Luke 20:16, commentary and pictures

Christ's sentence is that the owner will come to destroy the wicked caretakers for killing His Son and will entrust the vineyard and its kingdom to others who will return its fruit and obey its Ruler. The parable pictures His first coming to ancient Israel, to whom God sent prophets whose message was rejected and then as a final appeal sent His Son to turn their hearts, yet they killed Him, with the husbandmen being its priests, teachers, elders and religious leaders rather than the people as a whole. The leaders themselves spoke this doom with their own lips in answer to His question, and when they saw it exposed their own course and loss of stewardship they cried out in dismay against it, yet hardened their hearts and persisted in their purpose. They were condemned because justice, mercy and the love of God were lacking in them, for they robbed God of His claimed service, set human teaching above His word, turned the people from His precepts and from Christ, and plotted His destruction to protect their pride. That removal of unfaithful caretakers is not for the Jewish nation alone but warns the church in this generation, which God has richly endowed and from which He requires obedience and the fruits of love, humility and self-sacrificing service, and He will take His trust from those who prove untrustworthy.

Parable Setting and Meaning

Luke 20:16 belongs to Christ's final work in the temple as a warning to an unbelieving people, given when reforming the corrupt priesthood was known to be futile but evidence of His divine mission still had to be given. The vineyard parable pictures Christ's first advent and the treatment He received, in which God sent prophets to ancient Israel whose message was rejected, then as a final appeal and last resort sent His Son to reach the people and turn their hearts to God, yet they killed Him. In the parable God is the man who planted the vineyard and let it out, and the husbandmen are ancient Israel, specifically its priests, teachers, elders and religious leaders, not the people as a whole.

That killing of the Son was Satan's work through those he had gathered under his banner and by the hands of those gathered under his banner. Christ's sorrow over this rejection was not for Himself but for the sins of the people and because He realized their condition, as when He wept over Jerusalem because they would not be gathered. In this parable the Saviour uses a vineyard to represent the world.

Judgment on Unfaithful Leaders

The owner himself will come and destroy the wicked husbandmen and take the vineyard from them and entrust it to others who will render its fruit to him and obey its Ruler, which is the removal of the kingdom from the unfaithful and its gift to a people who will bear its fruits. That sentence was pronounced by the leaders themselves with their own lips in answer to Christ's question concerning the parable, and in so answering they unknowingly pronounced their own doom. When Jesus exposed that the husbandmen represented them, they saw that the sentence fell upon themselves.

When they heard the sentence of destruction and transfer they recognized that it exposed their own course and foretold their doom for rejecting God's messengers and the Son, picturing their own peril and the loss of their position and stewardship. They cried out involuntarily in dismay, God forbid, revealing resistance to the judgment and loss of responsibility described in the parable. Yet they hardened their hearts and persisted in their purposes. The punishment with fearful severity followed contemptuous, unjust and cruel treatment of God's servants, exposing the deceptions of the priests and rulers who rejected and killed the beloved Son to seize the inheritance for themselves.

They were condemned because justice and mercy and the love of God were lacking in them, though they prided themselves on their magnificent temple and imposing religious service. Outward glory and splendor of service, ceremonies, pretense and display cannot commend to God, for what alone is of value in His sight is the sacrifice of a humble and contrite spirit, which they did not offer. The husbandmen were pronounced guilty for refusing to return to their lord the fruit of his ground, robbing God of the service He claimed. Their guilt was misleading the people, setting human teaching and man-made commandments above the word of God, turning the people away from His precepts and away from Christ, denying Christ's right to interpose between them and the people, refusing His rebukes and warnings, turning the people against Him, and compassing His destruction to protect their pride of reason and praise of men, so that for the rejection of Christ and the results that followed they were responsible, for a nation's sin and a nation's ruin were due to its religious leaders.

The judgment therefore points to loss of stewardship because they had failed to produce the fruits God required. Entrusted with the Lord's vineyard and its resources, they were responsible for returning its fruits through faithful, unselfish work in every part of the field, not hoarding blessings and facilities or concentrating them in a few places but supporting the worldwide spread of salvation. Selfishness and neglect made them unfaithful stewards, and the Lord will take His trust from those who prove untrustworthy.

Warning for Present Church

The taking of the vineyard from unfaithful caretakers and giving of their trust to others was not for the Jewish nation alone but carries a lesson for the church in this generation, which has been endowed with great privileges and blessings and from which corresponding returns are expected. The husbandmen of the Lord's vineyard are religious teachers and leaders, whose guilt in Jewish times and in the present day is refusing to return to God the fruit of His ground. That fruit is obedience to God's law and the fruits of love and humility and self-sacrificing service.

It is withheld by turning men away from the plain requirements of the word of God, teaching that His law is not binding, exalting human traditions and ordinances and customs, fostering pride and self-satisfaction, and educating in transgression instead of obedience. This prevents bearing fruit to God's glory and places men outside the channel where God's blessings flow. When messengers come demanding obedience to the word of God as Christ did, these unfaithful servants are stirred to anger and use their influence to lead men to reject God's claim, for the same influences at work in the Jewish leaders are at work today. Those entrusted with the Lord's vineyard and its resources are responsible for returning its fruits through faithful, unselfish work in every part of the field. Its blessings and facilities are not to be hoarded or concentrated in a few places but are to support the worldwide spread of salvation, and selfishness and neglect make stewards unfaithful, so the Lord will take His trust from those who prove untrustworthy.