How Will You Be Broken

2. The Landowner’s Son → So we look to verse 37 (READ v. 37). The lord of the vineyard thinks, “Even though they rejected me by killing my servants, surely they accept my son!”

a. But when the vinedressers saw the only son of the master coming down the road to meet them, what they saw was not a chance to change their ways. What they saw was not someone who they should respect as the master’s own flesh and blood. What they saw was an opportunity, an opportunity to seize control of what they viewed as their vineyard.

i. Let’s go on in the passage (READ v. 38-39).

b. So even at the point when the master had sent his own son as a messenger to his workers, they cruelly rejected him and killed him.

2. Parable Explained – Jesus’ Message to the Jews

• But now let’s take a closer look at the parable and realize that the story that Jesus tells here is really the story of God’s dealings with the children of Israel.

a. Israelite Nation → From the time that God promised to make Abraham “the father of many nations” to the time Jesus walked this earth the Israelites had been God’s chosen people, but just as they had so many times throughout their history, the Jews failed to obey God’s commandments over and over again. So in the last days of His earthly ministry, Jesus makes this point to the Jewish leaders by telling them “The Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers.”

b. Provision for the Israelites → As is the case in each of Jesus’ parables, each situation, each person, and each place represented something else spiritually.

i. The vineyard: the Jewish nation → The message behind His parable was just as clear to Jesus’ audience then as it is to us today. The landowner who planted and prepared the vineyard is God, and the vineyard that He planted is the Jewish nation. The vinedressers in the parable represent the priests and leaders of the Jews whom God had placed in charge of Israel, his spiritual vineyard.

1. Just as the owner of the vineyard had made every possible provision for the vinedressers, God made every possible provision for the children of Israel.

a. Prepared the ground (deliverance/direction) → The owner of the vineyard prepared the ground for planting, and in the same way God prepared the way for the Israelites to do His will. The story of the Hebrew nation begins with Jacob and his descendents who become slaves in the land of Egypt. But God brought Moses out from among His people and provided them a way out of bondage. Later when they were wandering in the wilderness, God provided them with food and water and kept their clothes from wearing out. At countless other times we how God provided even the most basic needs for His people when they chose to follow Him.

b. “Planted the vineyard” (nation) → Just as the landowner planted the vineyard, God planted the Israelites to grow and prosper. The Hebrew people were slaves in Egypt, but when God delivered them out of Pharaoh’s hand, He established them as the nation of Israel and chose them to be His very own special people.