City Life Starter

Written by Efe Abbe

The Word

The Parable of the Wicket Tenants

⁹ And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. ¹⁰ When the time came, he sent a servant^{[bondservant (also v. 11)]} to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed.¹¹ And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. ¹² And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. ¹³ Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ ¹⁴ But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ ¹⁵ And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” ¹⁷ But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone’?^{[Psalm 118:22]}

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

Luke 20:9-18 ESV

¹⁷ And he [Jesus] came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹ So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,^{[Or Sojourners]} but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²² In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by^{[Or in]} the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:17-22 ESV

Reflection

While Jesus refused to directly answer the religious teachers and leaders’ question about His right/authority to cleanse the Temple (Luke 20:1-2), instead He responds with a parable and a quote from the Psalms asserting His divine authority in the following ways:

• He pointed to God as His Father and Himself as the true heir with Divine authority over God’s House and God’s people (vv. 9 – 16). The religious leaders and teachers were merely tenants and the ones wickedly attempting to usurp God’s authority, claiming authority that did not rightfully belong to them.
• When His listeners protested the murder of the heir in His parable, Jesus quotes Psalm 118 to show Himself as the rejected stone turned cornerstone (Hebrew: rosh pinah lit. head of the corner). A cornerstone was either the first stone laid down when setting a foundation to which all other stones were set in reference to or the capstone that completed the building protecting what was below. By quoting this Psalm Jesus affirmed His rejection and murder by Israel’s leaders but His sacrifice for sin and His resurrection would prove His divine authority as God’s cornerstone for the foundation and completion of God’s new House, the Church (v. 17, see Ephesians 2:17-22).
• Jesus let His listeners know that when it came to ultimate spiritual reality, the full weight of God’s divine authority rests in Him (v. 18). Jesus’ listeners would have been familiar with the enormous weight of a cornerstone and would have understood how undesirable it would have been to have either stumbled over (foundation) or gotten crushed by (capstone) one of these stones. The religious leaders who repented would be broken (and have turned to Jesus, like Nicodemus), but those who did not see Jesus rightly as the Son of God and continued in their sin would be crushed (judged by the Divine weight of the authority of Jesus).

Application

We all have to choose if we will believe Jesus for who He says He is. Many have questioned His authority and His right to cleanse and purify their lives of sin. This attitude isn’t limited to unbelievers, as even we believers may not always readily be inclined for Him to rule completely over all that we are.

Honestly ask Jesus to reveal where you are today. We all are invited to take the next step of trust towards Him to submit to His absolute Lordship, will you accept His invitation today? You will either be broken and turn to Jesus or crushed and lose eternity with Him.

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for giving Your Son Jesus to reveal Yourself to us. Please help me and remove all unbelief and hardness of heart that You see in me. Lord Jesus, I submit to You as God the Son; yes, come and have Your way in me, amen.