“The Parable of the Tenants”


BIBLE READING: Luke 20
DISCUSSION                                           
                All throughout Jesus’ ministry, there were those that were challenging His authority.  Although we understand Him to be the Son of God, most of the religious world saw Jesus as a false teacher and a threat.  To help them understand who He was and where His authority came from, He would often speak to them in parables; such is the case with Luke 20.  In this parable, a man plants a vineyard and opened it up for people to use.  The man who planted the vineyard had to move off to another country for a long period of time, while the tenants continued to enjoy its fruit.  Sometime later, the owner sends one of his servants to gather some fruit from the vineyard, but the tenants beat him and sent him away with nothing.  The owner then sent another servant to collect some fruit, but they treated him the same way.  Then he sent another, and as you can imagine, they beat him as well and sent him away empty handed.  As a last resort the owner sends his son to collect some of the vineyards fruit and hopes they will respect him.  Instead of welcoming the servant’s son, they kill him.  Jesus then asked a question and then solicits His own answer, “what then should the owner do to the tenants? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others” (Luke 20.16) Then looking directly at those that were questioning His authority, he quotes the Scripture “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”  I wonder how long it took for that parables understanding to sink in to those chief priest and scribes?  The meaning was clear, these Jews were the tenants and they were about to put the Son of God to death.  Jesus was letting them know while there was still time, because their judgement was coming.   Our judgement is coming as well, and we will have to give an account for how we treated the Son.  If we humble ourselves to that Son, He will bless us.  However, if we wait and let the Son humble us on the day of Judgement, we will be destroyed…just like those selfish tenants.


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