Parable of the Wicked Tenants - Luke 20: 9-18

He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, and leased it to tenants, and went to another country for a long time. When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants in order that they might give him his share of the produce of the vineyard; but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Next he sent another slave; that one also they beat and insulted and sent away empty-handed. And he sent still a third; this one also they wounded and threw out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the tenants saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours.’ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Heaven forbid!” But he looked at them and said, “What then does this text mean: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.” When the scribes and chief priests realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to lay hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people.

Commentary

Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem. He has already cast out the money changers. He is teaching daily in the temple and the chief priests and scribes are trying to get rid of him but can't because of the crowds he is attracting. On this particular day, the chief priests and scribes have just come to him, presumably interrupting whatever teaching he was in the midst of, and want Jesus to explain his authority. Instead he asks them to explain the authority of John the Baptist. They decline and so he gives them the little speech we have just heard.

Now I want to be clear about the picture here. We are in the middle of THE TEMPLE in Jerusalem, during Jewish holy days. The place is jammed. Jesus is directly addressing the chief priests and scribes but within the hearing of the crowds. And this is what he says.

So what did he mean? I hear the story, but what's this about rejected stones, and being broken or crushed to powder, and why are the chief priests and scribes so certain the story refers to them?

The first thing I had to get into my head is what an extensive familiarity Jesus and the people he taught had with their Bible. In this one little parable there is apparently reference to the Book of Isaiah, and the Psalms. It turns out that the entire 5th chapter of Isaiah is a song about a vineyard. In Isaiah's parable, he clearly states that the vineyard is Israel itself and the vineyard owner is God. Isaiah also makes it clear that the vineyard is to be fruitful in righteousness and if it is not God will destroy it. So, if the vineyard is Israel then it is clear that the vine keepers are the chief priests and scribes. And if you make that connection then it is not too hard to see that the beaten servants sent by the owner are the prophets who have preceded Jesus in coming to the people of Israel. The list is horrendous. Isaiah was sawn in two, Jeremiah thrown in a well, Ezekiel put on house arrest, Zechariah stabbed before the altar, Amos run out of town, and John the Baptist beheaded. Knowing this, the vineyard owner described by Jesus in his parable no longer seems so unbelievable. He sends his servants three separate times even after the first two are beaten. God himself has in fact done no less. And as Jesus already knows, God is about to sacrifice his son in the same way as the vineyard owner in the parable. Its going to be another few days before it actually happens, but Jesus is announcing right here to the crowds that this is the outcome they will see.

So now I understand the last sentence in line 16. “And when they heard it, they said, God forbid.” This is after all just a parable, but in this case it seems it was a parable intended to be understood and actually understood by the crowds. They have just heard the son of God announce, in public, that he is about to be murdered by the chief priests and the scribes. They are horrified.

And the story doesn't stop there. In response to the horror of the crowd, Jesus takes the issue to them. He asks, “What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?” This is a direct quote from Psalm 118. And parts of Psalm 118 were apparently part of what the crowds were singing as Jesus entered Jerusalem.

At this point, it is necessary to go back and explain the significance of a stone being the head of the corner. At the time of Jesus, construction in Jerusalem was done stone by stone. If a large building was being constructed, the head stone, or corner stone set the angle for the entire structure. Every other stone working in both directions from the corner, was aligned based on that first stone. The first stone had to be right and determined the integrity of everything that followed. So when the crowds respond in horror to Jesus' announcement about his coming death, He in essence responds, but how can you be surprised.? The song you were singing to rejoice my coming itself is clear. The corner stone must first be rejected.

That still leaves us with verse 18. “Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” Various commentators have tried to find Old Testament explanations for this as well, but to me they are grasping at straws. So I am left trying to make sense out of it from what I know. Clearly the stone is the cornerstone, and the cornerstone is Jesus. It is true that fall can be alternatively understood as stumble. Personally, I would use that variation, and I would further suggest that we will ALL stumble on Jesus the cornerstone simply because we are sinful people. For us the breaking that must occur is the breaking of our self centered ways, and the corresponding good news is that God is standing there at our side to pick us up, brush us off and put us back together in a more loving configuration. By contrast, those who do not stumble on the cornerstone are those that refuse to acknowledge it at all. Going back to the vineyard, the evil tenants wanted to keep it for themselves. They wanted the rightful son dead so they could have it all. These are the people on whom the stone shall fall. And we do not want to be among them.

Let it be so.