Mat 21:33-43 | KingComments | STEP | The Lord continues His teaching. He adds another parable to it to make their position clear. With the words “listen to another parable” He commands that they should continue listening. This parable is not only about their behavior toward God as in the previous one, but also about God’s behavior toward them. Three charges against Israel come to light in this parable: 1. no fruit for God; 2. the abuse and killing of God’s slaves, the prophets; 3. the rejection and murder of the Son. The presentation of all that the landowner does to his vineyard is based on the parable in which Israel is compared to a vineyard to which God has tried everything to make it produce fruit ( ). In this we see the special favor of God for Israel. As those knowledgeable in the law, they must have recognized this. When all the work with an eye to obtaining fruit has been done, the landowner rents out his vineyard to vine-growers. He himself goes abroad, but remains closely involved with his vineyard while abroad. He knows exactly when it is harvest time. At that time he sends his slaves to receive “his” fruits. The produce is his, it belongs to him. But the vine-growers have no intention of giving the landowner his fruit. They see the landowner’s slaves as intruders on their property and act accordingly. One slave they beat, the other they kill and yet another is stoned by them. Because the landowner wants to receive fruit, he sends even more slaves. But when they come to the vine-growers, they suffer the same fate. While the landowner knows what they have done with his slaves, he is making one last attempt to receive the fruits. He sees one more possibility to move the vine-growers to give him his fruits. He will send his son. They will certainly have respect for his son and spare him. But what turns out to be the case? When the son appears, destruction and selfishness are expressed in the most terrible way imaginable. The vine-growers know that he is the heir. Because they want his inheritance themselves, they deny him his right to it. To make this evil scheme succeed, they decide that they will kill the heir. They turn words into action. They knowingly kill the heir, the son of the landowner and owner of the vineyard. This is the end of the experiment with man. The question of his true condition has been answered. God’s attempts to get fruit out of His vineyard are over. The natural man has shown his complete hatred of God and what comes from Him. Further testing is useless. The situation is hopeless. What remains is judgment. The presence of a Divine Person in love and goodness, a Man among men, ultimately only gives them the opportunity to insult God in the most wicked way. Now it appears fully that man is lost. The proof of man’s wickedness is undeniable.

‏ Matthew 21:33-43

Parable of the Vine-Growers

The Lord continues His teaching. He adds another parable to it to make their position clear. With the words “listen to another parable” He commands that they should continue listening. This parable is not only about their behavior toward God as in the previous one, but also about God’s behavior toward them. Three charges against Israel come to light in this parable:

1. no fruit for God;

2. the abuse and killing of God’s slaves, the prophets;

3. the rejection and murder of the Son.

The presentation of all that the landowner does to his vineyard is based on the parable in which Israel is compared to a vineyard to which God has tried everything to make it produce fruit (Isa 5:1-2). In this we see the special favor of God for Israel. As those knowledgeable in the law, they must have recognized this.

When all the work with an eye to obtaining fruit has been done, the landowner rents out his vineyard to vine-growers. He himself goes abroad, but remains closely involved with his vineyard while abroad. He knows exactly when it is harvest time. At that time he sends his slaves to receive “his” fruits. The produce is his, it belongs to him.

But the vine-growers have no intention of giving the landowner his fruit. They see the landowner’s slaves as intruders on their property and act accordingly. One slave they beat, the other they kill and yet another is stoned by them. Because the landowner wants to receive fruit, he sends even more slaves. But when they come to the vine-growers, they suffer the same fate.

While the landowner knows what they have done with his slaves, he is making one last attempt to receive the fruits. He sees one more possibility to move the vine-growers to give him his fruits. He will send his son. They will certainly have respect for his son and spare him.

But what turns out to be the case? When the son appears, destruction and selfishness are expressed in the most terrible way imaginable. The vine-growers know that he is the heir. Because they want his inheritance themselves, they deny him his right to it. To make this evil scheme succeed, they decide that they will kill the heir. They turn words into action. They knowingly kill the heir, the son of the landowner and owner of the vineyard.

This is the end of the experiment with man. The question of his true condition has been answered. God’s attempts to get fruit out of His vineyard are over. The natural man has shown his complete hatred of God and what comes from Him. Further testing is useless. The situation is hopeless. What remains is judgment.

The presence of a Divine Person in love and goodness, a Man among men, ultimately only gives them the opportunity to insult God in the most wicked way. Now it appears fully that man is lost. The proof of man’s wickedness is undeniable.

Consequences of the Rejection

Finally, the owner of the vineyard comes himself. Then the question is not what the vine-growers will do with the landowner, but what the landowner will do with the vine-growers. The Lord Jesus asks the leaders this question. They know how to give the right answer. This answer makes it clear that they can give a morally correct answer, while at the same time being blind to the fact that with this answer they have passed judgment on themselves. They go even further by saying that the vineyard will be given to others who will deliver the fruits in their time. That also happened, namely when the salvation went to the nations.

The Lord refers to the Scriptures they know so well. The conduct of the vine-growers is clearly revealed in their own Scriptures. He applies Psalm 118 to the parable he has just pronounced (Psa 118:22-23). The son is the stone, the vine-growers are the builders. Just as the vine-growers rejected the son, so the builders rejected the stone. But God made it so that the rejected stone becomes the most important stone of the building. This is something no one could think of; only He could think of it.

It is therefore marvelous in the eyes of the faithful remnant in the end times, about which this psalm speaks. It is an astonishment that they will pronounce as a confession in the end times when they see Him they have pierced (Zec 12:10).

The Lord continues with the effect of the parable, and follows the judgment they themselves have made in their answer to His question (Mt 21:41). “The kingdom of God” is taken from them, for that is present in His Person (Lk 17:21). He does not say that the kingdom of heaven will be taken from them, for they did not have it. The Lord Himself will depart from them.

He is the touchstone for every human being. All who fall on Him shall be broken to pieces. The leaders are such people. They have fallen on this stone, they have fallen over it, they have stumbled over it because they despised it. Therefore in the last days the stone will fall upon the rebellious people and scatter them like dust. This will happen when Christ returns to earth (cf. Dan 2:34-35).

It is clear to the leaders that the Lord Jesus refers to them in His parables. That’s why they try to seize Him, but at the same time they think of the favor of the people they don’t want to lose. As in Mt 21:26, here too they are guided by their fear of people, their fear of losing the prestige they believe they have. Fear of the multitude restrain their deeds, as in Mt 21:26 where this fear restrained their tongue.