Luke 20:9, commentary and pictures

The verse opens the parable in which a man plants a vineyard, rents it to husbandmen, and goes into a far country for a long time, and the owner's long absence sets the scene for his later demand for the vineyard's fruit and the tenants' treatment of his messengers and son. The parable pictures Christ's first coming and the treatment He received. The planting and letting out of the vineyard and going away means God entrusting ancient Israel to its leaders.

The vineyard represents the Jewish nation, the Lord's people, and the husbandmen represent those responsible for it, its priests and rulers, priests and teachers, elders, rabbis and religious leaders, entrusted with what belongs to God and accountable to Him for its fruit. The owner's departure and later sending of servants and his beloved son show God sending messengers to seek the fruit due to Him; the servants are God's servants, the prophets, and the beloved son is Christ. God first sent His prophets to ancient Israel but their message was not heeded; they were treated as enemies with contempt, injustice and cruelty, persecuted and killed, and further messengers received the same treatment with even greater hatred.

As a last resort God sent His Son to reach the hearts of the people and turn them back to God, but they killed His Son and heir in refusal to render fruit and rejection of the heir; that killing was the work of Satan done by the hands of those gathered under his banner. The fruit the husbandmen refused to return is the service God claimed, obedience to the law of God unmixed with human tradition as the great standard of obedience, bearing fruit to His glory in love and humility and self-sacrificing service. The husbandmen withheld that fruit by setting human teaching and man-made commandments above God's word, turning the people away from His precepts and from Christ, refusing to give up pride of reason and praise of men for truth's sake, denying Christ's right to interpose between them and the people, rejecting His rebukes and warnings, turning the people against Him to compass His destruction, teaching that God's law is not binding, educating the people in transgression instead of obedience, and exalting human traditions, ordinances and customs above God's precepts.

The parable exposes the guilt of those who reject God's messengers and Son, pronounces the husbandmen guilty, holds the religious leaders responsible for the rejection of Christ with the results that followed, and makes a nation's sin and ruin due to them; it declares that God would punish the nation, take the vineyard and kingdom from its unfaithful leaders with severe punishment, and give it to others who will produce its fruit and obey its Ruler. The parable applies not only to the Jewish nation but also to the church in the present generation; the husbandmen are first the priests and teachers of the Jewish nation and now the ministers and teachers in the churches, and God has given the church great privileges and blessings and expects corresponding returns. God's messengers still come at the Master's bidding demanding obedience to the word of God and presenting His claim to the fruits, and husbandmen who grow angry at the claim of God's law and use their influence to lead men to reject it are unfaithful servants guilty before the Lord.

God's people as husbandmen entrusted with His vineyard and its resources and goods, bound by covenant to serve Him faithfully and share the benefits, have the duty to work faithfully throughout the vineyard and return its fruits to the Lord. Leaving parts uncultivated or concentrating the available blessings and facilities in one part is unfaithful stewardship, the vineyard's fruitfulness depends on proper care, and the good news of salvation is to reach every people and not be restricted to fields already receiving advantages. The Jewish nation had been entrusted with God's goods and was bound by covenant to serve Him faithfully and share the benefits of the land.