Proper 22 Series A
Isaiah 5:1–7
Philippians 3:4b–14
Matthew 21:33–46
The True Vine Redeems the Vineyard of the Lord of Hosts
“The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel” (Isaiah 5:7), which He planted “on a very fertile hill” (Isaiah 5:1). He did everything for His vineyard, not only clearing it of stones and planting it with “choice vines,” but also building the “watchtower” of His prophets and hewing out the “wine vat” of His priesthood in its midst (Isaiah 5:2). But when “he looked for it to yield grapes,” there were only “wild grapes” of bloodshed and unrighteousness (Isaiah 5:2, 7).
The Lord Jesus likewise described the unfaithfulness of those who were called to care for His vineyard (Matthew 21:33–35). But in this He also describes His cross and Passion (Matthew 21:38–39), by which He has redeemed the vineyard for Himself. He is the true Vine, planted by death into the ground, and in His resurrection He brings forth “the fruits in their seasons” (Matthew 21:41). Among those good grapes of the true Vine is the apostle Paul. Once a zealous persecutor of the Church, he “suffered the loss of all things” in order to “gain Christ and be found in him,” to “know him and the power of his resurrection” (Philippians 3:8–10).
“Lord Jesus, you have endured the doubts and foolish questions of every generation. Forgive us for trying to be judge over You and grant us the confident faith to acknowledge You as Lord.”
The Parable of the Tenants
Rev. Dr. Daniel J Brege
“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard…” (Matthew 21:33)
More often than not the parables of Jesus require significant wrestling to grasp and apply. Clearly this Sunday’s parable of the wicked vineyard tenants is not such a parable. In fact at the moment this parable proceeded from the mouth of Jesus, most of it almost certainly rang clear in the ears of the Jewish rabbis. Consider the following Old Testament quotes that are linked to this parable.
(v 33): There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants. Israel is God’s vineyard: For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel (Isaiah 5:7; see all of Isaiah 5:1-7; also e.g. Psalm 80:8). Jerusalem is the heart of this vineyard.
(vv 34-35): When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. E.J. Young wrote a book entitled, My Servants, the Prophets. Jeremiah and others were such servants: God says: …listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you urgently, though you have not listened…And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, “You shall die!” (Jeremiah 26:5,8; also e.g. 2 Chron. 24:20,21)
(vv 36-37): Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ There are intimations of the Son of God throughout the Old Testament, but at least two texts speak directly of God’s Son: I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son…” (Psalm 2:7). Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name, If you know? (Proverbs 30:4). A son is an heir; the Son of God is heir of all!
(vv 38-39): But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? (Isaiah 53:8). This part of the parable was likely only understood after God’s Son was murdered “outside the vineyard”…on Golgotha.
(vv 40-41): When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” God’s judgment upon unbelieving Israel is clearly attested throughout their history. Jesus here predicts the event that certainly fulfills this parable’s prediction of “a miserable death”: (Of Jerusalem): For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you (Luke 19:43).
How amazing that God works the greatest evil into good! The Jewish rejection of the Christ—ultimately by crucifixion—means reconciliation for the world! Praise God for The Vine who sprang from the earth in resurrection, and for the Spirit who grafts us into Him; enabling us to produce fruit to God’s glory.
Matthew 21:33
Ἄλλην παραβολὴν ἀκούσατε. [a]Ἄνθρωπος ἦν οἰκοδεσπότης ὅστις ἐφύτευσεν ἀμπελῶνα καὶ φραγμὸν αὐτῷ περιέθηκεν καὶ ὤρυξεν ἐν αὐτῷ ληνὸν καὶ ᾠκοδόμησεν πύργον, καὶ ἐξέδετο αὐτὸν γεωργοῖς, καὶ ἀπεδήμησεν
Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a wine press in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country.
παραβολὴν - a parable -
Matthew 21:34
ὅτε δὲ ἤγγισεν ὁ καιρὸς τῶν καρπῶν, ἀπέστειλεν τοὺς δούλους αὐτοῦ πρὸς τοὺς γεωργοὺς λαβεῖν τοὺς καρποὺς αὐτοῦ.
When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants[a] to the tenants to get his fruit.
- δούλους "earth workers" Or bond servants; also verses 35, 36 expected
Matthew 21:35
καὶ λαβόντες οἱ γεωργοὶ τοὺς δούλους αὐτοῦ ὃν μὲν ἔδειραν, ὃν δὲ ἀπέκτειναν, ὃν δὲ ἐλιθοβόλησαν.
And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
- They skinned, stoned, killed, escalated quickly not expected... Jesus is speaking to the elders.
Unbelief is never passive. The devil is a destroying demon.
Matthew 21:36
πάλιν ἀπέστειλεν ἄλλους δούλους πλείονας τῶν πρώτων, καὶ ἐποίησαν αὐτοῖς ὡσαύτως.
Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them.
- Even more unexpected...they kill more that are sent!
Matthew 21:37
ὕστερον δὲ ἀπέστειλεν πρὸς αὐτοὺς τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ λέγων• Ἐντραπήσονται τὸν υἱόν μου.
Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
- Lastly, he sent his Son, he really wants the fruit. He would stop at nothing. One of the few parables where the Father is the subject, not the Son.
Matthew 21:38
οἱ δὲ γεωργοὶ ἰδόντες τὸν υἱὸν εἶπον ἐν ἑαυτοῖς• Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ κληρονόμος• δεῦτε ἀποκτείνωμεν αὐτὸν καὶ [b]σχῶμεν τὴν κληρονομίαν αὐτοῦ•
But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’
- We will kill the son and take the fruit. Inheritance comes only as gift. Kill the son to receive the merits does not work except in God's economy.
Matthew 21:39
καὶ λαβόντες αὐτὸν ἐξέβαλον ἔξω τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος καὶ ἀπέκτειναν.
And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
- they cast him outside and killed him. Notice the details. Note the double emphasis.
Matthew 21:40
ὅταν οὖν ἔλθῃ ὁ κύριος τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος, τί ποιήσει τοῖς γεωργοῖς ἐκείνοις;
When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
- When the master comes what will he do to those Tenants? Answer is understood w/o speaking.
Matthew 21:41
λέγουσιν αὐτῷ• Κακοὺς κακῶς ἀπολέσει αὐτούς, καὶ τὸν ἀμπελῶνα ἐκδώσεται ἄλλοις γεωργοῖς, οἵτινες ἀποδώσουσιν αὐτῷ τοὺς καρποὺς ἐν τοῖς καιροῖς αὐτῶν.
They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”
-Those bad, bad ones will receive a wretched death and He will give the vineyard to those who will give Him the fruit. Whom answers the question? The Pharisees or the crowd?
-KJV "He will wickedly destroy" same response as David and Nathan.
Matthew 21:42
Λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς• Οὐδέποτε ἀνέγνωτε ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς• Λίθον ὃν ἀπεδοκίμασαν οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες οὗτος ἐγενήθη εἰς κεφαλὴν γωνίας• παρὰ κυρίου ἐγένετο αὕτη, καὶ ἔστιν θαυμαστὴ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν;
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:“‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;[b] this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?-
“CORNERSTONE” Greek ἐγενήθη ‘the head of the corner’
- Jesus answered, have you never read in the Scriptures the stone the builders rejected has become the head of the corner from the Lord this is, wondrous in our eyes. ps. 118:22 this is not about their answer but their unbelief.
Matthew 21:43
διὰ τοῦτο λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ἀρθήσεται ἀφ’ ὑμῶν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ δοθήσεται ἔθνει ποιοῦντι τοὺς καρποὺς αὐτῆς.
Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.
- The kingdom of God Will be taken from you and given to a people Jews/Gentiles who will produce its fruit.
Matthew 21:44
Καὶ ὁ πεσὼν ἐπὶ τὸν λίθον τοῦτον συνθλασθήσεται• ἐφ’ ὃν δ’ ἂν πέσῃ λικμήσει αὐτόν.
And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
-Some manuscripts omit verse 44
-The one felling upon this stone will be destroyed but upon whom it falls it will crush to powder him. You cannot do it you must be crushed killed to self.
Matthew 21:45
Καὶ ἀκούσαντες οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ οἱ Φαρισαῖοι τὰς παραβολὰς αὐτοῦ ἔγνωσαν ὅτι περὶ αὐτῶν λέγει•
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them.
-The chief priests and Pharisees knew that concerning them He tells.
Matthew 21:46
καὶ ζητοῦντες αὐτὸν κρατῆσαι ἐφοβήθησαν τοὺς ὄχλους, [d]ἐπεὶ εἰς προφήτην αὐτὸν εἶχον.
And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.
-And seeking him to seize they feared the crowds for a prophet him they had. They are living out the parable.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Scripture quotations marked SBLGNT are from the The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition. Copyright © 2010 by Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software
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