God's Eviction Notice
Introduction: A Parable with Teeth
We come now to a passage that is anything but a gentle, heartwarming story for children. This is not a felt-board parable. This is a declaration of war, delivered by Jesus in the very headquarters of the rebellion, the Temple in Jerusalem. Just before this, the chief priests, scribes, and elders had challenged His authority. They asked Him, "By what authority are you doing these things?" In response, Jesus tied them in a knot with a question about John the Baptist's authority, which they were too cowardly to answer. But Jesus is not finished with them. He does not let the matter drop. He now unsheathes a parable that serves as a direct, public, and devastating answer to their question. He is about to tell them exactly who He is, who they are, and what is about to happen to them.
This parable is a condensed history of Israel's covenant unfaithfulness. It is a legal indictment, a courtroom drama played out in the open. Jesus is the prosecuting attorney, laying out the charges against the corrupt leadership of the nation. The vineyard is Israel, the owner is God the Father, the tenants are the religious authorities, the servants are the prophets, and the Son, well, the Son is standing right in front of them. This is not a story about some far-off, abstract kingdom. This is happening in real time. Jesus is looking the wicked tenants in the eye and telling them their lease is up and their judgment is imminent. And the principle laid down here is a permanent one. God entrusts His kingdom to stewards, and He demands fruit. When those stewards turn rebellious, seeking to claim the vineyard as their own, the owner will act decisively.
The Text
And He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to vine-growers, and went on a journey for a long time. And at the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the vine-growers sent him away empty-handed having beaten him. And he proceeded to send another slave; and when they beat him also and treated him shamefully, they sent him away empty-handed. And he proceeded to send a third; and this one also they wounded and cast out. Now the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the vine-growers saw him, they were reasoning with one another, saying, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.’ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy these vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “May it never be!” But when Jesus looked at them, He said, “What then is this that is written: ‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”
(Luke 20:9-18 LSB)
The Vineyard and the Tenants (v. 9)
Jesus begins with a familiar image from the Old Testament.
"A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to vine-growers, and went on a journey for a long time." (Luke 20:9)
Every Jew listening would have immediately caught the reference. The prophet Isaiah had used this very same imagery. "Let me sing now for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill" (Isaiah 5:1). The vineyard is the nation of Israel, the house of Judah. The man who planted it is God Himself. God had done everything for this vineyard. He had chosen the land, driven out the nations, planted the choicest vine, built a watchtower, and hewn a wine vat. He gave them the law, the covenants, the prophets, and the temple. Israel was a privileged, protected, and cultivated place.
But notice the arrangement: He "rented it out to vine-growers." These are the tenants, not the owners. They are stewards. In the context of Israel's history, these are the kings, the priests, and the teachers of the law. They were entrusted with the spiritual care of God's people. Their job was to cultivate faithfulness and righteousness, to produce the fruit God desired. The fundamental error that follows, the root of all the violence, is that the tenants forgot they were tenants. They began to act like owners. The owner "went on a journey for a long time," signifying the period of God's immense patience, the centuries during which He governed through these appointed leaders.
The Rebellious Stewards (v. 10-12)
The time comes for the owner to collect His due.
"And at the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the vine-growers sent him away empty-handed having beaten him. And he proceeded to send another slave; and when they beat him also and treated him shamefully, they sent him away empty-handed. And he proceeded to send a third; and this one also they wounded and cast out." (Luke 20:10-12)
The harvest time is the moment of accountability. God expects a return on His investment. He is not an absentee landlord who does not care what happens in His vineyard. The "slaves" He sends are the prophets. This is a summary of the entire prophetic ministry in the Old Testament. God sent His messengers, one after another, to call His people and their leaders to repentance and to demand the fruit of righteousness. And how were they received? Exactly as Jesus describes.
Jeremiah was thrown into a cistern. Isaiah was, according to tradition, sawn in two. John the Baptist was beheaded. Stephen would later say to these same leaders, "Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?" (Acts 7:52). The rebellion is not a one-time flare-up; it is a consistent, escalating pattern of violent rejection. They beat the first, beat and shamed the second, and wounded and cast out the third. They did not just disagree with the message; they assaulted the messengers. They refused to give the owner his fruit because they wanted it all for themselves.
The Beloved Son (v. 13-15)
The owner's patience culminates in one final, gracious act.
"Now the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the vine-growers saw him, they were reasoning with one another, saying, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.’ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him." (Luke 20:13-15)
The owner's question, "What shall I do?" is a rhetorical device that magnifies the astonishing nature of what he does next. After his servants have been brutalized, he sends his "beloved son." The identity is unmistakable. This is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the heir of all things. The Father's statement, "perhaps they will respect him," is not an expression of uncertainty, but rather a legal statement that establishes the tenants' guilt beyond all doubt. He is giving them the ultimate test, the clearest possible revelation of Himself.
But the tenants' response reveals the depth of their depravity. Their sin is not a sin of ignorance. They recognize him. "This is the heir." Their problem is not a lack of information, but a rebellious will. They see the heir, and their immediate calculus is murder and theft. "Let us kill him so that the inheritance will be ours." This is the very heart of sin: the desire to possess what belongs to God, to usurp His authority, to be God ourselves. They don't want to be stewards under a good owner; they want to be owners. And so, in a prophecy of breathtaking precision, Jesus tells them what they are about to do. "They threw him out of the vineyard and killed him." Jesus was crucified outside the city walls of Jerusalem, cast out by the very men entrusted with the care of God's people.
Judgment and Transfer (v. 16-18)
Jesus now turns the parable on His audience and forces them to render a verdict.
"What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy these vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “May it never be!”" (Luke 20:16)
The consequence is just and unavoidable. The owner will come, and he will destroy those wicked tenants. This is a direct prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70 by the Roman armies. The corrupt, Christ-rejecting leadership of Israel would be violently removed from their position. But that is not all. The owner "will give the vineyard to others." This is the great transition from the Old Covenant to the New. The stewardship of the kingdom of God is being taken from national Israel and given to a new body, the Church, an international people made up of all who have faith in the Son, both Jew and Gentile.
The crowd understands the radical implications of what Jesus is saying, and they are horrified. "May it never be!" This is the strongest possible negative in Greek. It is a cry of revulsion. They cannot fathom a reality where the existing covenant structures are set aside. They see it as an attack on the very promises of God.
But Jesus does not back down. He doubles down, quoting their own Scriptures to them.
"But when Jesus looked at them, He said, “What then is this that is written: ‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”" (Luke 20:17-18)
He fixes His gaze on them and quotes from Psalm 118, a messianic psalm of victory. The "builders" are the vine-growers, the religious leaders. Their job was to build the house of God, but in their arrogance, they have rejected the most crucial component: the cornerstone. The cornerstone was the foundational stone that determined the alignment and stability of the entire structure. Jesus is that stone. The very one they are discarding is the one upon whom God will build His new temple, the Church.
Then He gives them the two, and only two, possible ways to interact with this stone. First, you can fall on it. "Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces." This is the breaking of repentance. To come to Christ is to fall upon Him in utter helplessness, your pride shattered, your self-righteousness pulverized. This is a good breaking, a necessary breaking, a breaking that leads to life. You must be broken at the foot of the cross.
The second option is to have the stone fall on you. "But on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust." This is the crushing of final judgment. If you refuse to be broken in repentance, you will be crushed in judgment. The cornerstone becomes a stumbling block and a rock of offense that will grind all opposition to powder. There is no third way. You either fall on Christ for salvation or Christ will fall on you for condemnation.
Conclusion
This parable is a perennial warning. The Church today is God's vineyard. Pastors, elders, and all believers are His tenants, His stewards. We have been entrusted with the gospel, with the care of His people. God still expects fruit. He still sends His messengers, through the faithful preaching of His Word, to call us to account.
The temptation for us is the same as it was for the tenants of old. It is the temptation to forget we are stewards and to begin acting like owners. It is the temptation to manage the church for our own benefit, our own comfort, our own glory. It is the temptation to take the fruit that belongs to God and consume it ourselves. When the Word comes to us with a hard message, a call to repentance, do we receive it, or do we beat the messenger and send him away empty-handed?
And most centrally, what have we done with the Son? Is He truly the cornerstone of our lives, our families, and our church? Is everything aligned to Him? Or have we rejected Him, pushing Him to the side so we can build according to our own blueprints?
The choice that Jesus presented to the leaders in Jerusalem is the same choice that confronts every one of us today. Christ the cornerstone stands before you. You can fall on Him now, broken and repentant, and be saved. Or you can continue in your rebellion, and one day, He will fall on you as the stone of judgment, and you will be utterly crushed. There is no other option. Fall on the stone.