Judgment

Living the Parables
-Part XVI-

#30 The Wicked Tenants
Matthew 21:33-46, Mark 12:1-12, Luke 20:9-19

33 Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey.

34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. 35 The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said. 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.' 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" 41"He will 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." 42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures:
‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed." 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking about them.

Chiasm: A literary Structure used to organize information and create a focal point

Context
A. Jerusalem’s Celebration (Matt. 21:1-11)
---B. Jesus’ Anger at Jerusalem (Matt. 21:12-17)
------C. Condemns Fig Tree (Matt. 21:18-22)
---------D. Questioning Jesus (Matt. 21:23-27)
------------E. Parable of 2 Sons (Matt. 21:28-32)
---------------F. Wicked Tenants (Matt. 21:33-46)
------------E. Parable of Wedding Feast (Matt. 22:1-14)
---------D. Questioning Jesus (Matt. 22:15-46)
------C. Condemns Religious Leaders (Matt. 23:1-36)
---B. Jesus’ Compassion for Jerusalem (Matt. 23:37-39)
A. Jerusalem’s Destruction (Matt. 24:1-35)

Understanding Wicked Tenant Symbolism
Landowner = Father
Vineyard = Israel (Isaiah 5:7)
Tenants = Israelites, especially leaders
Servants = Prophets
Son = Jesus
Wretched End = AD70
Other Tenants = The Church

Lessons to be Learned
1. God gave Israel everything needed to succeed (33)
2. God gave Israel freedom to obey or disobey (33b)
3. God gave Israel time to turn back to Him (34-36)
4. God gave Israel His only Son to save them (37)
5. National Israel rejected God’s Son (38-39)
6. National Israel ran out of time (40-41)
7. National Israel refused its invitation to God's Kingdom (42-45)
8. The Church (believing Jews & Gentiles) is God’s true people (41)