And He [Jesus] began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants…
Luke 20:9-18
Immediately after Jesus’ challenge to the religious leaders regarding His authority, He tells the parable of the wicked tenants. The religious leaders were present to hear this parable which implicated them directly, as they perceived by the end of the parable. This familiar parable is about a man, God the Father, who plants a vineyard, leases it to people to tend, harvest and, make wine from the grapes. As with most owner-tenant agreements, the tenants were expected to give a portion of the vineyard to the owner, at harvest, and to keep the rest for their use. But, these tenants became arrogant and disregarded their “lease” with the vineyard owner. They abused and beat the owner’s servants, sent on multiple occasions and, finally, they killed the owner’s son the owner had sent the wicked tenants. The tenants’ evil, illogical thinking was that, if they killed the owner’s son, they would “inherit” the vineyard themselves. The religious leaders understood the parable, as Jesus unfolded the parable, to be about them for they knew the story was a common way vineyard owners operated in their day. But, they, also, began to understand Jesus was referring to them as the evil tenants in the parable. As Jesus progressed the parable, He looked more directly at the religious leaders until He ended the parable with the destruction of the tenants and, they gasped, saying, “Surely not!” They got the meaning of this parable. They did not believe themselves to be the tenants and, by saying, “Surely not!” they incriminated themselves in their evil plot to kill the Only Begotten Son of God and showed their disbelief in Jesus as the Messiah of the Jews. They had been blinded by the ruler of this age, Satan, and the worldly systems he has in place to lead people into everlasting hell. Even today, the Jews do not believe Jesus to be their Messiah. But, thank God, Jesus, also, is the Messiah of all, Jew and Gentile alike, who believe into Him, by faith alone, in His righteous, sinless life and His atoning sacrifice upon the cross. May God bless all His chosen people in this life and the next. Source:
S C Ball April 21, 2023
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