Tuesday
Tuesday
The Parable of the Tenants
Last of all, he sent his son to them. “They will respect my son,” he said. But … they … killed him.
Matthew 21:37–39
As the final week progressed, the authorities’ hostility to Jesus grew, and the themes of confrontation and judgment clarified. A striking example of this is the so-called parable of the tenants that, however, is an allegory, not a parable.
The landowner who planted a vineyard and provided it with a wall, a winepress, and a watchtower is evidently God himself, whose vineyard is Israel as in Isaiah 5. He did everything within his power to make his people fruitful in good works. The tenant farmers, to whom the owner rented his vineyard, are the religious leaders of Israel. In due course, when the vintage was ripe, the owner sent his servants (the prophets) to collect the fruit, but the tenants seized, beat, stoned, and killed them. So the owner sent more servants, but they were ill-treated in the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. “They will respect my son,” he said to himself. Instead, the tenants killed him.
In conclusion, Jesus asked his hearers a straight question, which compelled them to make a moral judgment against themselves, since by their answer they condemned themselves. Indeed, Matthew explicitly says so: “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them” (Matt. 21:45). Here is Jesus’s question: “What will he [the landowner] do to those tenants?” (v. 40). They replied, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end … and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop” (v. 41).
“Therefore I tell you,” Jesus said, “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you [Israel] and given to a people [the Gentiles] who will produce its fruit” (v. 43).
For further reading: Matthew 21:33–41