“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 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.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.” (Matthew 21:33–43 ESV)
As a non-businessman myself, running a business seems challenging, especially if you have bad employees. Jesus tells of a businessman who lends out his field, but when he tries to collect his due, the servants he sent are beaten and killed. Now, it seems a judicious businessman would get the law involved to bring justice and ensure he is paid his due. Instead, the owner is forbearing and even sends his very own son. The son is then rejected and killed by the workers. The religious leaders respond to Jesus’s story that the owner will judge the evil workers who rejected his son and will give his vineyard to other workers who will honor their master by producing fruit for him.
Through this parable, Jesus is showing that God will work to build his Kingdom, even through the rejection of himself by the Israelites. God’s purposes and plans are never thwarted or hindered. Rather, God will work even through the rejection and death of his Son. The Son who was rejected is the cornerstone of God’s eternal purposes to build his Kingdom.
God wasn’t surprised by the rejection and murder of his Son – “this was the Lord’s doing.” God was never caught off guard by his Son’s rejection. The Father sent his Son to accomplish his marvelous plan of redemption so those who are far from God could be brought near and be recipients of the Kingdom of God through Christ Jesus. This cornerstone – the centerpiece and foundation – has brought about our redemption and belonging in the Kingdom of God. How marvelous is this Good News!
For those who have received the Son of God as our Savior and Master, we have been given the Kingdom of God – we are co-heirs with Christ. We are now Kingdom citizens and Kingdom workers attending to his Kingdom work. We have been given both a new identity and a new mission. It is the expectation of Kingdom citizens and workers to bear the fruit of Kingdom life. This fruit is the product of lives lived as stewards of God’s grace and provision, and this fruit comes from being all about our Master and his business. True workers are focused on their master’s business, seeking to honor him and steward his provisions.
Our lives produce that which we are about. If life in the Kingdom becomes about us, our fruit becomes tainted, useless, and foul. But if our life in the Kingdom is about honoring God and living for him, our fruit becomes sweet, effective, and pleasing. The more we are simply consumed by the glory of our Master God, who has given his Son to bring about our redemption and life in Christ, the more we will be effective stewards of his grace toward us.
Vince Rediger is the pastor of Mercy Church in Springville, Utah, an NAB church plant.
