The Parable of the Vine-Growers: Luke 20:9-18

Introduction

Luke 20:9–18 NASB95

9 And He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to vine-growers, and went on a journey for a long time. 10 “At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, so that they would give him some of the produce of the vineyard; but the vine-growers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 “And he proceeded to send another slave; and they beat him also and treated him shamefully and sent him away empty-handed. 12 “And he proceeded to send a third; and this one also they wounded and cast out. 13 “The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ 14 “But when the vine-growers saw him, they reasoned with one another, saying, ‘This is the heir; let us 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 destroy these vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others.” When they heard it, they said, “May it never be!” 17 But Jesus looked at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘The stone which the builders rejected, This became the chief corner stone’? 18 “Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”

WARNING: that is what this parable is.

What Is The Question? vv.9-15

What Is The Answer? v.16

What Is The Reason? vv. 17-18

What Is The Question? vv. 9-15

Luke 20:9–15 NASB95

9 And He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to vine-growers, and went on a journey for a long time. 10 “At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, so that they would give him some of the produce of the vineyard; but the vine-growers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 “And he proceeded to send another slave; and they beat him also and treated him shamefully and sent him away empty-handed. 12 “And he proceeded to send a third; and this one also they wounded and cast out. 13 “The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ 14 “But when the vine-growers saw him, they reasoned with one another, saying, ‘This is the heir; let us 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?

The Owner: God the Father

“the man” v.9

“the slave-owner” vv.10-12

“the owner” vv.13, 15 (lit. “lord”)

The Renters: Israel

“vine-growers” vv.9, 10, 14, 16

The Son: Jesus Christ

“the son” v.13

“the heir” v.14

We have to get to the point of understanding why Jesus told this parable.

He told it in order to expose their hard hearts.

He told it in order to show the people the comparison of the Son to the leaders.

Jesus is the True Shepherd.

They are false shepherds.

v.9

Jesus speaks to the people, not the leaders!

The landowner plants a vineyard and does what a reasonable landowner would do.

This owner, who is the master of the plot because he owns it because he built it, probably would be understood to have multiple parcels of land to harvest from.

That may be why, in Jesus’ story, the man went away for a long time.

He may have another parcel from which to harvest and he needs to plant.

In order to harvest in the proper time (v.10), he hires some men to work his own vineyard for him in order to produce fruit.

Alfred Edersheim wrote:

The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Chapter 5: The Third Day in Passion-Week—The Last Series of Parables

This vineyard the owner had let out to husbandmen, while he himself ‘travelled away’ [abroad], as St. Luke adds, ‘for a long time.’ From the language it is evident, that the husbandmen had the full management of the vineyard. We remember, that there were three modes of dealing with land. According to one of these (Arisuth), ‘the labourers’ employed received a certain portion of the fruits, say, a third or a fourth of the produce. In such cases it seems, at least sometimes, to have been the practice, besides giving them a proportion of the produce, to provide also the seed (for a field) and to pay wages to the labourers.e The other two modes of letting land were, either that the tenant paid a money rent to the proprietor, or else that he agreed to give the owner a definite amount of produce, whether the harvest had been good or bad.g Such leases were given by the year or for life; sometimes the lease was even hereditary, passing from father to son. There can scarcely be a doubt that it is the latter kind of lease (Chakhranutha, from חכר) which is referred to in the Parable, the lessees being bound to give the owner a certain amount of fruits in their season.

There is obviously no sin, no cheating the system, nor anything that this master is doing wrong.

It is business as usual.

v.10

Luke 20:10 NASB95

10 “At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, so that they would give him some of the produce of the vineyard; but the vine-growers beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

“...In time he sent...” = καὶ καιρῷ ἀπέστειλεν

In the right season.

This is the normal time from planting to harvesting.

“…so that...”

The purpose of the slave was to go to the vine-growers and receive from them the produce that was contracted for.

The master was well within his expectations to believe that the vine-growers would have the agreed-upon fruit for the slaves.

The slaves were not imposed upon by the owner in the slightest.

The vine-growers beat the slave.

This beating is possibly slapping or a blow to the face.

It is used in v.11 as well, but with increasing intensity.

“flogging”

Luke 12:48 NASB95

48 but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

“slapping”

John 18:23 NASB95

23 Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me?”

“punching”

1 Corinthians 9:26 NASB95

26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air;

v.11

Luke 20:11 NASB95

11 “And he proceeded to send another slave; and they beat him also and treated him shamefully and sent him away empty-handed.

The master sent a second slave.

The master may have conferred with his son about this and they agree to send another slave to get the fruit.

The second slave goes.

“…he proceeded to send...” = “…he added another slave of a different kind...”

This may be a slave in higher rank.

The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament ἕτερος

As an indefinite number, ἕτερος denotes the new member of a series distinct from those which preceded and either carrying the series forward, e.g., Lk. 14:18 ff.: ὁ πρῶτος … καὶ ἕτερος … καὶ ἕτερος; 1 C. 12:8 f.: ᾧ μὲν … ἄλλῳ δὲ … ἑτέρῳ … ἄλλῳ δὲ … ἄλλῳ δὲ … ἑτέρῳ … ἄλλῳ δὲ, or concluding it, Ac. 15:35: Παῦλος δὲ καὶ Βαρναβᾶς διέτριβον ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ … εὐαγγελιζόμενοι μετὰ καὶ ἑτέρων πολλῶν. It often comprises other men or concepts of the same kind, e.g., “and others” in Ac. 17:34: τινὲς δὲ ἄνδρες … αὐτῷ ἐπίστευσαν, ἐν οἷς καὶ Διονύσιος … καὶ … Δάμαρις καὶ ἕτεροι σὺν αὐτοῖς, or “the others” in 4:34: καὶ ταῖς ἑτέραις πόλεσιν εὐαγγελίσασθαι.

The reply to the second slave is worse than the first.

“…but that one the beating ones and dishonoring ones sent away...”

Jesus emphasizes the growing hostility between the slaves and the renters.

The physical persecution that this slave met was possibly whipping or removing the skin by beating.

Mark 13:9 NASB95

9 “But be on your guard; for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them.

If that second slave was a higher-level slave, then what Jesus wants to emphasize is that the increasing authoritative representation was met with increasing hostility.

v.12

Luke 20:12 NASB95

12 “And he proceeded to send a third; and this one also they wounded and cast out.

This slave was sent in hopes of getting fruit.

He was beaten and sent away as well.

But, his beating was to the point of “wounds.”

By this time, the owner has exhausted his slaves.

Three slaves have been sent and all three have suffered at the hands of the renters of the vineyard.

Consider:

How the owner is feeling:

If his reaction is any indication, he is devastated.

He is in a predicament since he, in good faith, contracted with these renters so that they can produce fruit for himself and for themselves.

They don’t own the land, the man does.

They are only borrowing it, albeit under contract.

How the renters are feeling:

They want to take over the vineyard from the owner.

They have no regard for the honor of the owner or his possessions.

They don’t care that this kind of behavior might get around the village.

v.13

Luke 20:13 NASB95

13 “The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’

“…What shall I do?...” Familiar to Luke

Luke 12:17 NASB95

17 “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’

Luke 16:3 NASB95

3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg.

This owner is speaking with himself.

Presumably he is by himself.

He gives himself counsel on a proper response.

He determines to send his son.

“… I will send my son. Perhaps they will respect him...”

The man is expecting a respectable reaction from the men.

Why?

Because this is not a slave, but a son.

The son would most represent the father in the business, more than the slaves would.

Therefore, if there is anyone who can impress on these renters the authority of the owner it would be the son of the owner.

But there is more than that which Jesus adds.

“… I will send my beloved son...”

To the character which Jesus creates to represent the Father of heaven, Jesus adds that the owner of the land is willing to send his own “beloved” son into the vineyard in order to get the fruit from the renters.

This level of interest is not business, but personal and emotional.

This is the beloved son of the land owner.

He would not only simply represent the father’s business interests, but the very father himself.

Further, the fact that the father sent him at this point indicates a kind of father, or owner, who is unlike a simply businessman.

The father is fulfilling his contract and expects the same from the renters.

However, in order to get that to finally happen, the very heart of the father must be represented: the son represents the very heart of the father.

v.14

Luke 20:14 NASB95

14 “But when the vine-growers saw him, they reasoned with one another, saying, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.’

Jesus now tells us what happened when the father sent his son to gather fruit from the work of the renters of the father’s garden.

“…when the vine-growers saw him...”

= the renters saw the son coming in the parable Jesus invented.

“…they reasoned with one another, saying, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.’”

Here we begin to see Jesus’ purpose in making up this parable.

Think about it:

They saw the heir of the vineyard come.

They knew they were not going to be there forever.

They were jealous.

They conspired.

They acted on their conspiracy and their jealousy.

They ultimately wanted to keep the vineyard which belonged to the landowner.

Luke 19:47–48 NASB95

47 And He was teaching daily in the temple; but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people were trying to destroy Him, 48 and they could not find anything that they might do, for all the people were hanging on to every word He said.

Luke 20:19–20 NASB95

19 The scribes and the chief priests tried to lay hands on Him that very hour, and they feared the people; for they understood that He spoke this parable against them. 20 So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, in order that they might catch Him in some statement, so that they could deliver Him to the rule and the authority of the governor.

Luke 20:26 NASB95

26 And they were unable to catch Him in a saying in the presence of the people; and being amazed at His answer, they became silent.

What did Jesus mean by this?

He knew what they were up to.

He knew how the game ended.

They would now know that He knows all of this.

They are guilty.

v.15

Luke 20:15 NASB95

15 “So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

This is the point of the entire parable.

Jesus is entrapping them.

He is getting them to consider this scenario.

Then, with this scenario developed, they are backed into a corner to answer against themselves.

This is shrewd.

This is wise.

But He is righteous.

He is just.

He is right.

Mark wrote:

Mark 12:8 NASB95

8 “They took him, and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.

What Is The Answer?

They will be crushed by judgment.

v.16

Luke 20:16 NASB95

16 “He will come and destroy these vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others.” When they heard it, they said, “May it never be!”

What is the Reason?

Because they rejected the King, Jesus Christ.

Luke 19:41–44 (NASB95)

41When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it,

42saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.

43“For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side,

44and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

v.17

Luke 20:17–18 NASB95

17 But Jesus looked at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘The stone which the builders rejected, This became the chief corner stone’? 18 “Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”

Psalm 118:22–23 NASB95

22 The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone. 23 This is the Lord’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes.

Conclusion

Hebrews 2:1–3 NASB95

1 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, 3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,

Jeremiah 44:1–19 NASB95

1 The word that came to Jeremiah for all the Jews living in the land of Egypt, those who were living in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and the land of Pathros, saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘You yourselves have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are in ruins and no one lives in them, 3 because of their wickedness which they committed so as to provoke Me to anger by continuing to burn sacrifices and to serve other gods whom they had not known, neither they, you, nor your fathers. 4 ‘Yet I sent you all My servants the prophets, again and again, saying, “Oh, do not do this abominable thing which I hate.” 5 ‘But they did not listen or incline their ears to turn from their wickedness, so as not to burn sacrifices to other gods. 6 ‘Therefore My wrath and My anger were poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, so they have become a ruin and a desolation as it is this day. 7 ‘Now then thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, “Why are you doing great harm to yourselves, so as to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, from among Judah, leaving yourselves without remnant, 8 provoking Me to anger with the works of your hands, burning sacrifices to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you are entering to reside, so that you might be cut off and become a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? 9 “Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10 “But they have not become contrite even to this day, nor have they feared nor walked in My law or My statutes, which I have set before you and before your fathers.” ’ 11 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am going to set My face against you for woe, even to cut off all Judah. 12 ‘And I will take away the remnant of Judah who have set their mind on entering the land of Egypt to reside there, and they will all meet their end in the land of Egypt; they will fall by the sword and meet their end by famine. Both small and great will die by the sword and famine; and they will become a curse, an object of horror, an imprecation and a reproach. 13 ‘And I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine and with pestilence. 14 ‘So there will be no refugees or survivors for the remnant of Judah who have entered the land of Egypt to reside there and then to return to the land of Judah, to which they are longing to return and live; for none will return except a few refugees.’ ” 15 Then all the men who were aware that their wives were burning sacrifices to other gods, along with all the women who were standing by, as a large assembly, including all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, responded to Jeremiah, saying, 16 “As for the message that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we are not going to listen to you! 17 “But rather we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, by burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, just as we ourselves, our forefathers, our kings and our princes did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of food and were well off and saw no misfortune. 18 “But since we stopped burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have met our end by the sword and by famine.” 19 “And,” said the women, “when we were burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and were pouring out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands that we made for her sacrificial cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her?”