Background to passage, Matthew 21:33-45: Remember this is the last week of Jesus’s life (and with conversations like this, it’s not surprising). Do know that everything happened just as God foreordained from before the foundation of the world.
Jesus has been challenging the Jewish leaders from Monday when the crowds cheered him as the Messiah, as he cleared the temple, as they demanded he justify his authority, and today’s exchange is the most volatile yet. Jesus minces no words here. He lays blame and prophesies what is going to happen to them and to the kingdom.
Opening illustration: Erika and I like to watch medical dramas. Usually there is a component in some episodes that deal with hospital administration, sometimes with a board of directors, sometimes conflict within those groups, sometimes conflict with pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, makes for good drama. You may know that early hospitals were usually religious in their founding, living out the practical beliefs of Christians who cared for the poor, sick, and orphaned.
One of the oldest surviving hospitals is the Hospital of the Holy Innocents in Paris. It was founded in the 7th century by St. Landry, the Bishop of Paris. It was specifically founded "Christian charity dedicated to the shelter, spiritual comfort and treatment of the ailing poor."
Let’s suppose that the order of monks and nuns who were operating it became more concerned about the money that their donors and the church could give, and began lining their own personal pockets and cutting corners on treatments, doctors, medicines, at the expense of patient care. Then they were found out. The church and those in charge of the hospital would see it as a failure to ministry because of greed and give operations to others who would achieve the Christian origins of the hospital.
1) Entrusted with a Valuable Possession (v. 33)
Matthew 21:33 ESV
33 “Hear another parable. 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.
1) Entrusted with a Valuable Possession (v. 33)
Explanation: From the time that Israel truly became a nation, God charged men to shepherd them. He often referred to the nation as His vineyard. These religious men, priests, Levites, prophets, and kings, were entrusted with the responsibility of watching over and laboring in the vineyards to produce fruit. Likewise in the parable, God, the Master of the house, had given his most valuable possession to these leaders to watch.
Ephesians 4:11–12 ESV
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
Illustration: When I went to Israel on an archeological dig, we went to Cairo, Egypt for three days (after three weeks of digging) to round out our trip and fly home. While we were there, we went to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities in Cairo. Of course, there were lots of art and archeology from Ancient Egypt, but one of the highlights was the exhibit for King Tut’s tomb. Among all the artifacts in the collection, his mask/headpiece was the superstar. The museum owned it, but they also had to protect it and share it with others. Encased in protective glass, little air contact, low light, no flash photography to best care for it and share it with others.
Application: So what about us? Glad we don’t have a nation that we have been entrusted with and will be held accountable for (although I believe we have responsibilities of our national citizenship). We have a more prized possession — the church of Jesus Christ! It is the body of believers that he gave his life for and will be with him forever. They (we) are his treasured possession.
Our stewardship is that of souls, the stewardship of disciples, the stewardship of the kingdom of Christ and his reign in the hearts and lives of believers. That’s what we are responsible for. That’s what we will be accountable for. We are to ensure that disciples are made, that maturity is reached, that the gospel is spread, that we are sharing the HOPE of Christ with all people. That’s the fruit required of the Master.
Committed to the church? Do you take responsibility for those around you? Yes, we have shepherds, but we are a kingdom of priests, not a separate order of mediators and guardians of all things religious. Do you share the gospel? The fruit required is that of faithfulness, not numbers.
We can’t only look at this individually, but corporately as a church. Do we feel an obligation to take care of our community? Do we feel an obligation to be a refuge of HOPE? Do we feel a desire to be a beacon of light and a gospel sharing force in the community? If your answer is yes, why do you say that? And if your reasons or evidence is legit, are you participating?
2) Betrayal and Murder (v. 37-39)
Matthew 21:37–39 ESV
37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’
39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
2) Betrayal and Murder (v. 37-39)
Explanation: So, the tenants took all the people that were sent by the Master of the vineyard and treated them horribly, beating, and killing them. Then the ultimate betrayal was the murder of the son (which really only makes sense if they think the owner is dead). Had this been an actual happening, this would definitely been the last mistake they ever made. Interesting parallel that they threw him out of the vineyard first and then killed him, as Jesus was crucified outside the city walls.
Matthew 23:29–36 ESV
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous,
30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’
31 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?
34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town,
35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
Illustration: Germany’s Kiel mutiny began as a sailors’ rebellion and eventually sparked the German Revolution and the end of World War I. The uprising began in October 1918 when Germany’s exhausted sailors learned of a plan to launch a last-ditch attack against the British Royal Navy. Unwilling to take part in what they saw as a suicide mission, crews at the port of Wilmershaven simply ignored their orders and refused to prepare their ships for battle. When the protest’s ringleaders were rounded up and arrested, it triggered a bloody mutiny that soon spread to the nearby city of Kiel.
These early demonstrations succeeded in scuttling the German Navy’s attack plans, but by November 3 the mutinies had blossomed into a revolution. In Kiel, thousands of people occupied ships and buildings and eventually seized control of the whole city. Inspired by the communist revolution in Russia, they also formed councils that demanded rights for soldiers and workers. The rebellion proved contagious, and similar uprisings soon sprang up throughout Germany. Within a matter of days the German war effort crumbled and Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated his throne, paving the way for the eventual rise of the Weimar Republic.
Application: Again, you may say, doesn’t really apply to us. We never have murdered anyone. 1) Have you ever been so angry at a fellow believer that you have insulted them and called them a fool?
Matthew 5:21–22 ESV
21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’
22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
Jesus was getting at the heart problem that we all have. We all have a heart that can lead us down a path of many evils. We don’t know how wicked our hearts truly are because we think we are pretty good people compared to others and based on the things that we do. We could be these tenants. When we operate from this understanding, we are humbled, especially that God saves. We will be more thankful. We will be less judgmental. We will give people more grace.
2) The betrayal began by simply ignoring the Master’s command — bring the fruit. Our lives, especially corporately can be a betrayal of the purposes for which we exist. We exist to glorify/magnify/exalt Christ in all things. Is that purpose being betrayed in your life. We are commanded to make disciples. How are you/we doing that? Are we subverting, thwarting, betraying and murdering the purposes of the Master and his vineyard that he has entrusted us with. These are the questions that the Refocus Team has been dealing with.
3) Crushing Judgment and Replacement (v. 43)
Matthew 21:43 ESV
43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.
3) Crushing Judgment and Replacement (v. 43)
Explanation: When Jesus asked the Pharisees what they thought should happen to the tenants, their reply was swift, decisive, and ruthless. Kill them, give lease it to other tenants that will carry out his plans. In our day, call the police. In their day, send the family.
Jesus references Ps 118:22-23 and explained that the leaders rejected the best stone, the chief stone, the most important stone, and now God had made it the cornerstone that would crush those who rose against it. He explained that the Kingdom would be ripped from their greedy, power-hungry, self-centered hands and given to a people (not a nation) producing its fruit.
This is the most direct and powerful statement Jesus has made in his confrontations with the religious leaders in Jerusalem since he entered the city, and they knew it.
Argumentation:
Illustration:
Matthew 1. True Discipleship versus Harsher Condemnation for the Jewish Leaders (19:1–22:46)
“God is patient and longsuffering in waiting for his people to bear the fruit he requires of them, even when they are repeatedly and overtly hostile in their rebellion against him. A day will come when God’s patience is exhausted and those who have rejected him will be destroyed. God’s purposes will not thereby be thwarted, for he will raise up new leaders who will produce the fruit the original ones failed to provide.”
Application: This was a most important text and thought to the early church, quoted in Acts, Romans, 1 Peter. Verse 44 is also seen in OT texts in Isa and Dan.
1) Understand that His ways are not ours. The error of the leaders where they thought that they had God in a box, figured out. They knew the way he was going to work and this wasn’t it. We can fall into the same trap. In our own righteousness, in our standards of morality, our biblical knowledge, spiritual disciplines and practices, we can kill the prophets and miss what God is doing because it doesn’t fit the mold. Sometimes we cling so much to the mold, we blind ourselves and make idols from the mold.
2) Judgment will come. Christ will have the last word. He will return, and marvelous will it be in our eyes. Those who raise themselves up against Christ and his church will be destroyed. The prophesy still applies. You cannot win against Christ. You can’t run, can’t hide, can’t withstand, can’t escape. We are called to submit to Christ. If you will not submit, judgment will come. In an eternal sense, you will live out your rebellion in eternal death in hell where the worms never dies and the fire is never quenched. In this life, victory may seem apparent for a while, but it’s only temporary. You may think you can keep the inheritance for yourself, but you can’t. Stop running.
Closing illustration: Steve Jobs co-founded Apple with a vision and purpose in 1976. Everything went well until 1985, when the board, made up of significantly different leadership, ousted him. He went on to establish companies and ventures into higher education specialized computers, digital animation, Pixar, Lucasfilm, and others. In 1997, Jobs was the CEO again after Apple acquired NeXT from Jobs. Apple was almost in bankruptcy, and Jobs back with his original vision and additional experience, revived it, creating and leading to the iMac, iTunes, Mac OS X, Apple Store, iPod, iTunes Store, iPhone, App Store, and iPad.
Apple has been the world’s largest company by market capitalization, and, as of 2023, is the largest manufacturing company by revenue, the fourth-largest personal computer vendor by unit sales, the largest vendor of tablet computers, and the largest vendor of mobile phones in the world. Apple became the first publicly traded U.S. company to be valued at over $1 trillion in 2018, and, as of December 2024, is valued at just over $3.74 trillion.
Sometimes we like to oust God from our lives. We don’t want his lordship, his counsel, his word, his direction, his holiness, his communion, his people, even his salvation. We wouldn’t say it like that, but in practice that is what we do.
Recap
