“The Wicked Vinedressers”

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

This parable is found in Matthew 21:33-46 and parallel passages include Mark 12:1-12 and Luke 20:9-18.

The story is simple, as most of the parables are. A wealthy landowner buys a vineyard, builds a guard tower in it and goes away, leasing the vineyard to vinedressers. When he sends servants to collect his share at the harvest time (after the vinedressers have been paid their fair wages), the vinedressers mistreat and kill various messengers. The landowner then sends his son whom they also kill, so he destroys the vinedressers and leases the property to others.

In verse 45, the chief priests and Pharisees realized that Jesus was referring to them and wanted to kill Christ, but could not because “the multitudes” considered Him to be a prophet.

In the midst of this parable, the Lord quoted from Psalm 118:22-23. “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.”

This Messianic psalm is quoted numerous times in the New Testament and, in each case, refers to those who did not accept Jesus to be the prophesied Messiah of Old Testament scripture.

In Acts 4:11, it is used to refer to those rulers and elders of Israel who were condemning Peter and John, as well as the rest of the apostles, for healing a lame man in the name of Jesus (the healing itself took place in Acts 3:1-11).  The apostles were using this miracle to confirm their message of resurrection from the dead (4:1-2). The Jewish leaders could not deny that a powerful miracle had occurred (4:16) but they did not want the news of the healing to spread any further.

In 1 Peter 2:7, this Old Testament passage is quoted also, along with two others that taught the same lesson, Isaiah 28:16 and Isaiah 8:14. Peter mentions those who rejected Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah and refers to them as being “disobedient to the word.” Anyone with an open mind and an open heart should have easily recognized that Jesus was exactly who and what had been foretold in the old covenant.

This passage, and the others mentioned above, as well as many others we have not listed, should convince us that the doctrine of premillennialism is false. That theory is based on the view that Jesus came to establish an earthly kingdom, but was unable to do so because He was unexpectedly rejected by His own people (John 1:11). God knew all along that most of the Israelite people would not accept and obey the Christ when He came into the world. God also foreknew that Jesus would not only be rejected, but killed by those unbelievers. As a matter of fact, the passage is Psalm 118 goes so far as to say, “This was the Lord’s doing.” He did not make them reject Jesus, but He knew they would and He used their disbelief and rebellion to fulfill His plan of human redemption.

--Roger Hillis

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