe temple courtstoteach and while He wasteaching,the chief priestandelders
confrontHim,wantingto knowbywhat authorityHe isteaching: Jesusentered the temple courts, and,
whilehe wasteaching,the chiefpriests and the elders of the people came to him.“By what authority
are you doingthese things?” they asked. “Andwhogave you thisauthority?” (Matthew21:23). In
response JesustoldthemthatJohnthe BaptistandHe receivedtheirauthorityfromthe same source.
Thisexchange causesthe leaderstobecome angryandputsthemin oppositiontoJesus.Jesusthen
furtherfrustratesthe priestsbytellingtwoparables:the firstone isthe Parable of the Two Sons,and
the secondisthe Parable of the Vineyard,sometimescalledthe Parable ofthe WickedTenants.
The parable of the Vineyardislike pouringsaltona wound.Jesusgivesaclearpicture of whatHe
means.Obviously,thisfurtherinfuriatesthe priests,butitalsogivesthe otherswhowere presentan
opportunitytohearJesusfullyexplainthe implicationsof the disobedience of the Jewishpeople
throughoutthe ages.
There are 6 main charactersin thisparable are as follows:1:The landowner—God, 2:The vineyard—
Israel, 3: The tenants/farmers—theJewishreligiousleadership, 4:The landowner’sservants—the
prophetswhoremainedobedientandpreachedGod’swordtothe people of Israel, 5:The son—Jesus,
and 6: The othertenants—the Gentiles.The imageryusedissimilartoIsaiah’sparable of the vineyard(it
wouldbe prudenttostudythisalso) foundinIsaiahchapter5. The watchtowerandthe wall mentioned
inverse 33 are meansof protectingthe vineyardandthe ripenedgrapes.The winepressisobviouslyfor
stampingoutthe juice of the grapesto make the wine.The farmerwasapparentlyawayat the time of
harvestand hadrentedthe vineyardtothe tenants.Thiswascustomaryof the times,andhe could
expectasmuch as half of the grapesas paymentbythe tenantsforuse of hisland.
The parable tell us of a landownerwhosenthisservantstocollecthisportionof the harvest:“Whenthe
harvest time approached,he sent hisservants to the tenantsto collecthis fruit”(Matthew21:34).But
the tenants rejected the landownersservantswhentheycame… some were beaten,stoned,andeven
killed.Then the ownerthensentevenmore forthe secondtime andtheyreceivedthe same treatment.
We can readthisfrom Verse:35-36, ““The tenantsseized hisservants; they beat one,killedanother,
and stoneda third. 36
Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, andthe tenants
treated them the same way”. The servantssentrepresentthe prophetsthatGodhad sentto His
people/Israelandthenwere rejectedandkilledbythe verypeople whowereclaimingtobe of God and
obedienttoHim.
Many Prophetswere killedbythe Jewsthemselvesaswe learnfromthe scriptures. Inthisparable Jesus
isnot onlyremindingthe religiousestablishmentwhattheywere like,butHe wasputtingintheirminds

2. a question:howcouldtheyclaimobedience asGod’speople andstillrejectHismessengers?We don’t
knowhowmany servantsthe ownersent,butthatis notwhat isimportant;the theme isGod’srepeated
appeal throughHisprophetstoan unrepentantpeople. We canreadthat the situationbecomeseven
more critical.The landownersendshisownson,believingthattheywillsurelyrespecthim.We canread
thisfromVerse 37-39, “Last ofall, he sent hisson to them. ‘They will respect my son,’he said. 38
“But
when the tenants saw the son,they saidto each other, ‘This isthe heir. Come,let’s kill him andtake
hisinheritance”.’
But the tenants see an opportunity here; they believe that if they kill the son they will then receive his inheritance.
Verse 39: “So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. The lawat the time provided that
if there were no heirs then the property would pass to those in possession. When they killed the landowner’s son,
the tenants probably thought that the fight for the property was over. But through the parable Jesus poses the
question as we can read in Verse 40-41, “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to
those tenants?”41 “Hewill bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard
to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
The keyto understandingthisparable andwhatitsaysabout the religiousleadersisfoundin verse 43-
44, where Jesusmakestheirlackof obedience personal. “ThereforeItell youthat the kingdomofGod
will be taken away from youand given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44
Anyonewho fallson
this stonewill be broken to pieces; anyoneon whomit fallswill be crushed.” Jesustellsthe leadersthat
because of theirdisobedience theywill be leftoutof the kingdomof heaven(individuallyandas a
people);thattheyhave lettheiropportunityslipawaytobe giventothe Gentiles.Thiswasmore than
theycan tolerate,aswe will see in Matthew21:45-46. “Whenthe chief priestsand the Pharisees heard
Jesus’parables,they knew he was talkingaboutthem. 46
They looked fora way to arrest him,but they
were afraidofthe crowd because the peopleheld that he was a prophet”.
We applythisparable toour livesbyaskingtwoquestions; First:‘Have youcome o know Christas you
Lord and Savior,or have yourejectedHimlike the Jewishleadershipdid?The process of comingtoJesus
Christas one’sLord andsaviour issimple,aslongas youare sincere inseekingarelationshipwithChrist.
You needtoadmitthat your sins, Repentforthem andaccept Christas the onlyOne whocan save you
fromthe penaltyof one’ssins.Second,if youare abeliever, askyourselfwhathave youdone with
Jesus?Are youlike the badtenants,rejectingHisWordandlivingalife of disobedience? A lostsheep? If
youare, youneedto studyGod’sWord and pray forguidance,seekingHiswill foryourlife andlivingout
that will asbestas youcan, momentbymoment,dayby day.