Storyteller: The Parables of JesusNäide

Responsibility (Part 2: The Parable of The Tenants)

The Parable of the Tenants is one of the most difficult to interpret and one of the most significant because it offers a theology of the person and work of Jesus Christ and forces a response from listeners to that truth in either agreement or opposition, resulting in judgment.

No one enjoys talking about God’s judgment, and although it is real, so is His unfathomable mercy and grace, which is on full display in this parable.

Matthew intends to show that Jesus is both King and Messiah in his gospel. During Jesus’ day, the religious leaders refused to believe the clear evidence He continually set before them about His identity. During the last week of His life, they were working overtime to set traps for His demise, but Jesus, the ever-brilliant teacher, is far more skilled and clever, using story and metaphor to pull them in so they can come to grips with Who He is and hopefully see how they have committed treason against Him. He is endlessly kind, giving them multiple chances to reform their thinking and actions before handing down any kind of judgment.

It is important to know who each character represents in this parable to better understand it. The vineyard owner represents God, and the vineyard owner’s son is Jesus. The servants are God’s prophets, and the vineyard is Israel and all of God’s people. The tenants represent the chief priests, scribes, and pharisees, whom God had given responsibility (since establishing Israel as a nation) to care for the spiritual needs of His people and for the temple.

Although we require an explanation of Jesus’ parable, the religious leaders would have known He was giving them a scathing review of their inability to carry out the holy and high calling God had given them to lead His people. He was condemning them and judging them for the countless ways they had mistreated God’s prophets and messengers. Worst of all, He was prophesying about how they would be responsible for his vicious murder in just a few short days.

Jesus asks the religious leaders what should be done to the tenants, and they are obligated to answer, saying that the vineyard should be ripped away from them and given to someone else. They render their own guilty verdict, and they are not pleased about being tricked. They love their position, power, and the praise of men. They believe that if they get rid of Jesus, they get to keep everything.

Yet God vindicates Jesus when He raises Him from the dead, affirming His authority and giving Him possession of the vineyard, establishing Him as the rightful Tenant over our lives—the One Who cares for us, protects us, and causes us to flourish.

Though the religious leaders failed to accept Jesus as the Cornerstone of the faith, we must withhold our judgment toward them because we are guilty of the same sin. It is the original sin committed in the Garden of Eden, believing that God holds out on us and that we would make a better god of our lives than He can. We were all once enemies of God, but when we choose to believe in Jesus, His death reconciles us to Him, and we are spared from the wrath and judgment we deserve. What is more, we do not have to clamor for His inheritance because it already belongs to us if we are in Christ.

Although Jesus makes it clear that judgment is reserved for those who reject Him, there was still time for the religious leaders then, and there is still time for those who have not yet trusted in Him now to repent and submit their lives to His authority. He is generous and merciful, showing love through the death of His only Son, Jesus Christ, by saving all sinners, regardless of who we are or what we have done.

God has accomplished salvation for all through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, but it is the responsibility of every person to choose to move toward Him in faith. When you do, He will make His home in your heart, renew you, and empower you to walk in friendship with Him and share Him with the world around you!

Prayer

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9, ESV)

Jesus, help us walk in a manner worthy of Your calling to be a light in this world for Your glory. Amen.