A Study by Scott Sperling
Matthew 21:33-46 -
Parable of the Evil Tenants
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.
46
They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were
afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
In the previous section, Jesus told the first of a series of parables aimed specifically
at the hypocritical religious leaders of the day. Here, He begins another parable,
telling the religious leaders to pay special attention: “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” (vs. 33). Immediately, we see here a
similarity (certainly purposeful) between this parable of Jesus’ and the parable of
the vineyard in the book of Isaiah: “I will sing for the one I love a song about his
vineyard. My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and
cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower
in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit” (Isa. 5:1–2). Later, we learn: “The vineyard of the
Lord Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of His
delight. And He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but
heard cries of distress” (Isa. 5:7). Here in Matthew also, the vineyard is “the house
of Israel”. So then, the “tenants” in Jesus’ parable are the religious leaders over
Israel. As we will see, in Jesus’ parable also, there is no “justice” or
“righteousness”, just “bloodshed” and “cries of distress”.
Note also, in both parables, the landowner made all the necessary preparations so
that the vineyard would be successful. He “put a wall around it, dug a winepress
in it and built a watchtower” (vs. 33). Thus, the renters could not excuse their poor
behavior by saying that it was they who did all the work to make the vineyard
successful. No, it was the Lord, the landowner in the parable, who did the work
that would guarantee prosperity for the vineyard.
Jesus continues: “When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the
tenants to collect his fruit. The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed
another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the
first time, and the tenants treated them the same way” (vss. 35–36). Reflected here
in the parable is the mistreatment of God’s prophets by the leaders of God’s people.
This is spoken of directly in Hebrews: “They were stoned; they were sawed in
two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and
goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of
them” (Heb. 11:36–38). It is a demonstration of God’s love that he sends prophets
who speak for Him to us, when we need to hear them. Obviously, it is a great
affront to God for us to ignore those prophets, and worse still, of course, to
persecute them. In the parable, it is the “tenants” (who represent the religious
leaders of the people) who mistreat God’s servants. Certainly, religious leaders
should be in tune with what God is trying to say. Their role should always be one
of support for those who are speaking God’s word. In this, the “tenants” gravely
failed.
It was time for the landowner to take even more drastic action: “Last of all, he sent
his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. 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.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed
him” (vss. 37–39). It was an act of great patience and grace for the landowner to
send his son. Certainly, he could have had the tenants punished severely by the law
for beating, killing and stoning his servants. In fact, the patience of the landowner
is quite absurd. And indeed, the patience of God is (to put it coarsely) quite absurd,
in that He gives us opportunity to repent far beyond what we deserve. His absurd
patience is due to His great love for us, and His desire that none of us perish.
The actions of the tenants are also quite absurd. Don’t they consider the
consequences of their actions? Don’t they see that great judgment will come on
them for mistreating the son of the landowner? Any listener to the parable would
recognize that they are evil and foolish, even those who are represented in the
parable. Jesus asks them directly: “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard
comes, what will he do to those tenants?” The religious leaders, about whom the
parable is speaking, condemn themselves: “‘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’” (vs. 41).
Lest his listeners misinterpret the parable, Jesus applies the parable directly to
them: “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”? 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. He who
falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be
crushed’” (vss. 42–44). The religious leaders thought, by virtue of their genealogy
and their status as religious leaders, that the kingdom of God was theirs. We must
be careful not to fall into the same trap. We think we have a right to God’s blessing
because we live in a Christian land, or we live among Christians, or we go to
church, or our parents are Christians, etc. We feel we have appropriated the
blessings of God because those around us have. However, though we worship as a
congregation, God looks at the heart of each person. Each person individually must
heed God’s Word, call on the name of the Lord Jesus, and accept Him as his or her
Lord.
————————————————————————
Bibliography and Suggested Reading
Alexander, Joseph Addison. The Gospel According to Matthew. New York: Charles
Scribner Publishers, 1861.
Broadus, John. Commentary on Matthew. Philadelphia: American Baptist
Publication Society, 1886.
Calvin, John. Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark and Luke. 3
Vols. Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1846. (Originally published in Latin in
1555).
Carson, D. A. “Matthew” from The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. VIII, ed. by
Frank Gaebelein. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984.
Clarke, Adam. The New Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Vol. I. New York: G.
Lane & C. B. Tippett, 1846. (Originally published in 1831).
Dickson, David. A Brief Exposition of the Evangel of Jesus Christ According to Matthew.
Cornhill, U.K.: Ralph Smith, 1651.
Exell, Joseph S. and Henry Donald Spence-Jones, eds. The Pulpit Commentary. Vols.
33 & 34. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1884.
Henry, Matthew. An Exposition of All the Books of the Old and New Testament. Vol. IV.
London: W. Baynes, 1806. (Originally published in 1710).
Jamieson, Robert; Fausset, A. R.; Brown, David. A Commentary: Critical,
Experimental, and Practical on the Old and New Testaments. Glasgow: William Collins,
Queen’s Printer, 1863.
Lange, John Peter, ed. and Philip Schaff, trans. A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures:
Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical. New York: Charles Scribner & Co., 1865.
Morgan, G. Campbell. The Gospel According to Matthew. Grand Rapids: Revell,
1929.
Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to Matthew. Grand Rapids: Eerdman’s, 1992.
Ryle, J. C. Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew. New York: Robert
Carter & Brothers, 1857.
Spurgeon, Charles. The Gospel of the Kingdom: A Popular Exposition of the Gospel
According to Matthew. New York: The Baker and Taylor Co., 1893.
Thomas, David. The Genius of the Gospel: A Homiletical Commentary on the Gospel of
St. Matthew. London: Dickinson & Higham, 1873.
------------
Most of these books, those in the public domain, can be downloaded free of charge
from:
http://www.ClassicChristianLibrary.com
© 1994-2017, Scott Sperling
A Study by Scott Sperling
Matthew 21:33-46 -
Parable of the Evil Tenants
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.
46
They looked for a way to arrest him, but they
were afraid of the crowd because the people held that
he was a prophet.
In the previous section, Jesus told the first of a series of
parables aimed specifically at the hypocritical religious
leaders of the day. Here, He begins another parable,
telling the religious leaders to pay special attention:
“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” (vs. 33). Immediately, we see here a
similarity (certainly purposeful) between this parable
of Jesus’ and the parable of the vineyard in the book of
Isaiah: “I will sing for the one I love a song about his
vineyard. My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile
hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and
planted it with the choicest vines. He built a
watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it
yielded only bad fruit” (Isa. 5:1–2). Later, we learn:
“The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of
Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of His
delight. And He looked for justice, but saw
bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of
distress” (Isa. 5:7). Here in Matthew also, the vineyard
is “the house of Israel”. So then, the “tenants” in
Jesus’ parable are the religious leaders over Israel. As
we will see, in Jesus’ parable also, there is no “justice”
or “righteousness”, just “bloodshed” and “cries of
distress”.
Note also, in both parables, the landowner made all
the necessary preparations so that the vineyard would
be successful. He “put a wall around it, dug a
winepress in it and built a watchtower” (vs. 33).
Thus, the renters could not excuse their poor behavior
by saying that it was they who did all the work to
make the vineyard successful. No, it was the Lord, the
landowner in the parable, who did the work that
would guarantee prosperity for the vineyard.
Jesus continues: “When the harvest time approached,
he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed
another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other
servants to them, more than the first time, and the
tenants treated them the same way” (vss. 35–36).
Reflected here in the parable is the mistreatment of
God’s prophets by the leaders of God’s people. This is
spoken of directly in Hebrews: “They were stoned;
they were sawed in two; they were put to death by
the sword. They went about in sheepskins and
goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the
world was not worthy of them” (Heb. 11:36–38). It is
a demonstration of God’s love that he sends prophets
who speak for Him to us, when we need to hear them.
Obviously, it is a great affront to God for us to ignore
those prophets, and worse still, of course, to persecute
them. In the parable, it is the “tenants” (who represent
the religious leaders of the people) who mistreat God’s
servants. Certainly, religious leaders should be in tune
with what God is trying to say. Their role should
always be one of support for those who are speaking
God’s word. In this, the “tenants” gravely failed.
It was time for the landowner to take even more
drastic action: “Last of all, he sent his son to them.
‘They will respect my son,’ he said. 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.’ So they took him and threw him out of
the vineyard and killed him” (vss. 37–39). It was an
act of great patience and grace for the landowner to
send his son. Certainly, he could have had the tenants
punished severely by the law for beating, killing and
stoning his servants. In fact, the patience of the
landowner is quite absurd. And indeed, the patience
of God is (to put it coarsely) quite absurd, in that He
gives us opportunity to repent far beyond what we
deserve. His absurd patience is due to His great love
for us, and His desire that none of us perish.
The actions of the tenants are also quite absurd. Don’t
they consider the consequences of their actions? Don’t
they see that great judgment will come on them for
mistreating the son of the landowner? Any listener to
the parable would recognize that they are evil and
foolish, even those who are represented in the parable.
Jesus asks them directly: “Therefore, when the owner
of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those
tenants?” The religious leaders, about whom the
parable is speaking, condemn themselves: “‘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’”
(vs. 41).
Lest his listeners misinterpret the parable, Jesus
applies the parable directly to them: “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”? 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. He who falls on this stone
will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will
be crushed’” (vss. 42–44). The religious leaders
thought, by virtue of their genealogy and their status
as religious leaders, that the kingdom of God was
theirs. We must be careful not to fall into the same
trap. We think we have a right to God’s blessing
because we live in a Christian land, or we live among
Christians, or we go to church, or our parents are
Christians, etc. We feel we have appropriated the
blessings of God because those around us have.
However, though we worship as a congregation, God
looks at the heart of each person. Each person
individually must heed God’s Word, call on the name
of the Lord Jesus, and accept Him as his or her Lord.
————————————————————————
Bibliography and Suggested Reading
Alexander, Joseph Addison. The Gospel According to
Matthew. New York: Charles Scribner Publishers, 1861.
Broadus, John. Commentary on Matthew. Philadelphia:
American Baptist Publication Society, 1886.
Calvin, John. Commentary on a Harmony of the
Evangelists, Matthew, Mark and Luke. 3 Vols.
Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1846.
(Originally published in Latin in 1555).
Carson, D. A. “Matthew” from The Expositor’s Bible
Commentary, Vol. VIII, ed. by Frank Gaebelein. Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 1984.
Clarke, Adam. The New Testament of Our Lord Jesus
Christ. Vol. I. New York: G. Lane & C. B. Tippett,
1846. (Originally published in 1831).
Dickson, David. A Brief Exposition of the Evangel of Jesus
Christ According to Matthew. Cornhill, U.K.: Ralph
Smith, 1651.
Exell, Joseph S. and Henry Donald Spence-Jones, eds.
The Pulpit Commentary. Vols. 33 & 34. New York: Funk
& Wagnalls Company, 1884.
Henry, Matthew. An Exposition of All the Books of the
Old and New Testament. Vol. IV. London: W. Baynes,
1806. (Originally published in 1710).
Jamieson, Robert; Fausset, A. R.; Brown, David. A
Commentary: Critical, Experimental, and Practical on the
Old and New Testaments. Glasgow: William Collins,
Queen’s Printer, 1863.
Lange, John Peter, ed. and Philip Schaff, trans. A
Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Critical, Doctrinal,
and Homiletical. New York: Charles Scribner & Co.,
1865.
Morgan, G. Campbell. The Gospel According to
Matthew. Grand Rapids: Revell, 1929.
Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to Matthew. Grand
Rapids: Eerdman’s, 1992.
Ryle, J. C. Expository Thoughts on the Gospels:
Matthew. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1857.
Spurgeon, Charles. The Gospel of the Kingdom: A
Popular Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew.
New York: The Baker and Taylor Co., 1893.
Thomas, David. The Genius of the Gospel: A Homiletical
Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew. London:
Dickinson & Higham, 1873.
------------
Most of these books, those in the public domain, can be
downloaded free of charge from:
http://www.ClassicChristianLibrary.com
