Bible study series: Luke 20:9-19. He told the parable to the people, but the chief priests, teachers of the law, and elders knew it was directed at them.
Friendly greetings and a warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn, so let’s learn together.
I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click here:
In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Luke 20:9-19
9 Then he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and leased it to farmers and went away for a long time. 10 At the right time he sent a servant to the farmers, so that they would give him some fruit of the vineyard, but the farmers sent him away, after beating him. 11 Then he proceeded to send another servant, but they also beat him and to treat him shamefully him and sent him away empty-handed. 12 And he proceeded to send a third one, but they also wounded that one and threw him out. 13 The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What will I do? I’ll send my beloved Son. Surely they will respect him.’ 14 But when the farmers saw him, they discussed it with one another saying, ‘This man is the heir. Let’s kill him, so that the inheritance will be ours!’ 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will go and destroy those farmers and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, ‘May it not be!” 17 But he looked at them and said, “What then is the meaning of the following?
“The stone that the builders rejected—that one became the cornerstone.” [Ps. 118:22]
18 Everyone who trips on that stone will be broken to pieces; on whomever it falls, it will crush him. 19 Then the teachers of the law and chief priests tried to take hold of him with their hands at that very moment, for they knew that he was speaking that parable to them, but they feared the people. (Luke 20:9-19)
Comments:
The situation is found in various documents about large, absentee landowners who lease their land to struggling tenant farmer in Israel and surrounding nations.
Landowner = God
Vineyard = Israel or more specifically = Jerusalem and temple
Tenant farmers = Leaders in the temple and Jerusalem
Servants (or slaves) = prophets and other messengers throughout Israel’s history
Son = Son of God (Jesus)
Rejected stone = head of the corner = Jesus the Messiah
Others = converted Jews and converted Gentiles
Now let’s dig more deeply into the details.
This parable parallels Jesus’s clear pronouncement here:
The wisdom of God said, ‘I shall send them prophets and apostles and some of them they will kill and persecute, 50 with the result that the blood of all the prophets spilled from the foundation of the world will be charged to this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple!’ (Luke 11:49-51).
9:
Jesus continues his dominance over the chief priests and teachers of the law and anyone else like them on the scene. Before, he didn’t submit to their investigation of his authority. That’s like a three-year-old asking his grandfather where he got his authority. Maybe the grandfather would also laugh it off. Now, however, Jesus takes off his gloves and “goes to town” or becomes verbally aggressive with these leaders who claimed Moses as their authority. But he was speaking to the people within earshot of his teaching, and he glanced at the leaders as he began. For all we know, he may have done more than glance. He glowered at them, but calmly and self-contained.
A vineyard sometimes refers to Israel in the Old Testament (Ps. 80:8-13; Is. 5:1-2; 27:2-3; Jer. 2:21; Hos. 10:1).
The owner (God) going away for a long time means that after the revelation on Mt. Sinai, where God appeared and spoke to Moses face to face throughout their sojourn across the desert, God did not give such clear and authoritative revelations—Moses was unique. Rather, he sent prophet after prophet to the people of Israel. Those are the series of servants in the parable.
“farmers”: this is the standard word for this occupation, but in context it could be translated more narrowly as “vine-growers.” The farmers represent the religious leaders whom Jesus just ignored, after asking them a penetrating question that exposed their hearts.
10:
And here comes the first servant. In Jewish culture a Hebrew man who sold himself into servitude to his fellow Jew was like an indentured servant whose term of service had a limit; he was freed in the seventh year. But then the indentured servant could stay with his family, if he liked his owner (Exod. 21:2-6; Lev. 25:38-46; Deut. 15:12-18). So there was a lot of liberty even in servitude, in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament).
Slavery and Freedom in the Bible
The owner reasonably requested a share in the crop of the vineyard. It is not likely that he asked for a container filled with grapes, but their fair-market value in coins, particularly when he was gone. But the farmers beat him and sent him away. Criminal behavior, but the owner (God) is willing to be merciful to them hoping they would repent.
“right time”: it could be translated as “harvest,” but it takes a while for grapes to grow from a newly planted vineyard. In any case, the noun here is kairos (pronounced kye-ross and is used 85 times), which speaks more of a quality time than quantity. BDAG is considered by many to be the authoritative lexicon of the Greek NT, and it defines the noun as follows: (1) a point of time or period of time, time, period, frequently with the implication of being especially fit for something and without emphasis on precise chronology. (a) Generally a welcome time or difficult time … fruitful times; (b) a moment or period as especially appropriate the right, proper, favorable time … at the right time; (2) a defined period for an event, definite, fixed time (e.g. period of fasting or mourning in accord with the changes in season), in due time (Gal. 6:9); (3) a period characterized by some aspect of special crisis, time; (a) generally the present time (Rom. 13:11; 12:11); (b) One of the chief terms relating to the endtime … the time of crisis, the last times.
All of this stand in a mild contrast—not a sharp contrast—from chronos. Greek has another word for time: chronos (pronounced khro-noss), which measures one day, one week or one month after another. In v. 9, Luke uses chronos plus the modifier “long.” This speaks of delay in the Lord’s return. Matt. 24:43-25:30, Jesus, using different parables, elaborates on the Son of Man’s long delay.
11:
Then God sent another servant-prophet, but they also beat and shamed him. “Shamed” in Greek is literally “dishonored.” They were part of an honor-and shame society. If one man wins honor, another man walks away in shame or dishonor. In this case the farmers (seemingly) got the better of the owner’s (God’s) servant.
12:
Then God in his mercy sent still a third servant-prophet to collect what rightly belonged to him. Israel belonged to God, and the farmers or tenants who got the lease had no right—legal or moral—to mistreat his lawfully commissioned servants. For centuries God sent prophets to Israel, and they were largely ignored and scorned and sometimes killed. In the third servant’s case, the injured him and threw him out of the vineyard.
14 Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful, following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the Lord, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.
15 The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy. (2 Chr. 36:14-16, NIV)
13:
Then the owner was so merciful that he sent the most authoritative man in his household—his Son, but not just a son, but the Son whom the owner loved. It is the adjective agapētos (pronounced ah-gah-pay-toss), and it is related to the common noun in the Christian community, even today: agapē (pronounced ah-gah-ay). So what is God’s love like for us? Let’s explore.
So what is God’s love? It has a wide range of meanings. Let’s explore them.
The noun agapē is divine. It starts with God, flows from him, and is offered back to him with our lives. We cannot ginger it up with our own efforts.
The noun agapē is sacrificial. Out of his agapē, God sacrificed his Son for us, and now we sacrifice our lives to him. It means a total commitment. God is totally committed to his church and to the salvation of humankind. Surprisingly, however, total commitment can be seen in an unusual verse. Men loved darkness rather than light (John 3:19), which just means they are totally committed to a dark path of life. Are we willing to be totally committed to God and to live in his light? Can we match an unbeliever’s commitment to bad things with our commitment to good things?
Agapē is demonstrative. It is not static or still. It moves and acts. We receive it, and then we show it with kind acts and good deeds. It is not an abstraction or a concept. It is real.
It is transferrable. God can pour and lavish it on us. And now we can transfer it to our fellow believers and people caught in the world.
God loves his Son and calls him beloved. God through Paul calls us beloved, too (Rom. 1:7).
14-15:
Then the farmers conspired and hatched a plan. If they kill the lead figure, then they will be able to ignore God and take the vineyard for themselves. The inheritance will be theirs, by default. And that is what they did. Of course their wickedness clouded their minds and made them stupid. The inheritance did not come to them. Just the opposite.
“The parable pictures total rejection. Nonetheless, the detail might be startling for those plotting against Jesus. They would know what is happening and catch the implication (Luke 20:19). They may secretly seek to arrest him, but Jesus knows that he is their target. The exchange heightens the drama, for clearly there are no surprises in what is taking place” (Bock, p. 1600).
16:
This verse speaks of God’s judgment on the Jerusalem religious establishment. How did God exact judgment on them? Recall that Jesus already had predicted Jerusalem’s destruction (Luke 19:41-44). In addition, Luke 21:5-9 and 20-24 say that armies will surround Jerusalem and destroy it. And sure enough Roman armies began their sack of the city in A.D. 66 and finally conquered it in A.D. 70. Judaism as it was then practiced was over, finished. No more animal sacrifices in the temple. The Jerusalem establishment was also done away with.
Who are the others to whom the vineyard owner would give the vineyard? These are the Gentiles. The gospel was about to go to them, and the vineyard would expand around the world (Luke 24:47). Judaism, expressed in the temple worship, sits under judgment (Luke 19:41-45; 21:20-24; 23:26-31; Matt. 21:33-45), though numerous individual priests (Acts 6:7) and thousands of Jews of Jerusalem and Judea converted (Acts 2:41; 4:4; 21:20). God loves people, but he is not enamored with systems.
Start here:
Matt 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 (and 17) in Parallel Columns Are Finally Clear
These two posts have more thorough exegesis:
Luke 21:5-33 Predicts Destruction of Jerusalem and Temple
Luke 17:22-37 and 21:34-36 Teach the Second Coming
This new nation encompasses the converted Gentiles (non-Jews) and converted Jews. This verse in Ephesians explains:
His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace (Eph. 2:15, NIV)
Now when the people heard about the death of the Son, they said, “May it never be!” They were not referring to the destruction of the murderous criminals who rejected the commissioned servants.
17-18:
Jesus looked at them. This verb can also be translated as “fix gaze upon.” Jesus fixed his gaze on them, as if he was sizing them up and challenging them to figure out his next statement.
He quoted from Ps. 118:22. Here is the rise and fall of many. Recall that Luke introduces this theme in 2:34, where Jesus was appointed for the rise and fall of many, and the Great Reversal is repeated by Mary (Luke 1:51-53). Jesus was rejected by the builders, but it became the cornerstone. What humankind rejects, God accepts. When people throw something away, God picks it up and turns it into the necessary item. This is redemption.
What Is Redemption in the Bible?
But this cornerstone is active. It not only can trip people and break them into pieces, but it can fall on them and crush them. This is serious business.
19:
The same chief priests and teachers of the law—and no doubt the elders were there too—who had challenged him in the previous pericope (section), knew exactly what he meant. The tenant farmers, who had custody of the vineyard (Israel), acted unjustly and criminally against the servant-prophets. After judging the Jerusalem establishment, God was about to expand the vineyard so far outwardly that it would go around the globe, and the Gentiles and converted Jews would take custody of it.
But expanding the vineyard is not really the main point. Rather, the main point is that the leaders would be replaced with “others” and the church will become the new temple (1 Cor. 3:17; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:20-22; 1 Pet. 2:5). Peter got the vision that Gentile would be and could be saved, and Cornelius and his household were the first Gentile converts to the new Jesus Movement (Acts 10). They and millions like them are the others.
GrowApp for Luke 20:9-19
1. God showed the unrighteous leaders mercy by sending them a series of prophets. Describe God’s mercy in your life.
2. In the parable, what do you think about God’s final judgment after the ultimate betrayal of killing the son?
RELATED
11. Eyewitness Testimony in Luke’s Gospel
3. Church Fathers and Luke’s Gospel
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND MORE
To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom. You will also find a “Summary and Conclusion” for discipleship.
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 