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Now listen to another story. A certain landowner planted a vineyard, built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country. At the time of the grape harvest, he sent his servants to collect his share of the crop. But the farmers grabbed his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. So the landowner sent a larger group of his servants to collect for him, but the results were the same. “Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’ “But when the tenant farmers saw his son coming, they said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Come on, let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ So they grabbed him, dragged him out of the vineyard, and murdered him. “When the owner of the vineyard returns,” Jesus asked, “what do you think he will do to those farmers?” The religious leaders replied, “He will put the wicked men to a horrible death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him his share of the crop after each harvest.” Then Jesus asked them, “Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures? ‘The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.’ I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the proper fruit. Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on.” When the leading priests and Pharisees heard this parable, they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers. They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesus to be a prophet.

The Kingdom of God is at its best with its COMMUNITY IS FIGHTING FOR UNITY.

Overall Commentary: 🌎

The Battle Lines Are Being Drawn!!! According to the timeline of Passion Week, the events in this passage take place on Tuesday. Jesus is only about 48 hours from being arrested. During this time, his opponents are becoming more and more prepared to use violence to silence His teaching. Over the past couple of days, Jesus has entered Jerusalem to the praise of children, He has cleansed the Temple, and He has taught the people. He has started teaching the people again, and His detractors are working hard to silence His voice. Their problem is that you cannot silence the King. In the last passage and parable, Jesus told us who He is. In this parable, He tells us what to do with this information.

The Church unifies as SERVANTS OF THE KING.

Commentary

Verse 33-39: The Parable.

!!CONTROVERSY!!:

This is one of the most controversial parables that Jesus told. Some have used this to say Jesus was turning His back on the Jewish nation. This has also given rise to many weaponizing this parable to promote anti-semitism. This is, of course, not what Jesus was saying. He was speaking against the religious leaders who had abused their honored positions to lead the nation of Israel away from God. We can see throughout the New Testament, especially Romans 11, that the door to salvation is still open to the Jews.

Who are the players in this parable?: Jesus is using another parable to relate to us a complex spiritual principle
- The Vineyard Owner: God
- The Vineyard: Kingdom of God
- The tenets/farmers: religious leaders.
- The servants: The prophets and righteous ones in the past.
- The Son: Jesus Christ.
- The Others Who Will Do Better: The coming church, gentiles.
Explanation of the Vineyard: Verse 33 is a great example of a vineyard owner who took extravagant care of his vineyard. The original audience would have appreciated that He had made it well.
Background of this parable: The vineyard could not have expected to gain any profit from the vineyard for four years. Therefore, the farmers had been left to themselves for a while and possibly forgot that they were still serving on someone else's land. When the time came for Him to get what was owed to Him, a vineyard owner could have asked for up to half of the profit.
Naive Gentleness: The original audience would have been overwhelmed by the patient kindness of the owner. It would have almost seemed like naive kindness. It was not uncommon for landowners to have their own "hit squads" who took care of issues. So, for the owner to continue to show mercy communicates the kindness of the owner in stark contrast to the evil of the tenet farmers.
The evil tenet farmers were foolish to expect the property: Even if the landowner had died, after investigations were done, it is unlikely that they would have received the land after killing the son. The original audience would have known this. Jesus is likely showing the blind evil of the tenet farmers.

Verse 40-41: The Question.

Why did Jesus ask?: Jesus is giving them a chance to see the obvious answer right in front of them. Even they can see what has been done is not right.
Did they answer correctly?: Yes. This proves even further that the parable is about them. Just like the evil tenet farmers, they did not see their "naked, arrogant evil."

Verse 42-46: The Rest of the Story.

What is a cornerstone?: A cornerstone is the corner piece of a foundation that creates the measurements for the rest of the building. Everything has to be correctly measured from the cornerstone. It is the central piece of it all. Jesus is saying He is the foundational centerpiece of it all.
Controversial verse: Verse 44—This verse has been interpreted and reinterpreted by many until its meaning is lost. The overarching meaning is that no one is left unchanged when they come in contact with Jesus. We can either humble ourselves and repent, or we will one day be judged righteously.
This was the "straw that broke the camel's back.": This is likely the parable that convinced Jesus' enemies to arrest Him.

Top Takeaway- The History of Salvation In One Parable.

This parable tells the story of salvation. God set up the Law to guard the nation of Israel. They did not always follow God. He sent prophets to correct things but were killed. Finally, Jesus, the Son of God, came, and He was killed as well. However, His death did not give evil what it wanted. Rather, it saved us all and gave access to the Gentiles, too.