Day 44: Jesus tells a story against the religious leaders
In our family, we sometimes play a game of trying to decide which character in a book or film each of us is like. For example, in the Harry Potter series, Miranda is like Hermione, and Eliza is like Ginny. In The Lord of the Rings, Rebecca secretly wants to be like the shieldmaiden Éowyn. (Oops, not so secret now!) In our passage today, Jesus tells a story, and when the religious leaders figure out who they are like in Jesus’ story, they’re not happy!
What did Jesus start to do in verse 1?
In Isaiah, God’s people are compared to a vineyard, which God planted, but which did not produce good grapes, so God sent His judgment on the vineyard (Isaiah 5:1–7).
In Jesus’ parable, what does the man do after he has planted the vineyard, put a wall around it, and built the winepress and the watch tower (v. 1)?
What did the man do at harvest time (v. 2)?
Instead of giving him some of the fruit, what did the tenants do with the vineyard owner’s servant (v. 3)?
What did the owner do next (v. 4)?
What did the tenants do with the second servant (v. 4)?
What did the tenants do with the third servant the owner sent (v. 5)?
What kept happening every time the owner sent a servant (v. 5)?
Who did the owner send at last (v. 6)?
Why did the owner send his son (v. 6)?
What did the tenants plan to do when the owner sent his son (v. 7)?
What did the tenants do with the owner’s son (v. 8)?
What does Jesus say the owner will do (v. 9)?
When Jesus enters Jerusalem on the colt, the shouting crowd echoes lines from Psalm 118:25–26. Now, Jesus quotes from just before those verses in Psalm 118:22–23: “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.”
How did the religious leaders react to Jesus’ parable, and why (v. 12)?
Who do you think the tenants represent in Jesus’ parable?
Who do you think the owner represents?
Who do you think the son represents in Jesus’ parable?
Praise God the Father that He was willing to send His Son, whom He loves, to die for us. Thank Jesus that He loved us enough to come for us!