The Wicked Tenants is the parable of a master who planted a vineyard, leased it to tenants, and sent for the fruit.
They beat the servants. They killed some. Last of all he sent his son.
They said, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have the inheritance.
Jesus asked what the owner would do.
They answered: put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to others.
He said the kingdom would be taken and given to a people producing its fruits.
Isaiah had already sung of a vineyard on a fertile hill. The Lord dug it, planted it, built a tower, and looked for grapes. It yielded wild grapes. Now the beloved’s vineyard is the house of Israel. Jesus takes that song into the temple in the last week. A master goes away. Servants come for the fruit in season—the prophets. One is beaten, one killed, one stoned. The son is sent: they will respect my son. They do not. They throw him out of the vineyard and kill him. Mark and Luke keep the same bones. The hearers, chief priests and Pharisees, perceive He is speaking about them. They want to arrest Him and fear the crowd. Psalm 118 is laid on the story like a capstone: the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; it is marvelous in our eyes. Whoever falls on that stone is broken. On whom it falls, it will crush. The parable is therefore history in a story: Israel’s leaders, the long line of rejected messengers, the Son in their hands, a vineyard that will not stay with fruitless tenants, and a stone that outlives the builders. The church that bears no fruit should not hear this as only their parable.
- The vineyard is already the Lord’s. Tenants are stewards, not owners.
- Servants are the prophets. The sequence of sending is patience, not weakness.
- The son is not one more servant. He is the heir.
- They kill Him to seize the inheritance. That is the logic of the leaders’ plot.
- The stone saying turns the crime into the foundation of the house.
- Fruit is the issue. The kingdom is given to a people producing it.
- Builders can reject the only stone that will hold.
- The Vineyard – Planted, hedged, winepress and tower; Isaiah’s field.
- The Tenants – Trusted with fruit in season.
- The Servants – Prophets sent and mistreated.
- The Son – Beloved, last sent, thrown out and killed.
- The Transfer – Vineyard let to others; kingdom given to a fruit-bearing people.
- The Stone – Rejected by builders; made cornerstone.
- The Crushing – Fall on it and break; it falls and crushes.
- Matthew 21:33-41 – “There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”
- Matthew 21:42-44 – “Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the Scriptures: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes”? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.’”
- Mark 12:1-12 – The same parable; “He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’”
- Luke 20:9-19 – “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.”
- Isaiah 5:1-7 – “My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill… For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!”
- Psalm 118:22-23 – “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”
- Acts 4:11 – “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.”
- 1 Peter 2:4-8 – A living stone rejected by men but in God’s sight chosen and precious; a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.
- Hebrews 1:1-2 – “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things…”
- Matthew 23:37 – “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!”
- 2 Chronicles 36:15-16 – The Lord sent persistently to them by His messengers; they kept mocking until there was no remedy.
- John 1:11 – “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”
- Hebrews 13:12 – Jesus suffered outside the gate—thrown out of the vineyard.
- Romans 11:20-22 – They were broken off; you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant. Kindness and severity of God.
Finally he sent his son. They will respect my son.
This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.
They threw Him out of the vineyard and killed Him.
The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. It is marvelous in our eyes.
The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.
Fall on that stone and be broken. If it falls on you, it will crush you.
The vineyard was never the tenants’. Bear fruit in season. Honor the Son. Do not join the builders who said no.
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