Luke 20:9–19
9 And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. 10 When the time came, he sent a servant1 to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12 And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. 13 Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ 14 But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ 15 And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” 17 But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:
“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’?2
18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
19 The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.
1 Or bondservant; also verse 11 2 Greek the head of the corner
Section Overview
If we thought Jesus evaded the question of his authority in the previous debate, the parable of wicked tenant farmers demonstrates that he forthrightly asserts his authority. The vineyard in the parable represents Israel and the tenant farmers the religious leaders. God is the vineyard owner who leases the vineyard to the tenants for a period of time. At the time of the harvest the vineyard owner sends three servants to collect fruit from the vineyard, but the tenant farmers regularly beat and reject the servants. The number “three” is conventional and should not be taken literally; the servants stand for all the prophets who proclaimed the word of the Lord to Israel. Finally the vineyard owner sends his own son in the hope that he will be honored; this son clearly stands for Jesus. But the tenant farmers conspire against him since he is the heir, killing him with the hope of obtaining the inheritance. Jesus predicts his death here at the hands of the religious leaders.
But this is not the end of the story: the vineyard owner (God) will destroy the tenant farmers and lease the vineyard to others. The others are almost certainly Gentiles, and the Jews are shocked at such a reversal of fortune and hope it will not happen. But Jesus responds with the words of Psalm 118:22: the stone (Jesus) rejected by the religious leaders has become the cornerstone of God’s temple. Those who fall on the stone will be shattered to pieces, and those upon whom it falls will be smashed to smithereens. The scribes and chief priests understand perfectly well what the parable means! They know that Jesus has indicted them.
Section Outline
V. Death and Resurrection in Jerusalem (19:28–24:53) . . .
B. Controversy between Jesus and Leaders (20:1–21:4) . . .
2. Parable of the Wicked Tenant Farmers (20:9–19)
Response
Jesus makes it clear that he is God’s final messenger, that he is God’s Son, and that his authority comes from God himself. Those who reject him as Lord will face judgment and be excluded from God’s presence. We see from this parable the fierce independence of sin, as Israel refused to listen to God’s word through the prophets and finally through the Son. Sin manifests itself in the same way today when people refuse to listen to the word of God communicated through the Scriptures. We also see here the insanity of sin, its inherent self-destructiveness. Those who reject Jesus’ lordship think they are free, but they find that they are enslaved—and at the end of the day they will be crushed. If we fail to trust in Jesus, the stone will crush us.
Daniel compares the coming of God’s kingdom to a stone:
The kingdom of God is coming in apocalyptic power. Jesus is the cornerstone that crushes all who do not put their trust in him. But there is deliverance for those who plead for mercy, those who ask for protection from this powerful stone. The religious leaders never asked for mercy, and so they were crushed. Likewise we cannot escape this fearsome stone. We will find mercy only if we put our trust in Jesus.
Or bondservant; also verse 11
Greek the head of the corner
20:9–12 Jesus makes it clear in this parable that his authority comes from God and that the religious leaders and the nation will be judged for rejecting his authority. The parable is about a vineyard leased to tenants while the vineyard owner goes on a journey. The vineyard, as we often see in the OT, represents Israel (Ps. 80:8, 14; Isa. 5:1–7; Jer. 2:21; 6:9; 8:13; 12:10; Ezek. 19:10, 12; Hos. 10:1), but here the focus is on the religious leaders. In Isaiah 5 judgment falls on all Israel, but in this parable the focus is on the leaders; they are the ones who will be judged. If the tenant farmers stand for the religious leaders, the vineyard owner represents God himself. The long journey cannot represent Jesus’ absence, since God is the vineyard owner. At the appointed time he sends a servant to the tenant farmers so that he can enjoy the fruit of the vineyard, but the farmers beat the servant and sent him back with nothing. The owner of the vineyard is patient, and thus he sends another servant, but the farmers again send a servant away empty handed after beating and abusing him. The third time is supposedly the charm, and so the owner sends a third servant, but they wound this one and throw him out of the vineyard.
The servants here stand for the prophets the Lord sent to Israel, calling on the nation to repent (cf. Luke 13:34). Often in the OT the prophets are called God’s servants (2 Kings 9:7; 17:13, 23; 21:10; 24:2; Ezra 9:11; Jer. 7:25; 25:4; 26:5; 29:19; 35:15; 44:4; Ezek. 38:17; Dan. 9:6, 10; Amos 3:7; Zech. 1:6). The story of the parable is summarized well by 2 Chronicles 36:15–16:
The number “three” should not be pressed; the Lord sent a great number of prophets to Israel, but the nation, as we see in a number of OT texts (cf. Isa. 5:1–7), failed consistently to bear fruit. The history of Israel is a history of refusal to heed the word of the Lord. We see from Luke 11:49–51 that the rejection of the prophets includes killing them and spilling their blood. We do not see a reference to murdering the prophets here because the parable climaxes with the treatment of the son of the vineyard owner, and referencing the murder of the servants would undermine this climax. This is a parable, not a literal transcript of events.
20:13–16 The owner of the vineyard is at a loss. He decides his next move will be to send his “beloved son” with the hope that they will respect and honor him. It is one thing to disregard servants, but the son will presumably meet a different fate. Of course, God knew what would happen to his Son, and we are reminded again that in the parable the vineyard owner is not, strictly speaking, God. In other words, we recognize that in parables parallels should not be pressed at every point. The sending of the son represents the ultimate that can be done by the vineyard owner, and we are reminded of the words of Isaiah 5:4: “What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it?” Certainly there was nothing more to do for his vineyard. The “beloved son” in the parable represents Jesus himself in the framework of Luke’s Gospel, as he is specifically identified as God’s “beloved Son” at his baptism (Luke 3:21–22).
The tenants, however, do not regard the son but instead conspire against him. They recognize he is the heir (cf. Heb. 1:2), and they determine to kill him so that the inheritance will be theirs. Commentators discuss whether the vineyard owners are thinking realistically or in accord with the conventions and customs of the day. But the point of the parable is that the tenants are out of their minds! They act insanely in killing the heir; although we can imagine they may have thought they would get away with it, anyone in their right mind knows that they would not succeed. In any case, the tenants throw the son out of the vineyard and put him to death. Clearly Jesus predicts his own death here, which fits with what he has told his disciples repeatedly during his ministry (Luke 9:22, 31, 44–45; 12:49–50; 13:33; 17:25; 18:31–33).
Jesus then asks what the owner of the vineyard will do to the tenants who have killed his beloved son. In Luke Jesus answers the question himself: he will come and destroy those farmers who have refused to heed his instructions over and over again and will then give the vineyard to others. The religious leaders will lose their authority, and the kingdom will be given to the Gentiles. It does not follow from this that there is no future for Jews, as if they were excluded from the kingdom. There is a suggestion, however, that Israel will never again be as prominent in God’s purposes and plans. The religious leaders hearing Jesus almost certainly understand him, for they exclaim that what Jesus has said could never become a reality. It is unthinkable to them.
20:17–19 When the leaders protest that the kingdom could never be removed from Israel, Jesus looks them directly in the eyes, asking what the words of Psalm 118:22 mean when they declare that the stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone. If we consider the Hebrew of the OT, we see a play on words between the word “son” (ben; not in Ps. 118:22) and “stone” (‘eben; first word of 118:22). In the historical context of Psalm 118 the builders who rejected the stone were Gentiles and the stone was the Davidic king. The whole narrative arc of the psalm is how the king triumphs over his opponents by God’s help. But now the psalm is appropriated in an astonishing way: the builders who reject the king, the son, the cornerstone, are the Jewish leaders! Jesus is the cornerstone of God’s new temple—the new people of God—and if the leaders reject him, they forfeit their place in the people of God. Israel has “rejected” God’s Son, but God has made that Son the cornerstone of his new temple at the resurrection (Acts 4:11; cf. Isa. 28:16; Eph. 2:20).
By rejecting the cornerstone of God’s new temple, the risen and exalted King, they have sealed their own fate. If they fall and stumble over the cornerstone, they will be smashed to pieces, and if the stone falls on them they will be decimated. The prophecy of Isaiah 8:14 is fulfilled: the Lord will be “a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” The farmers think they are ridding themselves of the vineyard owner and his son, but in fact they are destroying themselves. The scribes and chief priests respond immediately by attempting to arrest Jesus because they recognize that the parable is about them and indicts them (cf. Luke 6:7; 19:47; 22:2). Jesus makes it clear that the authority he has as God’s Son is from the Father. He implicitly claims to be the Messiah, the King of Israel, and the Son of God in this parable. Still, the leaders do not act against Jesus because they fear what the people might do to them. They continue to live in the fear of people instead of the fear of the Lord.