A Very Pointed Parable
Luke 20: 9 Now he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenant farmers, and went away for a long time. 10 At harvest time he sent a servant to the farmers so that they might give him some fruit from the vineyard. But the farmers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 He sent yet another servant, but they beat that one too, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12 And he sent yet a third, but they wounded this one too and threw him out.
13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him.’
14 “But when the tenant farmers saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him, so that the inheritance will be ours.’ 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
“What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and kill those farmers and give the vineyard to others.”
But when they heard this they said, “That must never happen!”
17 But he looked at them and said, “Then what is the meaning of this Scripture:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone?
18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will shatter him.”
19 Then the scribes and the chief priests looked for a way to get their hands on him that very hour, because they knew he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.
The author Luke is fanatical, you might say, about emphasizing the identity of Jesus of Nazareth as the true Messiah. From the time of his birth to more recent events, Jesus is set forth as the Messiah. We see this Messiah-identity emphasized, for example, when he rides into Jerusalem where the crowds are heaping on him titles that belong to the Messiah, like the blessed and coming King (Luke 19:38; cf. also Matt. 21:9). We see this Messiah-identity emphasized when he cleanses the temple calling it “my house” (Luke 19:46), followed by teaching the crowd gathered there, and doing so unhindered! That crowd right then and there in the temple easily could have realized a fulfillment of prophecy found in the book Malachi: “Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to his temple, the Messenger of the covenant you delight in—see, he is coming” (Mal. 3:1).
Jesus acts and proceeds as if he were the Messiah, and he does so with absolute authority.
Nobody stops him, which is crazy. And here’s why: Though the general Jewish population loved what he was doing, called him the very titles that belonged to the Messiah, and received his teachings as if they were truths that came from God himself, the Jewish religious leaders opposed him, and would do so violently when given the opportunity. And the interesting thing is these Jewish leaders – the Sanhedrin, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the scribes – were supposed to be the ones calling the shots, establishing beliefs and practices! Not this Jesus! But that’s what was happening, and they couldn’t stand it. “Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people were looking for a way to kill him, but they could not find a way to do it, because all the people were captivated by what they heard.” (Luke 19:47-48)
So, what could these religious authorities do? Well, they at least mustered up enough courage to publicly confront him. So right before our parable, they challenge him: “Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? Who is it who gave you this authority?” (Luke 20:2)
Without getting into details about this exchange for the sake of time, I want to point out that this question by these religious leaders was an excellent question, it was a key question: “Who is it who gave you this authority?” These Jewish religious leaders rejected the idea that Jesus was authorized by God to be the Messiah. “He is a liar,” they would say behind closed doors, “he does not have such authority from God.” And they rejected this for a simple reason: their own authority. They could not and would not give up their own authority, an authority which they believed was from God but was not.
Let me explain. Throughout their history, the Jewish leaders not only had the holy Scriptures – the authoritative and true word of God – but they also developed customs and traditions. There is nothing necessarily wrong with traditions, especially if traditions complement the word of God (and that’s what some of their traditions kind of did). What happened though is this: their humanly constructed traditions rose to the level of the word of God, even above the authoritative and true word of God, taking on meanings that were contrary to the authoritative word of God.
So, there end up to be two competing authorities, even if they do not realize it. Jewish, humanly constructed traditions vs. the word of God. We read about this in Matthew 15: “Jesus was approached by Pharisees and scribes…, who asked, ‘Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?’ He answered them, ‘Why do you break God’s commandment because of your tradition? … you have nullified the word of God because of your tradition. Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said: … They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines human commands.'” (Matt. 15:1ff)
This has always been the case. Human customs, traditions, cultural norms, societal practices, rising to the level of and even above the authority of the word of God. It is happening in our culture today.
This is satanic. Literally. Back in the Garden of Eden the devil challenged and had Eve, in turn, challenge the authoritative word of God. Such battles have raged ever since. Sinful men, including these Jewish leaders, preferring their own humanly constructed authority over and above the authority of God and his word. They collide.
And they collide especially when it comes to the identity of the Messiah, the one in whom salvation is found: God’s beloved Son. And that’s why Jesus tells this parable to the crowd. He wants them to know that their Jewish religious leaders have been and still are opposed to God’s authoritative salvation plan. He wants them to know these leaders reject him as the true Messiah.
God plants a vineyard, he establishes the Jewish people as his people, so they may flourish and bear fruit. He leases out this vineyard to tenant farmers, to religious leaders, to priests, kings, and prophets, to care for the vineyard. But he knows something is not right. So he sends them servants on occasion – true prophets – so they can bring back to God the fruit of repentant and faithful people. But these religious leaders reject God’s authority and plan for a fruitful vineyard. They beat one true prophet and send him away empty-handed. Another they beat, treat shamefully, and send back empty-handed as well. A third they wound and throw him out of the vineyard. More often than not, this is the history of God’s Old Testament people.
Finally, God the Father sends his Son, for surely they ought to respect him. But because they treasure their own traditions and word, their own authority, they must oppose and hate the authority of the word of God, they must oppose and hate and kill Jesus who, according to that authoritative word of God, is the Messiah and the Son of God. Their inheritance of blessing and riches and heaven is to be found in Jesus alone. But they say, “No it’s not. Our life and salvation are in rejecting and crucifying your Son.”
There is a price to pay for rejecting the authoritative word of God which points to and claims Jesus as the Messiah. Be careful, brothers and sisters, that you do not elevate any human tradition, custom, practice, norm, human policy, human order, human law, human definition, human mandate, or human judgment to the level of or above the word of God. For if you do, you will eventually want nothing to do with Christ. You will want him gone. And you will pay the price on the last day.
But please understand this as well: Jesus was not just warning against the Jewish religious leaders. He was not only predicting that he would be rejected, suffer, thrown outside of Jerusalem to be killed and crucified. He also taught, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”
So imagine some construction workers having delivered to them thousands of solid and precious rocks to build a beautiful stone temple or church. And they have to pick and choose which stones to use. They say, “This one, and this one, and this one. But what about that one? No way! It’s ugly. We see no beauty in it.” (see Is. 52:14; 53:2) So they reject it, and throw it away.
But they do not realize that this rock is more solid than other; they are blind to the reality that this ordinary looking stone is pure gold. And they also do not foresee that where this stone lands – on a cross outside of Jerusalem – becomes the essential and crucial foundational cornerstone to the very temple and church that God had predicted and planned for centuries. The Messiah Jesus builds his church on a cross, on a foundation of a sacrificial, merciful, crazy love for sinners like you, and me. And on this rock you stand. And on this rock his church has been built. And on this rock and in this church you have forgiveness of all your sins. And you have life now, and life forever.
The apostle Peter sums it up well for us:
As you come to [Jesus, the Messiah], a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God— you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:
(1 Pet. 2:4-10)
See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and honored cornerstone,
and the one who believes in him
will never be put to shame.
So honor will come to you who believe; but for the unbelieving,
The stone that the builders rejected—
this one has become the cornerstone,
and
A stone to stumble over,
and a rock to trip over.
They stumble because they disobey the word; they were destined for this.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Amen
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