Stone Rejected

V42 Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’? V43 Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. V44 And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.” V45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. V46 When they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet.

The Explanation

Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED,

THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’?

We saw the illustration last week of the Landowner and the conclusion of the chief priests and elders in V41 now we will jump right in to the Explanation. so powerful because Jesus speaks explaining the parable but explaining it in a veiled way. It doesn’t seem to be much of an explanation at first, does it? And it’s amazing how many commentators just sort of pass it off and say, “Well, Jesus is moving to another idea here,” or “Matthew sort of dropped this deal in out of its local place where it belonged.” No, it’s sheer divine genius and you’ll see in a moment why.

It is a quote out of Psalm 118:22-23, the same Psalm from which the hosannas had come that had been offered to Christ two days before and even the day before by the children in the temple, the boys. Psalm 118 was familiar to them and they knew that verse that said the stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner, this is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. And it is that prophecy that the Lord uses to explain the parable. He begins by saying to them, and it’s very sarcastic, “Did you never read in the Scriptures? You who pride yourself on spending dawn till dusk reading the Scriptures, you who say you know the Scriptures, you who excel in the law, did you miss this one?” It’s an indictment. Did you miss the one that said there was a stone rejected that became the head of the corner and that the Lord would do that and it would be marvelous when He did it?

When builders want to build a building, they need a corner stone. And a corner stone is the most important stone in the building … for many reasons. It’s key in the foundation. It’s key, of course, in the support of the roof. But more than that, it sets the angles for the walls. It draws the lines by which the uniformity of the building maintains itself. And if the cornerstone is off, then down the way somewhere the whole building is off. And so a cornerstone was the most carefully selected of all stones that the building might be set as to its walls and its form in perfect order. And cornerstones were massive stones.

Acts 4:10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health. V11 He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone. V12 And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

Who is the stone then of Psalm 118? Who is it? Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified. The stone which the builders rejected, whom God raised from the dead is now become the head of the corner. The rejected stone is the crucified Christ, the restored cornerstone is the resurrected Christ.

Now here is why that is an explanation of the parable. The stone is the son. The builders are the farmers. That’s the parallel. As the farmers rejected the son, so the builders rejected whom? The stone. If the stone is Christ, then the builders represent Israel and its religious leaders. The parallel then between the explanation passage, prophecy from the Old Testament, and the parable is the parallel between a stone and a son, between builders and farmers. And just as the builders rejected the stone who is Christ, so the farmers rejected the Son who is Christ. The parable then is telling us that the son is whom? Christ. And so He uses the Word of God to explain the parable. And the indictment is very powerful. Once you know that the son is the stone, once you know therefore that the son is Christ, then the farmers have to be the religious leaders of Israel and all the people that followed them. And then who is the householder that sent the son? Who is it? God. And what is the vineyard? It’s the sphere of God’s blessing, verse 43, it’s the Kingdom of God. Then who are the servants that were sent and murdered? The prophets.

Tradition tells us that they took Isaiah and with a wooden saw they sawed him in half. That may be what Hebrews 11:37 is referring to when it talks about the men of faith being sawn asunder. They took Jeremiah and threw him into a pit and tradition says ultimately he was stoned. They rejected Ezekiel. Amos had to run for his life. Zechariah was rejected and stoned. Micah was smashed in the face, 1 Kings 22:24 says, by the people who would not hear the message that he gave. And this is the norm, this is how they treated the prophets, the kings and the high priests and the leaders of the people, the religious people. This is how they treated God’s prophets.

The Reaction

V45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them.

They knew He was talking about them. So they understood the whole thing. They understood it all. They had no question about it. They knew that they were the sons who said, “Oh yes, we’ll go,” and never did. They knew they were the ones who killed the prophets and tried to hoard the vineyard and would kill the son. They knew that’s who they were. They knew He spoke of them.

You say, “Did that bring a revival? Were they convicted? Did they turn their hearts toward Christ?”

V46 When they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet.

They’re going to seize Him to kill Him. “But they were afraid of the crowd because they considered Him as a prophet.”

Herod Antipas was afraid to take John and kill him because the people thought he was a prophet. And now they’re cowards, they don’t want to touch Jesus because the people think He’s a prophet and they’re afraid. That’s the only thing that holds them back. They are so lost. The Sanhedrin wants Jesus dead but they’re afraid. They’ve just heard the truth about themselves, they could care less. They know He’s the Son of God, they don’t care about that either. Oh my, what unbelievable unbelief, but it is characteristic of all unbelievers who reject against the truth. So sad.

The Application

Whatever veil may have remained over their dark minds is going to get taken off now.

V43 Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”

You said it in verse 41, he will rent his vineyard unto other farmers. And you said it right. The Kingdom of God is going to be taken from you and given to a nation that brings forth the fruits of it. And what are those fruits? What John talked about in Matthew 3:7, the fruits of repentance, the demonstration of righteousness that comes out of a life that is turned from sin. Oh what an important verse. Jesus says to the leaders of Israel, “You have lost the right to be in the place of blessing.” God turned focus from Israel.

That was the end of a great day. Oh my, that was the end of a great era. God turned away from Israel as the people of blessing and says, “I will give it to a people.” What people? I believe it’s the church, the redeemed of this age. Is He done with Israel? No The day will come, says Zechariah, when they’ll look on Him whom they have pierced and mourn for Him as an only Son. Salvation will come to Israel. Some from every tribe will become evangelists to proclaim the gospel around the world. Their day will come again because God has a promise He must fulfill. But for now, they are set aside and Romans 9 says a people which were not My people are now My people. I have called a no people to become My people, a non-beloved to be My beloved, Romans 9:25 and 26 says. A new people, a new nation, a holy nation, not ethnically defined, but defined by faith in Christ. We are the new channel through which God can bring the gospel of salvation to a world that needs it so much.

V44 And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”

He is saying whoever tries to seize the Lord Jesus Christ to do harm to Him shall be broken into pieces. You do that to God’s Son and that’s what God will do to you. He will, in the words of the Jews who responded, He will miserably destroy those wicked men who seized His Son. You fall upon the Lord Jesus Christ to do evil to Him, to do harm to Him and you’ll be broken to bits. And then in the final judgment when He falls on you, you’ll be crushed to powder. That’s what it says. Strong words, strong words.

Paul echoes the thought, “Whosoever loves not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema … let him be accursed.” The Greek verb “grind him to powder” couldn’t be translated better than that. That’s the best translation of it. It’s not simply a crushing, but a scattering into nothingness. You do harm to Christ, you seize Christ and kill Him and you’ll be broken. And when He comes in judgment, He will crush.

Conclusion

What do we learn about God? Listen. We learn about His grace to men, giving them privilege, blessing, giving them a hope of promise, giving them potential great reward, giving them a vineyard of blessing in which they can live and be blessed. We learn about His patience with men. How many times has God sent a messenger and another messenger and another though they are rejected and rejected and rejected. We learn about His love for men because He not only sent messengers, He sent whom? His Son. And that says how much God loves because He sent His Son to die at the hands of those men. We also learn about the judgment of God. He will come in destruction against those who destroyed Christ.

What do we learn about Christ in this story? We learn about His claim to deity. He was the Son. He is the stone. We learn about His willingness to die. He came to die. He knew what was ahead. He knew where they were taking Him. He knew they were going to murder Him. He told them to their face and never tried to avoid that. What willingness to die. We learn about His resurrection. The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner. He is restored to the place of glory and majesty and supremacy. We learn that He is the determiner of destiny because what you do with Jesus Christ determines your eternity.

What do we learn about men? We learn that men have great privilege. They have God’s revelation. They have the Scripture. They have a world of providential blessing in which they live. They have the gospel. We learn about not only men’s great privilege but their great responsibility. The vineyard in a sense is ours and God has put us in a place where we can respond to Him and we can see Him and hear Him and know Him. And then we learn about our accountability, the Lord is going to send His servants to check on how we’re handling the things that have been given into our care. There’s an accountability there. And then we learn about men’s stubborn and willful rejection of Christ. And then we learn that men will be judged for such rejection.