Luk 20:9-19 | KingComments | STEP | The second topic in temple teaching is bearing fruit. The Lord tells a parable on this, not to the religious leaders, but to the people. He wants to warn them about the attitude of their leaders. The leaders also listen. shows that they know they are meant. It infuriates them instead of leading them to repentance. The parable is about someone who plants a vineyard, rents it out to vine-growers and then goes on a journey for a long time. The vineyard is a picture of the people of Israel ( ) who were expected to produce fruit for God. It is important to apply this history to ourselves as well because we are also expected to bear fruit ( ). The vine-growers are the responsible leaders among the people. The man, the owner, is God, Who has withdrawn into heaven. The man has rented out the vineyard with a view to fruit. He would like to receive of the produce of his vineyard. The produce of the vineyard is joy, for wine is a picture of joy ( ; ). God wants His people to serve Him with joy and to come to Him with sacrifices of gratitude. To receive of the fruit, the owner sends a slave to the vine-growers. But the slave, a prophet who reminds the people of God’s right to fruit, is abused by the vine-growers and sent away empty-handed. If God sends us His Word through His servants to bring us to fruit bearing to give this fruit to Him, how do we react? Sending another slave shows the patience of the owner. But also this slave is beaten and treated shamefully and then sent back empty-handed. When the owner sends the third slave, the vine-growers become very violent. The slave is not only beaten, but also wounded. Mercilessly he is thrown out of the vineyard. Away with him. All these messengers of God are as many proofs of His love for and patience with His people. Although His prophets were so mistreated every time, God continued to send them ( ). And yet that is not the end of God’s patience and His attempts to obtain fruit from His people. In this parable another step is taken, the last and most far-reaching step: the beloved Son is sent.

‏ Luke 20:9-19

The Unrighteous Vine-Growers

The second topic in temple teaching is bearing fruit. The Lord tells a parable on this, not to the religious leaders, but to the people. He wants to warn them about the attitude of their leaders. The leaders also listen. Lk 20:19 shows that they know they are meant. It infuriates them instead of leading them to repentance.

The parable is about someone who plants a vineyard, rents it out to vine-growers and then goes on a journey for a long time. The vineyard is a picture of the people of Israel (Isa 5:1) who were expected to produce fruit for God. It is important to apply this history to ourselves as well because we are also expected to bear fruit (Jn 15:1-5). The vine-growers are the responsible leaders among the people. The man, the owner, is God, Who has withdrawn into heaven.

The man has rented out the vineyard with a view to fruit. He would like to receive of the produce of his vineyard. The produce of the vineyard is joy, for wine is a picture of joy (Jdg 9:13; Psa 104:15a). God wants His people to serve Him with joy and to come to Him with sacrifices of gratitude.

To receive of the fruit, the owner sends a slave to the vine-growers. But the slave, a prophet who reminds the people of God’s right to fruit, is abused by the vine-growers and sent away empty-handed. If God sends us His Word through His servants to bring us to fruit bearing to give this fruit to Him, how do we react?

Sending another slave shows the patience of the owner. But also this slave is beaten and treated shamefully and then sent back empty-handed. When the owner sends the third slave, the vine-growers become very violent. The slave is not only beaten, but also wounded. Mercilessly he is thrown out of the vineyard. Away with him.

All these messengers of God are as many proofs of His love for and patience with His people. Although His prophets were so mistreated every time, God continued to send them (2Chr 36:15-16). And yet that is not the end of God’s patience and His attempts to obtain fruit from His people. In this parable another step is taken, the last and most far-reaching step: the beloved Son is sent.

The Beloved Son Killed

The owner is looking for ways to persuade the vine-growers to give him his fruit. It is no longer so much about the fruit, but of the attitude of the vine-growers. It cannot be better tested than by sending his son. The owner may assume that they will in any case respect and spare him.

From this attitude God finally sent His Son. He considered the chance present, which is indicated by the word “perhaps”, that they will not give Him such treatment as they have given the slaves, but will respect Him. Although God as the Omniscient knew what they would do with His Son, His assumption that they would respect His Son is perfectly justified. By the fact of sending His Son He places man under the responsibility to acknowledge His Son. He couldn’t have expected anything else, could He?

The purpose of the coming of the beloved Son is presented here and that is to receive fruit for His Father. The Father wishes to receive fruit through His Son from the hands of the vine-growers. That goal is still valid today. God still seeks the fruit of the lips (Heb 13:15). We may offer praise to God through the Son. It is even so, that the beloved Son Himself starts the song of praise and we may sing together with Him (Psa 22:22b). In connection with the temple, the area where the Lord is when He tells this parable, we can also think of the church as a temple, as a spiritual house, where we offer spiritual sacrifices (1Pet 2:5).

When the Son comes, they also acknowledge Him as the Heir. At that same moment, their true nature comes fully to the surface. They reveal themselves as people who do not want to acknowledge God’s rights because they want to be lord and master themselves. What God has purposed as the last possibility to obtain fruit from His people becomes the opportunity of revealing the incorrigible wickedness of man who consciously rejects God in His Son. The intent of the vine-growers is followed by their deeds. The Son is thrown out of His vineyard and killed and shares in the fate of the prophets sent before Him (Lk 13:34).

The Lord asks the question what the lord of the vineyard will do now. Isn’t the measure filled up? Everything has been tried to bring the people to the producing of fruit. There has not only been shown unwillingness, but utter enmity and rebellion against the Lord of the vineyard, that is God. God’s grace is not endless. If every attempt to prove grace is answered with deadly hatred, God is left nothing but to execute judgment. The Lord pronounces judgment on the vine-growers. And not only that. He says that the vineyard will be given to others.

Lk 20:19 clearly states that the leaders understand that He has spoken this parable against them. Also their spontaneous reaction “may it never be!” makes that clear. They have followed the Lord’s story well and recognized themselves in it. When He speaks of “others”, they understand that these must be the Gentiles. That thought makes them furious. This is the expression of people who themselves despise grace and begrudge it to others.

But how is our reaction? The thought can easily take hold that the church where we are is the only right one and that it will never depart from us. In pride we can hold on to what God must take from us precisely because of our pride. If we forget that grace is the power in which we may be a church and also experience that when we come together to bring God the fruit of our lips, we cease to be God’s church and witness.

The Rejected Stone Becomes the Chief Corner Stone

On their reaction “may it never be!” the Lord responds by telling them a word from the Scripture that they know well. Here He changes the metaphor. What at first was a vineyard now becomes a building (cf. 1Cor 3:9). This change of metaphor is no problem for the leaders. They know that it’s about the same things.

The Lord Jesus, like the stone, was rejected by the leaders, but God made Him the chief corner stone of His building. He will realize that building in the church. The stone is a touchstone. For God and those who belong to Him, Christ is the corner stone on which God’s building is unshakably fixed. He who falls upon Him, he who stumbles over and rejects Him (Rom 9:32) as the leaders do now, of that person nothing will remain. He will also fall on those who rejected Him and chose the antichrist. This will happen at His second coming when He falls as judgment from heaven (Dan 2:34). On whomever He falls will be scattered like dust by Him.

After the Lord has said this, Luke describes the feelings of the scribes and chief priests. How much would these leaders have liked to have seized Him now. They understand that the parable was about them. Instead of repenting now, their hatred and murderousness only increases. They are only withheld because they are afraid of the people. That they cannot lay hands on Him yet is also because God’s time has not yet come.