Accountability to God's Ownership & Christ's Authority

In this setting of confrontation with the leaders, and still on the topic of authority, Jesus now goes on the offensive. He tells a parable that is relevant to us in its theme of our accountability to God’s ownership and authority. It is a particularly stinging indictment, though, of the past and present (of Jesus’ day) spiritual leadership in Israel, and the final straw will be their refusal to recognize Jesus as the Son sent from God, the very cornerstone of God’s Kingdom.

Luke 20:9–19 ESV

And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.

Here we have one of the more comprehensive parables Jesus gives, and it is allegorical in that some of its features correspond to historical realities. This is even more specific, for example, than the parable of the Forgiving Father (Prodigal Son), which is also more complex parable because it has several points of application. It too is allegorical in that the father represents God and the sons represent sinners and repentance, and responses to his grace. But the intent is not really to point to specific historical persons and events (except God) but to general actions and motivations that can apply to anyone.

But this parable of Wicked Tenants (or Wicked Vinedressers) is more specifically allegorical. When this happens it should be obvious. We are not left fishing for the correlation. - In other words, we unwisely interpret scripture by trying to allegorize things not intended as such. What is the deep spiritual meaning of the water and of the wine that Jesus transforms at the wedding in Cana of Galilee? What do the fish and the bread represent when Jesus feeds the five thousand? Food. There’s no hidden spiritual meaning, only the obvious: the miraculous power of Jesus as the unique one sent from God, and the process of the disciples growing to understand more fully who Jesus is.

Anyway, as I said, this parable is pretty plainly allegorical, so let’s consider who and what the main characters and features represent:

Owner of the vineyard ..... God

Vineyard ..... Israel as a chosen people

(not the place/land as much as the community with whom God has made a covenant)

Tenant farmers ..... Religious leaders of Israel

Servants of the owner ..... the Prophets

Son/Heir of the owner ..... Jesus Christ

Now, as is typical of our manner of studying, let’s follow the flow of the text to dig deeper and make sure we both understand and apply it rightly. I’ve divided this into three parts, with a fourth concluding section to specifically think more critically about how God’s truth here impacts our own lives.

We’ll consider first at the parable itself; then Jesus providing the punchline, coupled with the reactions to it (showing that they got the point); and finally Jesus explaining further the accountability and consequences of rejecting him (like what happens in the parable).

The Parable Illustrates the Wicked Response of Israel’s Leadership, Past & Present (vv. 9-15a)

v. 9a Matt and Mark both note that this parable is directed at the Jewish leaders, which is evident in Luke as well from the parable itself. But Luke alone notes that Jesus told the parable to the people gathered. - That’s relevant because although the leaders are particularly indicted here, it will become clear that the people will (by and large) join in the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus. —> We are all implicated in this rebellious behavior toward God and, even though we weren’t there to cry out for his murder, our sin is the cause of Jesus’ sacrificial death.

v. 9b - The owner being away in a far country isn’t meant to represent God’s absence from involvement. (Don’t try to develop an entire theology from a parable. That is now what they are intended to do.) But the owner’s distance from the immediate activity carries the plot forward in the sense of God’s expectation from heaven as the “owner” of this vineyard. - The point is who owns the land and who planted the vineyard.

v. 9b - Tenant farmers - farmer who works the land of someone else on a contractual basis

But in vv. 10-12, we discover that even though the owner only expects to receive from what is rightfully his, they behave as if they own the vineyard.

Illustrations: Imagine abusing and kicking out the guy who came to collect rent for the owner. Or letting movie filmmakers use the front lawn for a car crash or the swimming pool for a motorcycle busting through the fence into the pool. Then the actual owner calls to find out what’s going on. The people who gave permission were only tenants.

Again, these servants who have been sent represent God’s messengers, his prophets, whose warning and pleas the Israelites have continually refused to listen to.

vv. 10-12 Notice too how their disrespect and violence escalates with each new servant sent. The third one they wound (which means to hurt so badly as to potentially maim or scar him permanently), and they don’t just send him away empty but expel him (cast him out). - Don’t we also observe fallen human nature, that the longer people get away with their sin, the more brazen and emboldened we become in our wickedness? (This isn’t even the end of their depravity. But they also don’t get away with it in the end.)

v. 13 The owner’s response (to the mistreatment of these three servants) correlates to God the Father now sending the Son, but again is not meant to confuse your theology about the omniscience of God and his control over all aspects of providence. - But bc the actor in the parable is human, he wonders what else to try and hopes that they will show more respect, more deference to the son. It heightens anticipation of a chance for a different response. —> But that isn’t what happens, of course.

The stakes are raised greatly. The servants were sent and had the owner’s authority as his messengers. And now the son will come with even greater authority, even a stake in ownership.

v. 14 Jesus’ parable explains their thought-process. He is the heir to the very land we farm. If we kill him, then maybe it can ultimately be ours. (The owner might have no one else to give it to and may give up on fighting with us.) —> Of course, this would still in fact be stealing. In order for the inheritance to be theirs, they would need to be the owner’s adopted children.

Again, the point is not that God is surprised by this (and that wouldn’t be the assumption of the Jews in Jesus’ day), but rather the conspiracy of the tenants is meant to shock the listeners. (wow, the audacity of these tenant farmers!)

v. 15a They follow through on their threats. These wicked tenants throw the son out and kill him. —> The dramatic irony here is thick, as the Lucan reader knows about the conspiracy of the present Jewish leadership, and the Lucan reader is aware that they will in fact put Jesus to death.

Before we move on, ask yourself:

Isn’t your heart also inclined to behave as if you have autonomy over that which is not actually yours to begin with? - Seek God in his word, and as you do, pray for God to reveal wickedness hidden in your heart (Psalm 139:23-24) and to purify your desire to please him (Ps. 51:10).

And now we need to consider how Jesus asks and answers the question that reveals the parable’s punchline, and how both the people and the religious leaders react. (Both groups react in ways that show they understand the parable’s meaning, especially with Jesus’ added statement of explanation.)

The People & the Priestly Aristocracy React to the Point of the Parable (vv. 15b-16,&19)

And what is the point of the parable? What is the answer to the question Jesus asks when the parable is complete? Two parts: First, the owner is clearly justified in judging the rebellious tenants. Secondly, the owner is justified in giving the privilege and responsibility of tending his vineyard to others.

That seems plain enough, but the emotional reaction of some in the audience is “Surely not!”… or “may it never be!” - Why do they react this way? In this case it is evident that the meaning of the parable was not hidden from them. They seem to grasp the insinuation of Israel losing her privileged position as God’s representative to mankind, and that God will replace them (give the responsibility to others—the church).

So the people respond with shock. And what is the reaction of the religious elite? We see from v. 19 that the leaders react with vengeful anger. They too understand the meaning that this parable was told against them and those who have gone before them.

It’s not as if we don’t see this coming. Jesus has recently described their response to him and prophesied again that they will kill him.

The tiger is true to his stripes. The wasp stings and the viper strikes. Religious guides who are false toward God lead people away from God and not to him.

Luke wants us to see the culpability of these blind guides who have spiritually led the nation astray. (more on that in vv. 17-18)

(Before we go to those verses) Think for moment in terms of completed NT theology (under the new covenant). How does it matter to you that Israel did not faithfully discharge her duty and therefore in God’s sovereign plan he has entrusted stewardship to another?

This is of supreme interest to Luke and to every reader of the NT (and the reader of fulfilled prophecies of the former covenants in the Old). What God is doing through Jesus is opening access to the Gentiles, that they might be grafted in, that Jews and Gentiles alike will be a part of his church. And this could never come about without the sacrifice and resurrection and exaltation of Jesus, as well as the work of God to regenerate people from within (Ezek 36:22-27, causing them to have a heart of flesh where there was a heart of stone; and John 3:1-8, the Holy Spirit bringing about new birth). For without internal spiritual life granted by God, even faith would not be possible (Eph 2:8-9).

And now back to Jesus’ description of their culpability:

Jesus Reinforces Accountability for Response to Him (vv. 17-18)

The quotation and imagery of the stone shows that Jewish leaders have rejected Jesus, but God will exalt him as the chief cornerstone. They will kill him, but he will rise again triumphant, vindicated in power and authority. The nation putting the beloved Son to death will not be the end of the story, but will in fact be the very means by which God accomplishes his plan.

The scripture Jesus quotes is from Psalm 118:22. In its OT context, it pictures a king and a nation that are rejected by other nations, but whom God has seen fit to exalt. So it is meant to comfort them. Similarly but more specifically, Jesus is the beloved Son rejected by the nation (the very nation whom God had graciously exalted), but whom God accepts (the Son, that is) as having the position of honor and foundational necessity for those who would belong to God. (They must be built on and aligned with this cornerstone, Jesus.) If they don’t respond to him, there is no comfort for them.

After the scriptural quotation, Jesus continues with scriptural imagery (v. 18). Without quoting (no specific verbal connection), Jesus alludes to the OT concept from Isaiah 8 (the stone of stumbling over which adversaries will stumble and break into pieces, Is 8:14-15), and the stone crushing might conjure images from Daniel 2:34-35, 44-45, referencing a coming kingdom greater than all the mighty kingdoms that had come before, laying them to waste. (Bock, 1605)

The point is a graphic illustration of certain judgment for those who continue to reject that Jesus is the Son sent from God, the very cornerstone of God’s kingdom.

The opportunity to respond is slipping through their fingers. Rather than be frustrated or angered with the concept of God’s judgment (as v. 19), they ought to be grateful for how longsuffering God has been with Israel (and continues to be even now) and to respond with appropriate repentance and faith—submission to Jesus as Lord. These are God’s terms.

How are you responding to God’s ownership and authority over everything, and over you? How should you view your accountability to him?

Application Concerning God’s Ownership & Christ’s Authority:

Notice the clarity with which we can connect to the gospel from this parable and Jesus’ followup explanation of judgment.

Everything that exists belongs to God.

(a perfectly holy and eternally existing infinite being)

Nothing existed in the universe until God created it. And if he was the only being that existed when he created the rest of what now exists, to whom does it all belong?

We are accountable to him as owner of our very selves. But we have rebelled and gone our own way.

(behaving as if we are self-existing and self-determining… therefore self-glorifying) (our self-will and self-absorption separates us from God and leads to our destruction apart from him)

Are you trying to keep for yourself that which ultimately belongs to God? What will you do when he comes to collect?

What is truly amazing about God that most people do not comprehend (because they twist God into their image instead of the other way ‘round)… God is does not simply demand your allegiance because he is all-powerful. God does so because he is good, he is worthy, and therefore he knows that your highest good is to worship him. In his goodness God has revealed to us how we might achieve our highest good, which is to have him.

In love God sent his Son to save us from our wickedness.

It would seem that God had given them sufficient chances with the servants he sent (the messengers, his prophets). And yet he still graciously sent the son. And Jesus came knowing they would put him to death, bc that was not the end, but in fact the means by which he would make offering for sin to God and the offer of forgiveness to sinners.

We have already been wicked tenants and rejected God’s ownership and authority over us. Our judgment for that failure is certain. … But the miracle of the gospel is that in God’s sovereign plan Jesus himself mercifully paid the debt of sin owed to God. By his perfect atoning death and resurrection in power, then, Jesus can rightfully offer us forgiveness and restoration to God, a new standing with him.

The right response is submission—repentance and faith.

(There is a wrong response, which is vividly portrayed in the parable and its explanation.) Those who reject Jesus, the Son, will ultimately find that they have missed the very cornerstone upon which right relationship to God is built. He is the only means. They will find themselves, instead of being rescued and restored, to have tripped over the Messiah to be broken to pieces in judgment, to be crushed by the weight of his eternal authority and their lack of response to him.

When we spurn God’s authority over us and reject the Son he has sent, we trip and are shattered, and will be crushed by the necessary just judgment of that same Lord of all.

But that doesn’t have to be the case. Salvation comes by responding rightly to the Son sent from God. Repent of the lie of individual autonomy, give up having your own way, and give up any means of earning God’s favor. By faith admit that it is only God’s grace through Jesus that can save, and submit to Jesus as Lord.

Here’s a final application that I’d encourage you to do for study, meditation, and prayer. This would also be great for conversation with a small group or with family. [Turn over your handout to see these passages listed on the reverse side.]

Look at OT familiarity with the cornerstone image, and picture its significance: Isaiah 28:16-17.

See how the apostles further explain how Jesus is the cornerstone of faith for his people, the church… and how everything about their growth and ministry is built on him. - Acts 4:10-12, Eph 2:19-22, and 1 Pet 2:4-8.

From this NT view of Christ as the cornerstone of faith, of the church’s mission and ministry, go back and reread all of Psalm 118, and use it as a guide for prayerful acknowledgment of God’s character and his trustworthiness, of your need for him, of the Lord as the source of salvation, of your desire to enter into his presence, of gratitude to God for Christ the cornerstone (grateful for not only your own salvation but for the church which is built on Christ), and again of praise to God.