Judgment on the Wickedness of Self Will

Matthew 21:33-46 

33 "Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 34 Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. 35 And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. 37 Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' 38 But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.' 39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 "Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?"

41 They said to Him, "He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons."

42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures:

The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
This was the LORD'S DOING,
And it is marvelous in our eyes'?

43 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. 44 And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder."

45 Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. 46 But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.

The parable of the evil vinedressers was a warning of the judgment on greed that so fills a man’s heart and soul that he would ignore God’s commands of righteousness and instead seek his own gain at the cost of the lives of those giving them their livelihood in the first place.  In the story Jesus related a landowner with a large productive vineyard who had business in a faraway country.  He hired it out to some vinedressers to manage it until his return, trusting that they would tend it for him and not let it fall into disrepair or unfruitfulness.  When it was time for reaping the grapes to make wine, the owner sent servants to reap the harvest.  Unfortunately, the men he hired turned against the servants in their greed and beat, stoned, and even killed one of them.  What evil fueled by greed to have everything for themselves that led to violence and even murder!  The landowner sent more servants and they met the same fate in the hand of the usurpers.  Finally, he sent his own son as a direct owner and not just a representative as a way of telling the listeners of this parable that God was the owner of what Israel’s leaders were entrusted with and they treated His Son as no mere representative like the prophets before Him, but the direct co-owner whose vinegar they were taking for themselves by selfishness and arrogance.  The parable’s villains killed the son in the hope that they could steal the inheritance instead of work it as hired to do.  The question Jesus asked in light of this was what justice should be applied to these evil men.  The unrighteous heard this and told him that the men should be held accountable and put to death, then the vineyard should be given to others who would truly care and tend the fruit for the benefit of the one who hired them as the owner is due.  

Jesus directly pointed their words back on them as they had rejected the Son of God as the chief cornerstone (Psalm 118:22, Isaiah 8:14-15) and that was holding up the building of God which His chosen people were meant to be (1 Peter 2:4, 6-7), built on the foundation of faith and obedience to the Son of the Vinedresser of heaven’s field.  The chief priests and Pharisees were enraged enough to try and grab Jesus to deal with Him by stopping how He had revealed their true motives to keep God’s kingdom from being harvested because they were likened to the greedy and wicked ones entrusted with God’s people but treated them wickedly for their own gain.  It was only their fear of retaliation by the people they were poor stewards of that stopped them from attacking and getting rid of Jesus, God’s only Son, like the son in the parable.  The foundation of the kingdom of heaven is Jesus Christ and they rejected Him as the marvelous foundation of the house of God which is the chosen people of promise by faith.  As 1 Peter 2:7-8 tells us, we who have believed in Christ have that sure building to build on and those who reject Him stumble because they are offended that He alone justifies and saves, not our works attempting to earn salvation built on our foundation of shifting sand (Matthew 7:26-27).    All our attempts to build apart from the heavenly Landowner of this kingdom will lead to ruin as a large cornerstone dropped onto them.  Those who merely stumble over this truth but repent and turn from sin to trust in Him and His work for them will get up again and not suffer this fate of due judgment for continuing rejection of the Son of God and His work.  Those seeking to build the kingdom of God on their own efforts and not on Christ by faith alone will be likewise crushed.  May all who read this parable trust Christ alone for salvation and not attempt to destroy the workers of His kingdom which has been entrusted to them.