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Author: Stephen Weller
576 words, 3 minutes read time

The Religious Leaders Judge Themselves

Scripture: Matthew 21:38-41; Mark 12:6; Luke 20:13

We left the previous lesson, setting on the edge of our seats, wanting to know the plan of the owner of the vineyard and how he would obtain his portion of the fruit. In this lesson we will find out.

^{Lk 20:13} Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do?’ ^{Mk 12:6} He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally, he sent him to them, saying, ^{Lk 20:13} ‘I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’

The owner of the vineyard either has no more servants to send or he believes that if he sends his beloved son, they will respect him and send the requested fruit. If the tenants respect the owner of vineyard, they would respect his son.

It is interesting to note that the use of “beloved son” links back to Luke 3:22 (ESV) at the time of the baptism of Jesus when a voice came from heaven and said, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” At the transfiguration the voice again spoke saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” (Luke 9:35 ESV). References to “beloved Son” are found at Matthew 3:17, 17:5, Mark 1:11, 9:7, 12:6, Luke 3:22, 20:13, Colossians 1:13, and 2 Peter 1:17).

^{Mt 21:38} But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ ³⁹ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

When the tenants saw the son, they identify him as the heir, which would lead one to conclude the possibility that the father had died, and the heir came to claim what was his. If their assumption was correct, they then decided to kill him and keep the vineyard to themselves. Having decided on their evil plan, they took the son and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. This is an unmistakable allusion to the Father sending his own Son, Jesus.

^{Mt 21:40} When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?

Jesus then asks his listeners, in particular the religious leaders, what they thought the owner of the vineyard would do, since he was still alive? If these religious leaders were at all alert, they would see that Jesus was building a case against them.

^{Mt 21:41} They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

In saying this, they cast a sentence against themselves because that is their plan for their treatment of Jesus. If they nail Jesus to a cross, then they become the wretches that deserve a miserable death.

Conclusion

Matthew and Luke respond differently when recording the answer given to the question Jesus asked. In Matthew it is clear that the religious leaders answer the question, but in Luke is appears that Jesus answers the question himself. When constructing the harmonization narrative, it is thus easy to have the religious leaders answer the question from Matthew and then have Jesus repeat the answer from Luke for emphasis. We will begin the next lesson with Jesus repeating the answer.