33 Listen to another parable, Jesus said. There was once a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a hole for the wine press, and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to tenants and left home on a trip. 34 When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent his slaves to the tenants to receive his share of the harvest. 35 The tenants grabbed his slaves, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again the man sent other slaves, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all he sent his son to them.
Surely they will respect my son, he said. 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves,
This is the owner’s son. Come on, let’s kill him, and we will get his property! 39 So they grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40 Now, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? Jesus asked.
41 He will certainly kill those evil men, they answered,
and rent the vineyard out to other tenants, who will give him his share of the harvest at the right time.
42 Jesus said to them, Haven’t you ever read what the Scriptures say?
The stone which the builders rejected as worthless
turned out to be the most important of all.
This was done by the Lord;
what a wonderful sight it is!
43 And so I tell you, added Jesus,
the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce the proper fruits.
45 The chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables and knew that he was talking about them, 46 so they tried to arrest him. But they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesus to be a prophet.
Read Matthew 21:33-46 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
The parable we are focusing on in this journal entry is recorded in three of the four gospels, and it brings out a strong idea that our actions and attitudes matter to God. We will be pulling our big idea using Matthew’s account of this parable, but it is also present in the other two gospel accounts. (Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19).
Our big idea is this: God gives us numerous chances to be “fruitful”, but there will be a point when He moves on.
One interesting thing about this parable is that the “tenants” don’t directly “produce” the fruit. Instead, fruit is produced by the land because of everything the landowner has set up. A farmer doesn’t make fruits and vegetables – he harvests (or gathers) what the plants have produced.
This tells me that when we are being “fruitful”, we are passing along the blessings that God has given to us. The landowner’s big problem with the tenants is that they don’t pass the fruit that was produced up to him. We fall into the same trap when we don’t return to God a portion of what God has blessed us with – and this doesn’t just include our money, but also our time, talents, abilities, and gratitude as well.
The reason we can be fruitful at all is because God has blessed us with life, love, and opportunity. “And from the one trusted with much, much more will be expected.”
What are you and I doing with the opportunity that God has blessed us with?
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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