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Imagine you and your spouse want to go on a date so you hire a babysitter to watch your kids. You have a lovely evening and come home to find your babysitter watching TV and your kids are no where to be found. When you ask about your children, the babysitter shrugs and asks, “Can I get paid now?”

Imagine your parent is in the final stages of life. So, you hire medical professionals for end-of-life care. You discover one day that a nurse has ensured her name appears on the will instead of yours. Furthermore, this nurse is speeding up the death process for your parent. This is no longer just a neglect of duty, this is betrayal.

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Most of us recognize that injustice immediately. When someone is entrusted with responsibility and uses that position for themselves instead of the one who entrusted them, something has gone terribly wrong. But here’s the uncomfortable question: What if we sometimes treat God the same way?

What if we take the life God has given us, the gifts he has entrusted to us, the opportunities he places before us, and instead of using them for him, we quietly start using them for ourselves?

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That is exactly what Jesus confronts in Matthew 21. The religious leaders believed they were the caretakers of God’s kingdom. They believed they were faithfully serving God. But Jesus exposes something shocking. They weren’t just failing in small ways. They were saying the right things while refusing to obey. They were treating God’s kingdom like it belonged to them. And when the Son of God finally came, they would reject him altogether.

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Matt. 21:28-46

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Jesus exposes the people of the Old Covenant through Unexpected Citizens (28-32), an unexpected plan (33-41) and an unexpected stone (42-46)

Unexpected Citizens

Matthew 21:28–32 ESV

²⁸ “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ ²⁹ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. ³⁰ And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but did not go. ³¹ Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. ³² For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

Revelation

Jesus begins to address the Jewish leaders, earlier identified as the chief priests and elders of the people. They came to him in front of the crowd he was teaching to challenge him. But now, Jesus is going to challenge them.

Consider the essence of the parable. The man has two sons and says to both of them “Son, go and work in the vineyard today.”

He gets two very different responses. One is the response you may want to hear, the other the response you don’t want to hear. But one was honest, and the other one wasn’t.

The first son responded in v. 29, “I will not,” and really he’s saying, “I don’t want to.” We don’t get a rebuttal from the father. But we do see this son is at least being honest. He’s being honest and acting from his heart.

The end of v. 29 though says, “afterward he changed his mind and went.” That right there is the picture of repentance. Even when he goes and does as his father requested, he is still being honest and acting from the heart because he had this change of mind.

Then we have the other son in v. 30. He says to the same request, “I will, sir.” It was almost as if he knew about his brother’s refusal, and saw himself as superior. “He won’t obey, but trust me Father, I will do it.” Notice this son says, “Sir” conveying his respect of his Father. And yet, he does not do it. And notice what’s missing? He didn’t change his mind, he just never did it! As one commentator noted:

MatthewExegesis

The absence of any reference to him changing his mind implies that he never had any intention of obeying his father

And this is the scathing remark that Jesus has against the religious leaders. These religious leaders have all the respect for God, they have all the pomp and circumstance, they have all the formalities, all the rituals, all the legal code, all the heritage of being in the nation of Israel, and yet they have no intention of actually doing what God said.

And hear what Jesus says at the end of v. 31 “ the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you

The essence of this expression:

MatthewExegesis

the worst of sinners would enter the kingdom before the chief priests and elders ever did, and this implied that most of these leaders would never enter it at all

Jesus stacks up the evidence: You saw John the Baptist proclaiming the way of righteousness and did not repent, you saw the worst of sinners change their lives for God and did not repent. Jesus is saying that they honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far from him.

The people of Israel always had one job: to bring about the kingdom of God through the Mosaic covenant. And this representatives of the people refused to do so. Why? Because they would rather use that covenant to build their own kingdom rather than God’s.

Relevance

We can all fall into the danger of using what God has given us to build our own kingdom rather than his.

Rituals, heritage, and status have a way to numb the conscious before God. They have a way to cause the lost soul to ignore the reality and power of sin. They ignore it to their detriment because one day God will judge the living and the dead according to their works; according to their fruit.

Rituals, heritage, and status also have a way to make us apathetic towards our dependance upon God. “I’m a church member, I shouldn’t face spiritual attack.” “I sit in this pew every Sunday, I shouldn’t be depressed.” “I always read my Bible and pray, I won’t face temptation.”

Morning and EveningMorning, March 14

It is a curious fact, that there is such a thing as being proud of grace. A man says, “I have great faith, I shall not fall; poor little faith may, but I never shall.” “I have fervent love,” says another, “I can stand, there is no danger of my going astray.” He who boasts of grace has little grace to boast of

Morning and EveningMorning, March 14

Some who do this imagine that their graces can keep them, knowing not that the stream must flow constantly from the fountain head, or else the brook will soon be dry. If a continuous stream of oil comes not to the lamp, though it burn brightly to-day, it will smoke to-morrow, and noxious will be its scent.

In all our spiritual disciplines, our prayers, our church attendance, our faith it’s easy to become the second son who comes to God and pledges, “Wherever you lead, I’ll go!” And then live lives of “No.”

But what is the answer to that dilemma in this short passage? Repentance. Repentance is so good and refreshing. You see it twice in the text written as a “change of mind.”

When we find ourselves leaning on our own heritage, status, rituals, or performance, we can simply repent. And we can pray, “God, I trust in you, not in me.”

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But these religious leaders did not just fail to bring the kingdom of God into the world through the covenant, they rebelled against the king. And Jesus exposes that rebellion.

Unexpected Plan

Matthew 21:33–41 ESV

³³ “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. ³⁴ When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. ³⁵ And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶ Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. ³⁷ Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ ³⁹ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. ⁴⁰ When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” ⁴¹ 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.”

Revelation

It was always Israel’s mission to build God’s kingdom through the covenant. And yet, they so often decided to build their own.

Isreal where the one, true God of the universe was king. Israel often confused their own national interests with God’s interests. They often conflated their kingdom with God’s kingdom. God said of Israel, “Out of Egypt I have called my Son.” And yet, how many times did he allow plagues to break out against Israel in the wilderness? When Israel approached the promise land, Joshua met with the angel of the Lord and asked, “

English Standard VersionChapter 5

Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” 14 And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD

Just before they had a king, they tried to use God to win a battle against the Philistines. When they did get their first king, he was interested in building his own kingdom more than God.

And there are so many other examples throughout Israel’s history of building the kingdom of self.

However, God has always been in the business of building his kingdom, and He’s always building it with those who trust in him and obey him. Those who “will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

For so long the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Isreal were seen as one and the same. The chief priests and elders of the people saw themselves as the leaders of the very kingdom of God, but they did not realize that this vineyard was just lent out to them. The leaders were not the owners of the vineyard, just tenant farmers.

Not only were they just tenant farmers, they were not producing fruit for the owner. What was the owner to do? He sends in servant after servant. And they continuously kill and beat all the servants that the owner sends. Of course we know, these are all the prophets that God sent to Israel.

At this point, one would think this owner would send in armed mercenaries to enact vengeance against these murdering tenant farmers. But there’s something shocking in his plan, his plan is unexpected: he sends in his own son. Saying “they will respect my Son” in v. 37

The Gospel of Matthew2. The Vineyard (21:33–44)

When the son goes as his father’s messenger he goes with all his father’s authority, and so deserves “respect” and obedience. To reject the son’s demand is therefore the climax of rebellion.

And the tenant farmers climax their rebellion in the most ridiculous way. They kill the son reasoning among themselves that killing him would cause them to gain the inheritance. Of course, that is ridiculous. But that draws to the point: these farmers in the parable are so twisted against the owner that they will do anything to be rid of him and take what rightfully belongs to him.

Then Jesus asks the pointed question: what should the owner do?

The religious leaders respond with a self-indictment in v. 41: kill the tenants and lease out the vineyard to those who will produce its fruits.

Relevance

The picture is that these farmers are living in this beautiful vineyard and not even growing anything.

Not only are they failing to produce fruit, they are openly rebelling against the owner, that is, God himself. So you can say, in a sense they are producing fruit, rebellious fruit.

Matthew10. Kingdom of Heaven

“Fruit” in the Gospel of Matthew is consistently a reference to the deeds, words, and character that exhibit what is truly in one’s heart

And that says something. We can all act in ways that do not truly exhibit what is in our heart. But as we have seen throughout this gospel, Jesus is not after behavior modification, he is after heart change. And this is the same thing that God has always been after.

The tenants in this parable did not simply neglect the vineyard—they tried to take ownership of it. They wanted the fruit of the vineyard without submitting to the authority of the owner. And that same instinct still lives in the human heart.

We want the blessings of God—peace, forgiveness, hope, eternity—but we often resist the rule of God over our lives. Like the tenants, we can slowly begin to treat God’s vineyard as if it belongs to us rather than to him.

This is the danger we all face. We get comfortable in the routine and stop producing fruit of the kingdom, and start producing fruit of complacency

But everything we have—our lives, our gifts, our church, our opportunities—has been entrusted to us by God. We are not owners. We are stewards.

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But Jesus gives the key to that danger we face. Because the religious leaders fail to establish God’s kingdom through the Mosaic covenant, God will bring about a new way to make that happen.

Unexpected Stone

Matthew 21:42–46 ESV

⁴² 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’? ⁴³ Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. ⁴⁴ And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” ⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.

Revelation

The very people who were supposed to be building the kingdom of God, these religious leaders, have now discovered the very cornerstone to the kingdom, but like the tenant farmers in the parable, they will reject it. Jesus brings this out by again quoting Psalm 118. And yet, all of this was apart of God’s plan, for it is through the rejection and the death of the Messiah that he becomes this cornerstone.

In v. 43, Jesus gives the indictment. Jesus does not give a resolution in the parable, but he does give in in this quotation of the Psalm. Just as the tenant farmer rejected and killed the Son, so the builders of God’s kingdom in Psalm 118 came across the cornerstone and rejected it. But their rejection will be overturned and that stone will be given the place of highest importance.

The Gospel of Matthew2. The Vineyard (21:33–44)

the son you have rejected and killed is the one God has chosen to take your place

But Jesus does not just say he is replacing it with himself. He says, “a people producing its fruits” Whose fruits? The Kingdom’s fruits.

Jesus is establishing a new covenant, a new people, in order to bring the kingdom to earth. And Jesus is the very foundation of that new covenant and new people.

In v. 45 Jesus picks up imagery from Is. 8 and Dan. 2. In Is. 8, God is depicted as a rock that is a sanctuary for those who trust in him and a stumbling stone for those who do not trust in him. In Dan. 2 the kingdom of God is pictured as a stone that crushes all the pagan nations and fills the earth and lasts forever.

The leaders who one might expect after being exposed and facing such an indictment would turn and repent. But they refuse. In stead they begin to plot to do exactly what Jesus said they would do.

Application

Summary

So what has Jesus shown us in this passage? God has always been building his kingdom through his covenant people. But again and again his people failed. They said the right things but refused to obey. They were entrusted with the vineyard but tried to take it for themselves. And when the Son finally came, they rejected him.

But the rejection of the Son was not the end of God’s plan. The very Son they rejected became the cornerstone of a new people who trust him and produce the fruit of the kingdom.

So the question Jesus leaves us with is simple: Are we truly citizens of this kingdom?

Not because of ritual, heritage, appearance or performance—but because our lives are built on Christ and producing the fruit of repentance, the fruit of the kingdom.

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So here is one simple way to apply this passage this week. Every day ask yourself one honest question: “Where is Christ not yet the cornerstone of my life?” Maybe it is an area of obedience you have resisted. Maybe it is a sin you keep excusing. Maybe it is control over your life. Wherever Christ is not the cornerstone, the structure of your life will eventually begin to crack.

So bring that area to him in repentance.

And say,

“Lord, I want my life to be built on you.”

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And here is the good news: The cornerstone they rejected is the Savior we receive. Jesus was rejected by the leaders, crucified outside the city, and buried in a tomb. But through that rejection God accomplished salvation. He was raised from the dead and forms the foundation for the very Kingdom of God. The rejected Son became the foundation of a new people—his church. Not people who earn their way into the kingdom. But people who repent of sin, trust in Christ, and build their lives on him.

Challenge

The religious leaders heard Jesus say these things and instead of repenting, they began plotting how to arrest him. They encountered the cornerstone—and rejected it again. But we have a different opportunity. We can stumble over Christ in pride, or we can fall upon him in repentance and find that he becomes the foundation of our lives.

The kingdom of God is not built by perfect people. It is built by people who repent, trust the Son, and produce the fruit of his kingdom.