Mike Mosby, Children’s Ministries
Matthew 21:33-45
The Parable of the Tenants
33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

Reflection:
One of the things that I think makes a great story is a good villain to root against. Darth Vader from Star Wars is one of my favorite villains of all time. On the surface, he is cartoonishly powerful and evil, and seemingly unstoppable. The protagonists of most Star Wars movies who fight against him always seem overwhelmed until the end. I will not spoil the ending of the original trilogy of movies for those of you who have not seen it; I will only say that there is redemption at the end for Darth Vader. His redemption is what makes him one of my favorites of all time. Darth Vader has power, uses it for evil, but then is redeemed at the end, despite all his wickedness.

Jesus had many different encounters with a group of similar villains—the Pharisees. They had power, but their power was often misused. In keeping with the theme of this parable, they did not produce much fruit. Thinking of the vineyard as God’s creation, the servants delivering the message as the prophets of God, the son as Jesus, and the tenants as the Pharisees goes a long way to understanding why the Pharisees would be upset at Jesus for telling this story. On top of all this, Jesus quotes Jewish scripture about “the stone the builders rejected” in a way that can only be interpreted that Jesus is the stone, and they are rejecting him. Jesus finally leaves them with a warning: because they have not produced fruit, they will have the Kingdom of God taken away from them.

So, we get it, the Pharisees are the “bad guys.” But, if the Pharisees are only here in this parable to be villains, then what is the point? Are we just witnessing Jesus putting them on notice that their time has come, and a new sheriff is in town? If we only look at them as villains, we miss a huge part of what Jesus is teaching with this parable. Jesus is speaking not just to the Pharisees in this story, but also to us directly.

Jesus wanted to reach everyone, even the powerful and corrupt Pharisees. Jesus is not trying to anger or provoke the Pharisees; he is trying to save them. The Pharisees were not a group of villains we root against in a movie. They were people just like you and me. Jesus reaches out to the Pharisees with some tough love because he loves them. Jesus wants to redeem them. 

Sometimes, like the Pharisees, we find ourselves in places where we need trusted friends and family members tell us things that are hard to hear — not because they want to hurt us but because they love us too much to not intervene. When we receive corrections like the ones Jesus gave the Pharisees, we don’t have to double-down or dig in our heels; nor do we need to beat ourselves up. Instead, we can find immense assurance that Jesus came not to condemn the world but to redeem it. And nobody is beyond redemption.

Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for never giving up on me, no matter how villainous I can feel at times.  Help me to remember that you want me to bear fruit and be a part of your kingdom. Thank you for redeeming me through the love and sacrifice of your son Jesus. Amen.