We’ve noted that Jesus has been speaking and acting boldly in the temple. He’s just told a parable about the two sons, showing that what we do matters more than what we say. And now he tells a story that takes aim at the very heart of the religious leaders.
The vineyard is, of course, not a new image by this point in scripture. Most anyone listening likely would have heard echoes of Isaiah, who describes Israel as God’s carefully planted vineyard. But Jesus shifts the focus: the problem isn’t with the vineyard. It’s with the tenants. A tenant is someone entrusted with someone else’s space or owned resource. Entrusted with the owner’s land, they reject accountability and treat it as their own. One messenger after another is abused, rejected, and killed. This is an unmistakable allusion to Israel’s prophets. And then, to finish, the son of the vineyard owner himself is cast out and murdered. The story points forward to Jesus’ own rejection and death, right at the hands of those questioning him.
It’s rather disturbing how the violence escalates. The tenants’ refusal to yield fruit becomes outright hostility to the owner. Such human “progression” is not unheard of, but it’s still jarring. Questions remain today: how can hate from one human toward another, from one group of people toward another group of people…how can it send roots so deep? How can it lead to actual violence and death?
The answer to the question of why it happens isn’t nearly as certain as the undeniable fact that it does.
Jesus’ final words are rough: The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who produce its fruit. This is less about Israel being cast aside than about unfaithful leadership being replaced by those who embody faithfulness. God’s vineyard will be cared for, and God’s kingdom will flourish, not because of title or position, but because of fruit.
This continues to speak to us, too. It’s easy to read this and shake our heads at the Pharisees. And now, the Church is entrusted with God’s vineyard. Let us remember that the displacement of the religious leaders isn’t because of who they are or what they said. It’s not because they were Jewish. Or because they were religious leaders. But because of their unrighteous action and uncompassionate lack of action.
The parable doesn’t let us off the hook. It confronts us with a sobering truth: God’s kingdom moves forward through those who actually live faithfully. Words, titles, heritage, or position aren’t enough. What matters is fruit: justice, mercy, and faithfulness lived out in the world.
Matthew 21:33-46
“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it to tenant farmers and took a trip. When it was time for harvest, he sent his servants to the tenant farmers to collect his fruit. But the tenant farmers grabbed his servants. They beat some of them, and some of them they killed. Some of them they stoned to death.
“Again he sent other servants, more than the first group. They treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
“But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come on, let’s kill him and we’ll have his inheritance.’ They grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
“When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenant farmers?”
They said, “He will totally destroy those wicked farmers and rent the vineyard to other tenant farmers who will give him the fruit when it’s ready.”
Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the scriptures, The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Lord has done this, and it’s amazing in our eyes? Therefore, I tell you that God’s kingdom will be taken away from you and will be given to a people who produce its fruit. Whoever falls on this stone will be crushed. And the stone will crush the person it falls on.”
Now when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard the parable, they knew Jesus was talking about them. They were trying to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, who thought he was a prophet.
Psalm 80:8-11, 14-29
You brought a vine out of Egypt. You drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; then it planted its roots deep, filling the land. The mountains were covered by its shade; the mighty cedars were covered by its branches. It sent its branches all the way to the sea; its shoots went all the way to the Euphrates River.
Please come back, God of heavenly forces! Look down from heaven and perceive it! Attend to this vine, this root that you planted with your strong hand, this son whom you secured as your very own. It is burned with fire. It is chopped down. They die at the rebuke coming from you. Let your hand be with the one on your right side—with the one whom you secured as your own—then we will not turn away from you! Revive us so that we can call on your name. Restore us, Lord God of heavenly forces! Make your face shine so that we can be saved!
Prayer
God,
You planted us to bear fruit, yet too often our roots tangle in selfishness, fear, and hate. Save us from becoming tenants who forget whose land this is. Turn our violence into compassion, our apathy into righteous action.
Restore us, Lord, that your face might shine on, in, through, and off of us, that we may be saved. Make us a people who tend your vineyard with justice and mercy, so that your kingdom flourishes not in words alone but in lives of faithfulness.
By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.
“God’s kingdom moves forward through those who actually live faithfully. Words, titles, heritage, or position aren’t enough. What matters is fruit: justice, mercy, and faithfulness lived out in the world.” Words we need in these days. Thank you.🙏🏼