V33 – This landowner did all the initial work. He bought the land, planted the vineyard, created the press and even set protection for it. He clearly used a lot of his resources and time and is clearly heavily invested into this project. He wants to see it do well.
We understand that Jesus came to reveal God’s kingdom to us and therefore this parable must be related to God’s Kingdom. The landowner who does all this work is God. This verse shows me that God is a worker, He invests heavily and well; He ensures that the vineyard is properly built and planted. He then waits for the fruit from the vineyard.
After doing all this investing work, He gives the vineyard to tenant farmers.
In relation to us individually, God has done the work of salvation. He sent Jesus who died for our sins. Now salvation has been given freely to me. I now must work on it and produce fruit fit for the master.
V34-35 – He sends servants to get the fruit. But the tenant farmers kill the servants greatly harmed the servants.
Now the question is this: Is He wrong in expecting fruit from his vineyard? No, He is not. He deserves the fruit because the vineyard is his possession and He has worked hard for it. Everyone deserves the fruit of their labor.
As tenant farmers who have been given salvation, God directly expects fruit from us. This verse in Ephesians puts it so clearly:
Ephesians 2:10 NIV: For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
(Lord, I am merely a servant, here to do the works you planned long ago for me to do. You deserve the fruit of your labor, Oh God.)
V36 – He sent even more workers to get the harvest but He does not get the harvest, instead, his servants are again harmed. The Lord sends his servants to come and check on his people to see and to harvest the good works but all He finds is sin and death among them.
In the Israelite context when Jesus was giving this parable, He meant that the Israelites and their ancestors had killed the prophets He sent among them. These prophets were sometimes beaten, others tortured and still others killed. The Prophet Jeremiah is one example, He was tortured because of giving God’s message. The message was that the people should return to the Lord. Of course, the harvest that God expected from them is repentance.
Two very important and I would say, “primary fruits” that God expects from us are: repentance from our ways and thoughts, and obedience to his word (the Bible) and all the instructions He gives us by his Holy Spirit.
But a lot of the times, the Lord does not find this harvest of righteousness. All He finds is a people walking in their own way. How unfortunate!
- When He expects a harvest of lives that are full of prayer and fasting, He finds prayerless worldly lives that depend on themselves and not on God.
- When He expects a harvest of study in His word, He finds people who are invested in worldly entertainment… TikTok, Netflix, Instagram etc.
- When the Lord expects a harvest of daily trust in Him, He finds a people engulfed in worry and desperation about tomorrow.
- When He expects a harvest of forgiveness, He finds hearts that are full of bitterness and rage, ready to revenge anytime!
- When He expects a harvest of love, He finds hatred even among believers.
- When He expects a harvest of prayer for the government, He finds government criticizers who do not understand that God puts authorities in place for his purposes.
- When He expects a harvest of Godly children who are taught the Word, He finds children who know more about worldly things rather than God and who He is.
- When He expects a harvest of sexual purity, He finds people who are lustful, fornicators and adulterous.
- When He expects a harvest of love for Him and lives greatly growing in their love for Him, He finds a love for the world.
Instead of a can of good produce/harvest, He finds a can of worms.
V37-39 – He lastly sent his son and this one they grabbed and killed.
Here, Jesus refers to how the leading priests and Pharisees would kill him. They hated him for how He told the truth about them and therefore would lead to his crucifixion.
In our context, the Bible speaks of crucifying the Lord again. Here is the passage, very self-explanatory:
Hebrews 6:4-9 Living Bible – There is no use trying to bring you back to the Lord again if you have once understood the Good News and tasted for yourself the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, and know how good the Word of God is, and felt the mighty powers of the world to come, and then have turned against God. You cannot bring yourself to repent again if you have nailed the Son of God to the cross again by rejecting him, holding him up to mocking and to public shame. When a farmer’s land has had many showers upon it and good crops come up, that land has experienced God’s blessing upon it. But if it keeps on having crops of thistles and thorns, the land is considered no good and is ready for condemnation and burning off. Dear friends, even though I am talking like this I really don’t believe that what I am saying applies to you. I am confident you are producing the good fruit that comes along with your salvation.
V40-43 – What happens to people who produce no fit harvest?
They die a horrible death because they knew what was supposed to be done and did not do it.
Jesus then explains how God has done a remarkable thing in that Jesus, who was rejected by the Pharisees and leading priests has now become the cornerstone. All who accept him are broken and their lives are changed but all who reject him are crushed and they die. What a powerful message!
The striking thing that I see here is that Jesus asked the Pharisees what they thought would happen in this scenario of the tenant farmers. And the Pharisees knew exactly what those evil tenant farmers deserved. Jesus was actually speaking about them and they (the Pharisees) directly proved that they knew what justice meant in this case.
Later, in verse 45, we learn that the reaction of the leading priests and Pharisees after they realized that Jesus was talking about them is that they wanted to arrest him. They were ready to harm him again. Remember, they always wanted to harm him and eventually they did. But that’s the amazing thing! THE STONE THEY REJECTED BECAME THE CORNERSTONE.
So, we see how the leading priests and Pharisees reacted when they were told the truth by Jesus.
Now, let’s bring in a Contrast. This passage has a lot of similarities with the story of David and Bathsheba.
David lusted after Bathsheba and took her in, slept with her and then killed her husband, Uriah. Nathan went in with a story/parable and told him about the rich man taking the lamb of the poor man. David, just like the leading priests and Pharisees in this story, knew what the right judgement was. He said:
2 Samuel 12:5 GNT – David became very angry at the rich man and said, “I swear by the living LORD that the man who did this ought to die!
But then, Prophet Nathan told him that He was the rich man in the story. How did David react when He realized He was the sinner? This is what He did:
2 Samuel 12:13 NIV – Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”
and this is how the Lord immediately responded in the same verse:
Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.
So, dear friend, which you will be when Jesus tells you of your sin? Which you will be when the master comes for the harvest? Will you be the leading priests and pharisees or will you be like David? Will you be an unfaithful tenant or a faithful tenant?
Choose! The Lord is ready to forgive and accept you but you must first be repentant.