“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 watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to ano Renrther place. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

Matthew 21:33 – 41

Even in his final hours Jesus told stories in which is embedded an eternal truth.  I am amazed that Jesus used this method of teaching.  That it was effective there is no doubt.  In fact the rulers of the Jews, upon hearing it, flew into a rage because they knew they were the target of Jesus’ teaching.

The point Jesus is making is that God did everything he could to prosper the Jews so that they could bring blessing to all mankind.  He left nothing undone – productive vines, wine press, a tower for protection.  All was in order.  He left it in the hands of the Jews.

Now, the time had come for the Jews to bring in a harvest of grapes.  Jesus came to the point, they assumed that they could do what they wished with the profits.  The story goes on, the owner sent for his rightful portion.  That is where the issue burst into the open, the tenants evidently forgot that the vineyard was not, after all, their property.  They were to tend the vineyard, not take ownership of it.  They could not possibly buy the vineyard.  They did not have that much wealth.  The vineyard is not for sale!

So, when the owner sent three servants, one after the other, to collect his portion, “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.”

“Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.  But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.”

This is the history of God’s chosen people, the children of Israel, whose descendants were now in control of the Temple.  They assumed they owned it.  Prophets came, preachers came, and finally the son of the owner, Jesus Christ, whom they killed.  Then they lost their rights to the vineyard.  Is this not the history of Israel in a nutshell?  For those with ears, what they heard was the key to the horrid events that were about to happen.  Jesus explained it all in a story.