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All: The life of Jesus

The life of Jesus

Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen (Tenants)

ParableParables

In short

Passion week, Tuesday teaching in temple after triumphal entry + temple cleansing

Citations: Matthew 21:33-46 || Mark 12:1-12 || Luke 20:9-19

The parable

A vineyard owner plants + equips + leases his vineyard to tenants and travels. At harvest he sends servants for the fruit; tenants beat / wound / kill the servants. He sends more servants; same fate. Finally he sends his son ("they will respect my son"); the tenants kill the son to seize the inheritance. Jesus: what will the owner do? Answer: destroy the tenants + give vineyard to others.

Direct OT background

Isaiah 5:1-7, the Song of the Vineyard. Israel = Yahweh's vineyard; he planted + cared for it; expected good fruit; got wild grapes. Jesus's parable extends Isaiah's vineyard imagery with sent-servants (prophets) + sent-son (himself) plot.

Jesus's interpretive payoff

Jesus quotes Psalms 118:22-23 immediately after: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone." Then to the chief priests + Pharisees: "God's Kingdom will be taken away from you and will be given to a nation producing its fruit" (Matthew 21:43). They understand he is speaking against them; they want to arrest him but fear the crowd.

Theological framing

Salvation-history reading, the parable encodes Israel's history: prophets sent + rejected + killed (Matthew 23:37; Hebrews 11:36-38); Son sent + killed. The transfer to "a nation producing its fruit" is variously read, the early Church / the universal/Gentile-included Kingdom / both.

Replacement-theology controversy, does Matthew 21:43 mean the Church REPLACES Israel (supersessionism) or that the Kingdom INCLUDES Gentiles ALONGSIDE faithful Israel (the Pauline branch-grafting picture of Romans 11:17-24)? Different traditions weight differently. The spectrum is noted here without resolving it.

Sources, trace every one

Every cited verse, in full. Tap any reference to open it in the reader.

  • Matthew 21:33bsb

    Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey.

  • Mark 12:1bsb

    Then Jesus began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a wine vat, and built a watchtower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey.

  • Luke 20:9bsb

    Then He proceeded to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it out to some tenants, and went away for a long time.

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On contested questions we show every major view, attributed and cited, and pick no winner. Answers are synthesized from primary sources, truth you can trace, not opinion.

Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen (Tenants) · Bubble Bible