When we read the Parable of the Wicked Tenants this morning, it’s easy to focus on the tenants. And they are wicked. I’m not going away the plot by saying that.
But I want us to focus somewhere else—with the landowner. And why is that?
Because before Jesus tells us what the tenants did wrong, he tells us what the landowner did right.
And I think Jesus is inviting us to be the tenants, too—if we remember whose vineyard it is.
The Parable of the Wicked Tenants is a deep, thought-provoking passage, with lots of imagery and meaning. The significance of some of the characters and items might be obvious to us; others, not so much.
So I’d like to read through the passage slowly in an expository sermon style, followed by a shorter message, appropriate for a Communion Sunday. Berlioz v. Bartok.
Will you pray with me please? “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen”
The Parable of the Wicked Tenants
33Listen to another parable.
Let me explain the significance of the nouns we learned about in Schoolhouse Rock on Saturday morning – those people, places, and things that we find in the passage. Some of the verbs even, starting with this verb and phrase: “Listen to another parable.” I’ve drawn these explanations from several sources and commentaries, and I’m sharing what I believe makes the most sense. That’s my disclaimer.
Put in context, the proud religious leaders just heard the Parable of the Two Sons and they didn’t come out smelling too good. Now for the setting of this parable.
There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower.
Let me explain the nouns:
• The landowner is the God-character, the same as in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard and the Parable of the Two Sons.
• The vineyard represents Israel. This imagery directly references the famous “Song of the Vineyard” we just heard in Isaiah 5, where God nurtures a choice vineyard that fails to yield good fruit. Jesus is deliberately evoking Isaiah 5, and the religious leaders surely recognized the reference.
• The fence, winepress, and watchtower emphasize just how thoroughly the landowner prepared the vineyard. Jesus is echoing Isaiah’s picture of a vineyard that has received everything it needs to flourish. It’s a picture of careful planning and care.
Then he leased it to tenants and went away.
• The tenants represent the religious leadership confronting Jesus. Let’s see how they do tending the vineyard.
• He went away – My favorite explanation is it shows the landowner creating a space of testing and trust, not micromanaging. The tenants are left to run the vineyard using their own free will and conscience. Then the landowner gave them time to produce the fruit.
Okay, we’re through one verse already! But at least the main characters and the setting are established.
34 When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce.
• The harvest symbolizes righteousness, justice, and obedience. This is the spiritual return that God expects from those entrusted with his revelation.
• The servants or slaves represent the Old Testament prophets, such as Elijah, Jeremiah and Zechariah.
35 But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they treated them in the same way.
• Historically, Israel’s leadership repeatedly rejected, beat, or killed these prophet messengers, including Elijah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah.
37 Then he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
• At last, this one should be obvious to us. The landowner’s son represents Jesus Christ, who comes to reclaim what rightfully belongs to his Father. Sending his son is the last-ditch effort to get the tenants to live up to their obligation and respect the landowner.
38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’
• The inheritance symbolizes sovereign control and authority over God’s people. The religious leaders believe they can keep this control and authority if they get rid of Jesus, the son.
39 So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
• Matthew and Luke portray this violent murder in this order, representing Jesus being expelled from Jerusalem and then killed, or crucified, outside the city walls.
• In hindsight, we see that Jesus is foretelling his death again, just days ahead of time.
40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They [chief priests and elders] said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”
• The new tenants represent those who will be entrusted with God’s kingdom and who will actually produce its fruit. New tenants will deliver the harvest of righteousness, justice and obedience that wasn’t coming from the chief priests and elders.
With that huge background, let me read the rest of the passage.
42 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 amazing in our eyes’?
43 “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces its fruits. 44 The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. 46 They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.
My friends, this is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
So that’s the vineyard. That’s the cast of characters, with the obvious late addition of the Pharisees.
Now I ask, who is the focus of this parable? Is it the wicked tenants?
Because it’s easy to hear this story and think, “Boy, those tenants were wicked.”
And Jesus certainly thought they were.
But it’s the landowner who caught my attention in this parable. Through him, the parable tells us something powerful about God and God’s kingdom.
And before Jesus tells us what the tenants did wrong in this parable, he tells us what the landowner did right.
He planted.
He protected.
He prepared.
He entrusted.
He waited.
And when the tenants failed, he kept reaching out to them.
He kept sending someone back to them. He kept trying to reach them. He expected a yield, but kept showing them patience and grace.
And that’s God’s expectation of us, too.
God doesn’t expect us to build the vineyard. He gives us the vineyard. He asks us to tend it.
In verse 43, Jesus says, 43 “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces its fruits.
Jesus is no longer simply talking about a vineyard. He’s talking about the kingdom of God—and the people entrusted with it are expected to produce its fruits: righteousness, justice, and obedience.
Obviously, we expect to be included as those people. We want to be the “other tenants” of the story.
So remember whose vineyard it is. We are just the tenants.
My oldest son and his wife own their home. My youngest son and fiancé are renting an apartment. They’re simply in different stages of life. But there’s an advantage to being a tenant: you don’t have to own the building to enjoy living in it. Erich doesn’t have to replace the roof or the furnace. He doesn’t have to fix everything that goes wrong. The owner carries those responsibilities. You just have to tend it.
It’s the same being a tenant in God’s vineyard, in his kingdom.
Our responsibility is to faithfully tend what he has placed in our hands.
And when the vineyard produces fruit, we don’t hoard it, we share it.
And that’s where this parable includes a simple stewardship message.
Stewardship certainly includes what we put in the offering plate. But it includes [SLOW] our prayers, our presence, our gifts, and our service.
So we can ask ourselves: What has God entrusted to me?
And how can I tend it?
Maybe it’s a relationship that needs tending. Call them.
Maybe it’s a gift you’ve stopped using. Share that ability.
Maybe it’s someone who needs your time. Spend time with them.
Maybe it’s a ministry you’ve been thinking about but never stepped into.
Maybe it’s your financial resources.
Maybe it’s simply your attention—being present with someone instead of rushing past them.
Then tend it.
The tenants were not asked to build the vineyard.
They were not asked to own the vineyard.
They were not even asked to save the vineyard.
They were asked to tend it and give the owner its fruit.
So this week, remember the vineyard.
Remember what God has entrusted to you.
Tend it. Help it grow.
And when it bears fruit, share that fruit generously — through our prayers, our presence, our gifts, and our service.
Because the vineyard was never ours to own.
It was ours to tend.
We are the other tenants.
Remember whose vineyard it is.
To the Lord our God, Alpha and Omega, beginning and end, be all glory and honor forever.
