The Wicked Tenants

Story Snapshot

A landowner rents his vineyard to tenants, who beat and kill the servants he sends for his fruit. Finally he sends his son, whom they murder to seize the inheritance. Jesus says the owner will destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.

Main Characters

Story Summary

Jesus told the religious leaders another parable. A landowner planted a vineyard, put a wall around it, dug a winepress, built a watchtower, then rented it to tenants and went away. When harvest time came, he sent his servants to collect his fruit. But the tenants seized the servants, beating one, killing another, and stoning a third. He sent other servants, more than the first, and they were treated the same way. Last of all, he sent his son, saying, They will respect my son. But when the tenants saw the son, they said, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and take his inheritance. So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Jesus asked, When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? They answered, He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and rent the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share at harvest. Jesus then spoke of the stone the builders rejected becoming the cornerstone, and said the kingdom of God would be taken from them and given to a people who would produce its fruit. The chief priests and Pharisees knew he was speaking about them.

Timeline

• The VineyardA landowner rents his vineyard and goes away.
• The ServantsHe sends servants for the fruit; the tenants beat and kill them.
• The SonHe sends his son, expecting respect.
• The MurderThe tenants kill the son to seize the inheritance.
• The JudgmentThe owner will destroy them and give the vineyard to others.

Themes

What This Story Means

This parable, told to the religious leaders in Jesus' final week, is nearly transparent in its meaning, and they knew it. The vineyard is a familiar biblical image for God's people; the landowner is God; the tenants are the leaders entrusted with caring for them; the servants are the prophets, repeatedly rejected and killed; and the son, sent last, is Jesus himself. The tenants' murder of the son to seize the inheritance foretells the cross. Jesus is exposing a long history of rejecting God's messengers, now reaching its climax in the rejection of his Son. The judgment is severe: the vineyard will be taken from the unfaithful tenants and given to those who will bear its fruit. Yet even here there is grace, the rejected stone becomes the cornerstone. Jesus teaches that God's patience with rebellion is long but not endless, and that rejecting the Son brings judgment, while the kingdom passes to those who receive him and bear fruit.

Bringing It Home

• God sends his messengers patiently, but rejection has a limit.
• Rejecting God's Son is the gravest rebellion of all.
• Entrusted responsibility carries real accountability.
• The kingdom is given to those who bear its fruit.
• The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

Key Verse

Did You Know?

• The vineyard is a well-known biblical image for God's people.
• The servants picture the prophets repeatedly rejected by Israel.
• The son's murder foreshadows Jesus' own crucifixion.
• The religious leaders understood the parable was aimed at them.

Read Next

What This Shows Us About God

• God patiently sends messenger after messenger.
• God finally sent his own Son.
• God judges persistent rejection and entrusts the kingdom to the fruitful.

What This Shows Us About People

• We can reject God's messengers to guard our own claims.
• We are capable of rejecting even the Son.
• We are accountable for what God has entrusted to us.

A Question to Sit With

Am I receiving God's Son and bearing fruit, or guarding my own claim to the vineyard?

Prayer

Lord, keep me from the rebellion that rejects Your messengers and Your Son. Let me receive Christ as the cornerstone and bear the fruit You look for in Your vineyard. Amen.