Matthew 21:33-46
God's kingdom will not be entrusted to fruitless rebels who reject the Son, but to those who receive Him and bear kingdom fruit.
33 “Hear another parable. There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a wine press in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country.
34 When the season for the fruit came near, he sent his servants to the farmers, to receive his fruit.
35 The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they treated them the same way.
37 But afterward he sent to them his son, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
38 But the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and seize his inheritance.’
39 So they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40 When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?”
41 They told him, “He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will lease out the vineyard to other farmers, who will give him the fruit in its season.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected was made the head of the corner. This was from the Lord. It is marvelous in our eyes?’
43 “Therefore I tell you, God’s Kingdom will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation producing its fruit.
44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it will fall, it will scatter him as dust.”
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke about them.
46 When they sought to seize him, they feared the multitudes, because they considered him to be a prophet.
God's kingdom will not be entrusted to fruitless rebels who reject the Son, but to those who receive him and bear kingdom fruit.
Matthew presents Jesus confronting Israel's leaders with a vineyard parable that exposes their rejection of God's messengers and climaxes in their rejection of the owner's son.
Jerusalem temple courts during Jesus' final week before the crucifixion. Chief priests and Pharisees are directly implicated, with crowds present and regarding Jesus as a prophet. The passage stands at the threshold of the passion, interpreting the coming rejection of Jesus as the climax of covenantal rebellion and the path by which the rejected Son becomes the cornerstone.
The King Enters Jerusalem, Judges Fruitless Religion, and Exposes Rejected-Son Leadership
Jesus enters Jerusalem as the promised King who judges fruitless worship, receives the praise and need of the lowly, exposes unbelieving leadership, and reveals himself as the rejected Son and cornerstone through whom the kingdom is given to a fruit-bearing people.