#162 Lu. 20:9-16  THE PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD

Introduction:

    In our previous text the temple officials challenged the
authority of Jesus to do what He had been doing in the temple.
Jesus won the debate.  In our text today He gives a parable which
reveals the evil nature of those leaders and reveals the great
calamity which they would bring upon themselves and upon the whole
nation of Israel.  The parable which He gave was The Parable of
The Vineyard.

I.  The landowner, the vineyard and the husbandmen

    V. 9, "Then began he to speak to the people this parable--"
After winning the debate with the Jewish leaders, instead of just
dropping the matter, Jesus turned to the great masses of people
who had witnessed the debate.  According to verse 19 the Jewish
leaders were still present.  According to Matthew and Mark Jesus
is still speaking to those leaders.  But according to Luke He now
also includes the common people apparently because they were more
receptive to what He had to say.  He wanted the people to be aware
of what the leaders were up to.
    Note the parable.  (V. 9)  "...A certain man planted a
vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far
country for a long time.  In this parable the landowner
represented God the Father.  God is a landowner.  He owns all the
land in all the world.
    In the parable the landowner planted a vineyard.  A vineyard
is a field in which many grape vines grow.  The purpose of
planting a vineyard was not just to have a few grapes for the
family to enjoy.  One vine would be sufficient for that.  The
purpose of a vineyard was to produce grape juice.  When the grapes
were ripe they would be harvested and juiced and the juice
bottled.  They did not have glass bottles, but they did have
bottles.  They had leather bottles in which they put the juice.
    The vineyard represented God's kingdom work as carried on here
in this world.  It was to be expected that God's kingdom work in
this world would produce fruit for God.
    This particular landowner apparently never intended to stay
around to tend to his vineyard and harvest the crop.  Rather he
rented it out to husbandmen.  It was customary in that time
instead of paying cash money to rent land, the renter would agree
to pay a certain portion of his harvest to the landowner as rent.
It would then fall the responsibility of the renter to tend the
crop to protect it from animals and thieves, to harvest the crop
and then bottle the juice.
    So this landowner planted the vineyard, rented it out and then
went off to other places.  He did, however, expect that at harvest
time he would collect his rent.
    The landowner represented God and the husbandmen or renters
represented the nation of Israel.  They especially represented the
leaders of the nation of Israel.  They represented these very
temple officials who had come to Jesus challenging His authority
and seeking to put Him to death.
    God had given the nation of Israel the responsibility of
promoting His truth and His cause in this world.  The Jewish
leaders were chiefly responsible for seeing that the nation of
Israel did bear fruit for God in the world.  They were to make
known to all mankind the majesty and power of the One and Living
God.  They were the ones who were responsible for making known to
the world the sinfulness of all mankind and the need for all to be
saved.  They were the ones who were responsible for making known
to the world how to be saved.  They were responsible for telling
the world that salvation does not come by works of righteousness,
but faith and trust in the Christ whom God had promised to send.
They were to then make known to the world that after one is saved,
God requires of him to live a godly and righteous life.  So God
expected the nation of Israel to produce fruitage for God and He
expected the leaders of the nation to tend the vineyard and see to
it that the fruitage was produced.

II.  The servants of the landowner

    V. 10, "And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen,
that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard..."  In the
parable the landowner waited until the harvest season was at hand
and the husbandmen had ample time to harvest the grapes and bottle
the juice.  Then he sent a servant to collect his rent.  That is,
he sent a servant to collect his portion of the grape juice that
had been agreed upon for rent.
    But instead of paying the rent that was due, the husbandmen
abused the servant that had been sent.  (V. 10), "...but the
husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty."  Apparently the
servant returned to his master and reported what had done to him.
    Not to be outdone, the landowner just sent another servant.
You can see that this man was like God in one respect.  He was
kind and patient.  He was very merciful.  A more intolerant man
would have sent soldiers down right away.  But he didn't.  He just
sent another servant.
    V. 11, "And again he sent another servant: and they beat him
also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty."  For
the second time now the husbandmen have refused to pay the rent
which was due.  Instead they beat this second man unmercifully and
sent him away empty.
    Again we see this man's long-suffering and patience.  V. 12,
"And again he sent a third..."  Now Jesus does not say so in the
parable, but the picture I get is that this time he probably sent
a huge fellow who stood head and shoulders taller than the renters
and had muscles which bulged.  He must have looked as strong as
Sampson.  But even if that was the case, his strategy didn't work.
(V.  12), "...and they wounded him also, and cast him out." They
just beat up this third man and still refused to pay any rent.
    In the parable the refusal to pay the rent to the landowner
pictures Israel's lack of fruitfulness for God.  Instead of
bearing spiritual fruit for God, they were living only for
themselves.  The ignored God's laws.  They counted the traditions
of men to be more important than God's laws.  Instead of seeing
themselves as sinners in need of repentance and forgiveness of
sin, they were filled with self-righteousness.  Instead of
teaching that all men could be saved, they thought that only the
people of Israel could be saved.  Even for the people of Israel,
instead of teaching that salvation is by grace through faith in
the promised Redeemer, they taught that salvation is by one's own
works of righteousness.
    The mistreatment of the servants which the landowner sent to
them pictures the mistreatment of the prophets which God sent to
the nation of Israel.  God's prophets came to the leaders of the
people and warned them to straighten up their ways, but instead of
straightening up and getting right with God the Jewish officials
had persecuted God's prophets.  Call back to your mind that scene
when Jesus, Himself, stood on Mt. Olive and looked down upon the
city of Jerusalem.  He said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which
killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee;
how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen
doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not," (Luke
13:34).

III.  The son of the landowner

    You would think that by this time the patience of the
landowner would surely be worn out, but that was not the case.
Even after all the abuse of his servants, he is still trying to
figure out the right approach to those renters which would induce
them to pay their rent.  V. 13, "Then said the lord of the
vineyard, What shall I do?  I will send my beloved son: it may be
they will reverence him when they see him."
    V. 14-15, "But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned
among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him,
that the inheritance may be ours.  So they cast him out of the
vineyard, and killed him..."  In the parable those husbandmen took
the son of that landowner and put him to death.  In real life God
had sent His own Son, His only begotten Son, and sent Him to the
nation of Israel to represent His cause.  Right that very day the
very Son of God was standing in their presence and how had He been
received?  They had challenged His authority to demand of them the
rent that was due to God.  They had not yet put Him to death, but
they had already attempted to do so and had failed up to this
point.  Within just a very few days, He would yield to them and
allow them to put Him to death.  They would accomplish this by
placing Him in the hands of the Romans to be crucified.

IV.  Several things Jesus revealed in the parable

    In this parable Jesus has revealed to all this great multitude
of people just who He really is.  He has identified Himself to
them as the Son of God.  He has revealed to them all that the
temple officials have rejected the Son of God and are attempting
to put Him to death.  He has revealed to them that He will yield
to them and allow them to kill Him.  He will allow them to put Him
to death.
    Jesus then raises the question concerning the parable as to
what the landowner will do to those husbandmen for refusing to pay
their rent, for mistreating the servants that he had sent unto
them and especially for killing his son.  (V. 15), "What therefore
shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them?"  Matthew says that
the temple officials themselves answered this question and said
that the landowner would utterly destroy them and I am sure that
they did answer.  Luke says that Jesus answered the question and I
am sure that Luke is right.  Just which one answered first, I do
not know, but I know that whoever answered first, the other
agreed.
    The answer is:  V. 16, "He shall come and destroy these
husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others..."  They all
agreed that this is what the landowner in the parable would do.
In this, Jesus reveals that the kingdom work would be taken from
the nation of Israel and given to another.  He would give the
Great Commission to New Testament churches.  The authority for
representing God in the world would be given to New Testament
churches.
    Then the temple officials added a surprising statement.  (V.
16), "...And when they heard it, they said, God forbid." Why would
they say that?  Why would they agree that this is what the
landowner would do and then say, "God forbid"?  The answer is that
they understood what Jesus was trying to say to them through the
parable.  In verse 19, which we will not get to in this message,
it is said that they knew He had spoken against them.  They knew
that Jesus was saying that the God of Heaven would bring judgment
against them and that He would bring judgment against the nation
because of them.  Jesus had not gone into any detail concerning
the judgment.  He had not told them that there would be a
rebellion by the Jews against the Romans and that in 70 A.D.  God
would use the Romans to bring great destruction on the whole
nation of Israel and particularly on the city of Jerusalem.  So
they did not know just how the destruction would come which Jesus
was talking about, but they did know that He was talking about
destruction on the nation of Israel.  That is why they said, "God
forbid."
V.  The fulfillment of the predictions

    It all happened just as Jesus had predicted in the parable.
The Jewish leaders did continue to reject Him and so did the
nation.  Jesus did allow them to put Him to death.  God did bring
judgment on the nation of Israel in 70 A.D.  It all happened just
as Jesus had portrayed it in the parable.
    Even God's kingdom work has now been taken from Israel and
given to New Testament churches.  Jesus, Himself, had organized
the first New Testament church congregation during His personal
ministry here on earth.  Just before He left this earth, He gave
the Great Commission in which He authorized them to carry on the
work in His absence.  Then He left and went away back to heaven.
    Today it is the local New Testament church which is the pillar
and ground of the truth.  Today is the local New Testament church
which is commissioned to carry the gospel to all the world.
Today it is the local New Testament church which is to set a
standard of righteousness for the world by living in obedience to
the Lord's will.  Today is the local New Testament church which is
to bear fruit in this world for the Lord.
    We should consider it a great privilege that we here at
Pleasant Hill have the privilege of bearing fruit for the Lord.
We should take our responsibility seriously.  We should seek to
promote the gospel of Christ, the truth of God's word and to live
righteously and godly.
    Those of you who are unsaved should take a lesson from those
Jews who rejected Jesus Christ.  It is dangerous to reject Him.
Jesus is your only hope of heaven.  If you reject Jesus, you
reject your only hope of heaven.

Conclusion:

    New Testament churches should not make the same mistake that
Israel made by failing to bear fruit for God.
    The unsaved should not make the same mistake that the unsaved
Jews made in failing to trust in Jesus Christ for salvation.  What
great punishment will come upon all who reject the Christ!