Matthew 21:38, commentary and pictures

In the vineyard parable the tenants are the Jewish nation and especially its priests and rulers in trust, the servants sent before are the prophets, and the son sent last is Christ, God's only begotten Son equal with Himself, sent as the final appeal in expectation they would reverence Him. The husbandmen knowingly recognized Him as the heir sent by God, yet deliberated together to kill Him and seize His inheritance for themselves. Their plot was driven by selfishness and covetousness, wanting to keep the vineyard with its honor, benefits and control to enjoy as they pleased, hardened by envy, pride, love of money and hatred of teaching that exposed them. It was fulfilled when the leaders cast Him out of the vineyard and crucified Him, repaying His love and care seeking fruit with betrayal and death, and they themselves perceived the parable was spoken of them and unwittingly pronounced their own sentence. For refusing God's claim and failing to render fruit, the kingdom was justly taken from the unfaithful keepers and given to others who would obey and bear fruit, ending in ruin of temple and city and warning the church today that God will remove the trust from those who persist in selfish unfaithfulness.

Parable Setting and Symbols

Matthew 21:38 belongs to the vineyard parable in which God richly blessed Israel, chose and cared for it, and expected obedience and fruit that would honor Him and represent His kingdom and its principles and character. He took Israel as a vine from Egypt, planted it in Canaan, nourished and cared for it, and looked for grapes, with covenant privileges and possession of the land calling the people to return fruit to Him. Obedience in cultivating the land for the Lord would have brought spiritual and temporal prosperity, but the vine brought forth wild grapes, and by failing to fulfill God's purpose the nation forfeited His blessing and brought ruin upon itself.

In the parable the householder is God, and the husbandmen are the Jewish nation appointed to cultivate His vineyard, especially His professed people in positions of trust such as priests, rulers and others entrusted with responsibility. The servants sent beforehand are the prophets and teachers through whom God called Israel to render Him His dues and to receive His share of fruit. God patiently sent messengers group after group to call the keepers to account and to correct them, but they were despised, their counsel mocked, treated as enemies, insulted, abused, persecuted and killed with still greater hatred, showing repeated resistance despite a long history of privileges and blessings.

The son sent last is Christ, God's only begotten Son equal with Himself, held in reserve and sent as God's final appeal and last resource with the expectation that they would reverence Him. He is the heir whom the Father sent in person to plead with impenitent Israel after His messengers had been persecuted and killed, and whom the priests and rulers were already planning to kill. He had cared for the vineyard and sought fruit from it, hoping to save it from destruction.

The husbandmen knowingly recognized the son as the heir sent by God, yet deliberated among themselves to kill him and seize his inheritance for themselves. This resolve depicts the Jewish leaders' rejection and intended killing of Jesus, the culmination of their wickedness and guilt in refusing their responsibilities to God, despite knowing who He was. Christ came to God's people seeking fruit, bringing the message of God's love, doing His Father's will and cultivating the vineyard to produce fruit, but they rejected Him in an attempt to keep the vineyard's honor and benefits for themselves.

The vineyard is the world appointed to Israel to cultivate, and it is His church entrusted to the Jewish nation as caretakers after they were settled in Canaan to test their fidelity. It is also His work entrusted on set terms to steward-husbandmen to return to Him a certain amount of fruit in its season, so that as owner of the whole vineyard He has right to expect revenue from it. Responsibility for God's work is not limited to priests and rulers, for God entrusts everyone from the least to the most influential with abilities to use in His vineyard, and diligent use of even small abilities brings the fruit He expects, while the Lord who owns the vineyard and has given its use to the people of the world has received little in return.

Motives for Killing Heir

The plot to kill the heir exposed a selfish and covetous spirit that treated what belonged to God as its own. The vineyard, which is the world entrusted to men for God's work, with its produce, means, facilities and resources, had been committed to Israel and especially to its priests, teachers and rulers to cultivate and to render its dues to Him through His prophets and teachers. Instead of honoring His claim they systematically robbed Him, appropriating its fruits for themselves rather than serving Him, mingling His service with selfishness and warping His messages to suit worldly business and schemes until the message was made of no effect and God was dishonored. This was God's last appeal through His Son, sent with the expectation that they would reverence Him, and it showed why they needed to be reminded of their responsibility because they were not heeding the word of the Lord.

The tenants recognized the son as the heir sent by God yet deliberately conspired to kill Him in order to seize His inheritance and keep the vineyard for themselves. Their aim was to keep its honor, benefits, privileges, control and profit, to be left to enjoy it and to do as they pleased with its fruit. That dark purpose placed His death within the parable's account of Israel's rejection of God's messengers and final appeal, and it was carried out when they rejected Christ and demanded His crucifixion.

Their rejection grew from envy, selfishness, pride, love of money, ambition and greed, with hatred of Christ's teaching and example because it exposed their hypocrisy, evil works and deceptions. Claiming to have the only true religion in the world, the leaders who should have welcomed Him as God's Son and as the Light of the world and the truth itself instead rejected Him, condemned Him and delivered Him to death to take what belonged to the heir. Their greed and hardened hearts made them unwilling to heed His message and His efforts to reform the corrupt priesthood, connecting their treatment of sacred things with their failure to appreciate His blood soon to be shed for the sins of the world. He had come to lead Israel out of spiritual bondage into the city of God and to save them, knowing beforehand that His love would be repaid with betrayal, condemnation and a cruel death.

Their vindictiveness had been hardened by resistance, for rejecting earlier light hardened their hearts until they could reject still clearer light. Rejection of John's message and disdain for God's messenger prepared them to refuse Christ when He came with divine love and the evidence of His works to present His Father's claims. Scribes, Pharisees, priests and teachers intensified that rejection through prejudice, false witness and efforts to discredit His words and works, until they refused Him and mercy and chose a robber and murderer in His stead. Their ambitious desires and transgression caused love and fear of God to depart from them, and their hardness was not arbitrarily imposed, for Christ worked to soften their hearts but resisting His work hardened them.

The resolve was Satan's defiance working through disobedient men to counterwork God the Father who sent His Son into the world. It was one desperate act intended to cut off every ray of light shining amid the moral darkness of the world and to cut off communication coming from the throne of God, so that the inheritance would be seized by rebels. In that last act of the tragedy Satan strove to gain control over the human mind to wreak his hatred and revenge on the only-begotten Son of God, after the prophets who came to look after the Lord's vineyard had been beaten and killed. That resolve was carried out when they crucified the Lord of life and glory.

Rejection and Crucifixion Fulfilled

The parable traces a history of growing guilt, in which God patiently sent messenger after messenger to call for His due, but they were treated as enemies, insulted, abused, beaten, persecuted and killed, group after group meeting the same treatment with still greater hatred. After the return from exile the same errors were repeated, with counsel despised and mocked despite long privileges and blessings, and the repeated resistance showed the hostility that led to the final act. The sending of the Son came last after the servants, and refusal of Him was refusal of their Ruler and Governor and the culmination of refusal to heed the call to repent, making guilty of the greatest sin.

Christ came to His own people seeking the fruit of the vineyard, bringing the message of God's love, doing His Father's will, cultivating the vineyard, caring for it and pleading in person with impenitent Israel in hope of saving it from destruction. He came to lead Israel out of spiritual bondage into the city of God, standing before the people with divinity clothed with humanity to present their true condition. He knew beforehand that His love would be repaid with betrayal, condemnation and cruel death.

The resolve formed against the recognized heir was fulfilled when the leaders who should have welcomed Him expelled Him, caught Him, cast Him out of the vineyard, delivered Him to death and slew Him, crucifying the Lord of life and glory. In this they repaid good with evil and love with hatred, rewarding Him evil for good, driven by envy, pride and love of money. What was plotted in desperate defiance to cut off light and communication from God's throne and let rebels seize the inheritance was thus carried out.

His coming to His own who received Him not was fulfilled in Him despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, taken by wicked hands and crucified. The rejection filled His soul with grief over backsliding Israel, and He foresaw Jerusalem's destruction and grieved for those putting themselves beyond merciful reach. He broke into weeping lament over Jerusalem, warning that its house was left desolate because it would not be gathered.

The priests, rulers, scribes, Pharisees and elders perceived the parable was spoken of them, recognized their own methods, practices and deceptions in it, and saw that the judgment on the wicked husbandmen was their just doom. By answering what the lord of the vineyard would do they unwittingly pronounced sentence upon themselves, declaring that the kingdom would be taken from them and given to those who would obey its Ruler. Set before their true religious character and the punishment soon to fall, they did not repent but were filled with hatred and murder and at once moved to lay hands on Jesus and silence His voice so He would no longer annoy them. They were held back only by fear of the multitude, who were impressed that His words were truth and held Him as a prophet sent from God, and by God's restraining power upon them.

Some who had been closely connected with His work had joined the hostile purpose and called for His death, thinking they were serving God. Some involved in that rejection and plot were later reclaimed from disobedience and apostasy, redeemed, forgiven and changed. They were given divine favor and sent out to proclaim His grace, to offer pardon to sinners who turn from sin to God, and to proclaim Jesus as the risen and ascended Messiah.

Judgment and Loss of Vineyard

By failing to fulfill the divine purpose and refusing the claim to obedience, Israel forfeited blessing and brought ruin upon itself, showing the justice of taking away its national privileges. Though given great light, rich blessings and wonderful prosperity, the keepers of the vineyard proved unfaithful to their trust, neither caring for it faithfully nor rendering its fruits, acting as though there were no God, and therefore calamity and desolation overtook them. The chief priests and Pharisees plotted to kill the heir in order to keep the vineyard and its privileges for themselves, perceiving the parable was spoken of them and recognizing their own methods and practices in it. By answering what the lord of the vineyard would do they pronounced sentence upon themselves, yet when their true religious character and the punishment soon to fall were set before them they did not repent but were filled with hatred and murder and at once moved to lay hands on Jesus. They were held back only by fear of the multitude, who were impressed that His words were truth and believed Him to be a prophet sent from God, and by restraining power put upon them, while the parable faithfully illustrates the past and future history of the Jews, ending in destruction of temple and city and dispersion of the nation.

The judgment on the tenants portrays the doom of those who put Christ to death, for the son is Jesus, the Father's final appeal, and the tenants are the Jewish leaders whose plot to kill Him to take His inheritance was the culmination of their wickedness after rejecting the messengers. The priests and elders who rejected and killed Christ recognized their own course in the parable and the judgment pronounced on the wicked husbandmen as their just doom. Their response to the judgment unwittingly pronounced their own doom, and they later recalled the parable and the sentence they had pronounced, seeing their own treatment of Christ in the story and understanding its judgment as their own. At the final judgment they recognize that their own actions match the wicked husbandmen's refusal to honor the owner and killing of his son, and that the sentence against them is just.

The kingdom would be taken from the unfaithful keepers and given to others who would obey its Ruler and produce its fruits. Because the Jewish people abused their blessings and privileges, shamefully treating the messengers with contempt, injustice and cruelty while occupying the vineyard year after year, enjoying all its benefits and returning no fruit, those blessings were transferred from them to the Gentiles. The angry resolve to lay hands on Christ at once and silence His voice so He would no longer annoy them and expose their deceptions showed they knew the parable referred to them and pointed them out as the very ones whose sentence they themselves had pronounced, held back only because they feared the people. That rejection did not prevent the plan from being carried out, for a faithful remnant would receive the covenant promises and bear the fruit sought. The Husbandman removed the despised, cast out, bruised and trampled vine and planted it beyond Israel's reach, yet its branches still hung over the wall so grafts could be joined to it, and by resistance of righteousness the priests and rulers served their day while the vineyard would be given to other husbandmen.

The refusal divorced the nation from God and worked its own present and eternal ruin. God had taken Israel as a vine from Egypt, planted it in Canaan, nourished and cared for it and looked for grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes, and for a thousand years multiplied transgression upon transgression, abused privileges, and made religion a hollow formalism marked by pride, self-exaltation and cruel attributes. He sent prophets to warn them and gave the sacrificial system to keep before them the one great Sacrifice, yet they refused the invitation of mercy, resisted grace, left the vineyard fruitless through ingratitude and rejected opportunity, and from national apostasy came persecution that killed the messengers, until at last they rejected the Son Himself and stood ready to put Him to death, so that the cloud of retributive judgment was about to burst in unrestrained fury. After long rejection of warnings, reproofs and mercy, God sent His Son as His last appeal, but the nation refused His offers of mercy and deliberately decided to murder Him and take what was His, leaving the people to the leader they had chosen so spite was wreaked upon them in siege, famine, temple ruin and the crosses of Calvary. Jesus' life among the people exposed their selfishness and refusal to honor God's claims, and their rejection of Him, the Holy One, culminating in crucifixion for which they were responsible, was the final act bringing the nation's downfall and the decisive test between obedience leading to eternal life and disobedience leading to eternal death, which Jesus foresaw as Jerusalem's destruction while grieving for those who put themselves beyond merciful reach.

The parable exposes the once chosen people's sinful breach of trust and warns that God will not continue to sustain those who persist in sin, exalt themselves and misrepresent Him, for continued unfaithfulness brings removal of favor and terrible judgments. Unless those who receive light obey the commandments He cannot bless and sustain them, for though the church is dearly loved as His fold He will not tolerate persistent sin, self-exaltation, or mixing the sacred with the common and misleading others. He forgives those who repent, but removes favor from those who continue in sin.

The parable presents the history and future of the Jews as the result of their actions, faithfully illustrating past and future. The son's rejection and the attempt to take his inheritance represent the course that led them into bondage they could not break by human power.

Warning to Church Today

The vineyard lesson belongs not only to the Jewish nation but to the church in this generation, which has received great privileges and blessings and from which corresponding returns are expected. Its instruction rests on all who have received the light of truth and bear responsibility for the work, for fruit is expected from the vineyard through the labor of workers and every believer has work to do. Those establishing the work in foreign fields are to receive special and abundant advantages so that their efforts are not hindered.

The tenants stand for religious teachers who oppose the divine claim by teaching disregard of the law, thereby withholding the fruits of love, humility and self-sacrificing service. When authority and the divine claims are presented they resist the claim and turn people away from obedience, and they are called unfaithful servants. The guilty tenants are the priests and teachers who withheld the required service, turned the people away from Christ, rejected His authority and message, and sought His destruction, making themselves responsible for rejecting Him and for the consequences that followed.

The same act is repeated when professing Christians follow the wicked husbandmen by growing angry when the claims of the law are kept before them, continuing warfare against God and truth, hating the light of the pure doctrines Christ enforced, and rejecting God by rejecting truth. The husbandmen had occupied the vineyard year after year while fruit was looked for in vain, shamefully treated the messengers, enjoyed all its benefits and returned nothing, and because blessings and privileges were abused they were transferred to the Gentiles; so the sacred trust committed to unfaithful professors will be taken from them and given to others. The same corrupting power that killed the Householder's Son when He came to receive fruit, though He could have saved Himself from the ignominy, shame and disgrace poured upon Him by men dependent on Him for life, still works as the corrupt sentiments of antichrist in the children of disobedience to their ruin.

The plotting to kill the heir and seize the inheritance illustrates humanity's selfish appropriation of what belongs to God by creation and redemption. The earth and its blessings are His, yet His gifts are used for greed and pleasure while His claims are neglected, and this rejection and ingratitude repeat the sin that brought destruction on Israel and bring ruin on the world. That course happened as an ensample and is written for the admonition of those upon whom the ends of the world are come, to take heed against an evil heart of unbelief and falling. Deliberate determination to kill the Son when He came to present His Father's claims was prepared by rejection of John's message and disdain for the messenger, which hardened hearts to reject still clearer light in Christ, though He came to save them from themselves, until a robber and murderer was chosen in His stead. Solemn waiting for the second coming must therefore be joined with earnest vigilant work, including labor for people in darkness and helping them prepare Christian character, since the husbandmen were responsible to render the fruits of the vineyard.

The Master of the vineyard is the one to whom workers are to turn when perplexities arise, as in the work in the South.

Faithful Stewardship and Fruit

The vineyard belongs wholly to the Lord as owner, and those placed over it are steward-husbandmen set on set terms to return to Him a certain amount of fruit in its season, so He has a right to expect revenue from it and they are unfaithful when they withhold His due. People are stewards and not owners of what is entrusted to them, for possessions, abilities, land, riches, money and property are God's and must be used for Him, with the vineyard cultivated so that returns can be made to Him. Treating what is entrusted as one's own and seeking to seize it, as the tenants sought to seize the inheritance, is self-exaltation, and using money and property for self-gratification rather than for God's work hinders the work He intends them to advance.

Responsibility for God's work is not limited to priests and rulers, for God entrusts everyone from the least to the most influential with abilities to use in His vineyard, and diligent use of even small abilities brings the fruit He expects. The Owner looks to see whether men in responsible positions and institutions entrusted with His vineyard and with means to work it do the entrusted work unselfishly, return fruit in due season, cultivate barren wastes and neglected parts, sow the seeds of truth, and give means to His messengers to plant the standard of truth in cities and countries that have never heard the warning, rather than binding up all advantages in one supervised portion. Faithful, unselfish work is required for every part of the field, using His money and blessings and facilities to the best advantage and making all possible improvements, for a well-cultivated vineyard speaks for the faithfulness of the caretaker while any part left unworked is limited in power to bear fruit though capable of bearing as good fruit with proper advantages, and God sees the barren unworked parts and wants them worked. Advantages given in great power were not to lead to self-glorification but to magnify His name in all parts of the world by appropriating facilities to the more destitute fields, so centering everything possible in a few places while leaving fields desolate and bare and unworked, so His way is not prepared and He cannot gather fruit from the trees of His planting, is selfishness and covetousness and unfaithful stewardship.

God calls for honest men to fill His appointed places as stewards and return to Him the fruits of His vineyard, and it is safer and more honorable to walk in the light as Christ gave example than to follow one's own way. Those who have never had light and advantages will not answer for light they never had, but those who have received light are required to reflect that light by precept and example and to be decidedly, intensely in earnest in drawing fellow men from the pit of destruction, for the Lord never excuses idleness or pleasure-loving. Christ the Majesty of heaven came to save lost fallen humanity, working not only for outcasts but ingeniously to gain access to the higher class who knew not God and kept not His commandments, and there is a variety of hard work to be done in the Lord's vineyard with different kinds of ploughing that the ground may produce a harvest of different kinds of fruit. Through Christ and the discipline of work God's people learn how to gain the true riches, and all can if they choose perfect a character after the divine likeness, a sample of the character of Christ, and take into the future life into the heavenly courts the preciousness of a complete character gained in and through Jesus Christ, the only treasure anyone can take.

The faithful husbandman returns the vineyard's produce to its owner, and likewise God approves faithful stewardship including returning tithes and offerings for the benefit of those who do not know Him, for outward advantages and worldly riches do not secure God's favor or increase a soul's value before Him but obedience and faithful use of His gifts do. The true nature of fruit-bearing is benevolence that counterworks selfishness and self-indulgence, required of everyone who has received the great gift of God to reveal the power of the truth by returning to God His due in sustaining every good work, with liberality that advances the kingdom expressing love in tangible deeds as the very best evidence of the sincerity of faith. When He comes to His vineyard to receive its fruit in relief of the poor and the oppressed and in good works, to rob Him and give Him only abuse is to repeat the husbandmen's plot to kill the heir and seize the inheritance.

God entrusts His work to men to develop character and watches every institution to see how it trades upon His goods, yet His service is mingled with selfishness when opposing words make message after message of no effect and man's opinions and devisings warp the message to suit worldly business and schemes, and He is dishonored by stewards seizing His goods for themselves through selfish covetous appropriation. If they selfishly refuse and close the doors He has opened for blessing, He will remove His gifts from them, leave them barren of resources, and give the trust to others who will honor it, finding another way to accomplish His purpose that His vineyard shall be worked, for because the good He purposed has not been done through unfaithfulness He will take away the trust from those who have proved untrustworthy. Like the plotters, rich self-indulgent men exalt self as independent of God, worship themselves and not God, supplant and intrigue, and put justice and mercy out of mind to replace them with avarice and strife. By this continued robbery of their Lord's goods they lay up wrath against the day of wrath, and God who weighs all things in scales of eternal justice will reward every man according as his works shall be, for He loves righteousness but hates iniquity and will judge for these things.