Ep. 101: The Tenants

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MATTHEW 21:33-46, MARK 12:1-12, LUKE 20:9-19

Closely connected with the two preceding parables is that concerning the tenants in the vineyard. The object here is to set forth the patience and goodness of the owner, even towards the evil he faced. The meaning of the parable is sufficiently plain. The owner of the vineyard, God, had let out his Vineyard to his people of old. The covenant having been instituted. He withdrew, as it were. The former direct communication between him and Israel ceased. Then in due season. He sent ‘his Servants,’ the prophets, to gather his fruits. But, instead of returning the fruits, they only ill-treated his messengers, even to death.

In his longsuffering. He next sent on the same errand ‘greater’ than them, John the Baptist. And when he also received the same treatment. He sent finally his own Son, Jesus Christ. His appearance made them feel that it was now a decisive struggle for the Vineyard and so, in order to gain its possession for themselves, they cast the rightful heir out of his own possession and then killed him!

The application was obvious and it was made by Jesus, first, as always, by a reference to the prophetic testimony, showing not only the unity of all God’s teaching but also the continuity of the Israel of the present with that of old in their resistance and rejection of God’s counsel and messengers.

This is an extract from the book, Jesus : Life and Times, available for £10 here (Finalist for Academic Book of the year at 2023 CRT awards)