“‘What will I do?’ the owner asked himself. ‘I know! I’ll send my cherished son. Surely they will respect him.’
“But when the tenant farmers saw his son, they said to each other, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’
So they dragged him out of the vineyard and murdered him.
“What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do to them?” Jesus asked.
“I’ll tell you—he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others.”
“How terrible that such a thing should ever happen,” his listeners protested.
Jesus looked at them and said, “Then what does this Scripture mean?
‘The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’
Everyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on.”
The teachers of religious law and the leading priests wanted to arrest Jesus immediately because they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers. But they were afraid of the people’s reaction.
It was one of those edgy discussions between the Chief Priests and the Lord. They were questioning His authority again, and since they were unwilling to answer His question about the origin of John’s baptism, He refused to answer their question about His authority.
Then Jesus tells a parable about a bunch of deadbeat tenants. The owner leased his vineyard to farmer tenants and moved away to live.
These tenants staged a kind of renters’ revolt. When harvest time came, the land owner sent one of his servants to retrieve some of his fruit. Instead of giving him the produce, they beat him and sent him away empty handed. Again, the owner sent another servant, and they beat him up, added insults and sent him back empty handed. And again he sent a third servant, whom the tenants wounded and sent back with nothing.
(I imagine that the rest of the owner’s servants were very reluctant to go near the vineyard. And one would hardly blame the landlord for evicting the tenants’ right on the spot. Three times he sent his servants to collect what was rightfully his. Three times his servants returned beaten, bloodied and empty-handed. Just when the average landlord would have taken legal action, this land owner goes one more step, hoping against hope to receive a harvest of plenty instead of hatred.)
"What shall I do?” the owner said, “I will send my beloved son whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.”
(Well, there was nothing to suggest they would. And you have to stop and wonder. What kind of father would send his beloved son to a bunch of people who have already mistreated his servants?)
When the tenants saw the son, they assumed that the owner was dead. They came up with a plot. "Kill the son, and the inheritance is ours.” During Biblical times, if the owner of the land died and left no heirs, the tenants could claim title to the land free and clear, provided, of course, that they could get away with the murder of the son - which is why they killed him away from the property.
(The parable gives me a picture of God's patience, His tireless mercy, and His compassionate will to save me.)
So what sort of father would send his beloved son to a group of murderous deadbeat tenants? Our Father!
“God so loved the world that He gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10)
Jesus then says to Priests (or deadbeat tenants) there are the only two options available:"Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."
(Fall on the stone (the Stone the builders rejected) and be broken, be humble and contrite, be born again and live by faith. Or keep going your own way till someday when you least expect it the Stone falls on you, and be called to account for your behavior, be crushed and die in your sins.)
Everything I have - is on loan from God. I sometimes imagine that I am the owner that I have somehow obtained ownership of what God has made, given or provided.
Deadbeat tenants sayings: "It's my money and I can spend it as I please." "It's my body and I can do what I want with it." "It's my time and I can use it however I wish." "It's my life and I don't need God, the Church or anyone to tell me how to run it."
The lie that Satan has successfully spread in this age is that I have the right to live and believe whatever I want. But the truth remains; God is the owner and I am His tenant. God gives me all that I have in Christ expecting a fruitful harvest:
“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener...Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15: 1&5)
"My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)
In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my all in all
Here in the love of Christ I stand
