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"40 When the owner of the vineyard returns," Jesus asked, "what do you think he will do to those farmers?" 41 The religious leaders replied, "He will put the wicked men to a horrible death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him his share of the crop after each harvest." 42 Then Jesus asked them, "Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures? 'The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.' 43 I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the proper fruit. 44 Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on." 45 When the leading priests and Pharisees heard this parable, they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers. 46 They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesus to be a prophet. ~ Matthew 21:40-46
Today, we conclude our study of Matthew 21 where the Lord Jesus has entered the final week of His life on this earth before He went to His cross. There is a word that describes the 50 days beginning on Easter Sunday until the Feast of Pentecost, it is "paschal" which is the adjective form of the word for Passover. The Passover to this day refers to the Jewish feast commemorating the deliverance of God’s people from slavery in Egypt, when they sacrificed and ate an unblemished lamb and marked their doorposts with its blood. The Paschal Lamb was a picture of none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the unblemished Lamb of God. For all willing to believe on Him as the Paschal Lamb who came to take away the consequences of our sin, to them God gives the right to become the sons of God.
In v.40-41 of today's passage we read, "40 When the owner of the vineyard returns," Jesus asked, 'what do you think he will do to those farmers?' 41 The religious leaders replied, 'He will put the wicked men to a horrible death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him his share of the crop after each harvest.'"
In response to the question the Lord Jesus asked the religious leaders about those who put to death the son of the vineyard owner, the religious leaders gave a biblical response as to what should happen to them. In their response, the religious leaders of Israel revealed they understood the severity and the consequences of sin. But, they had no clue about God's grace that would shortly be demonstrated to them through the death of His Son on the cross. They did not understand that His grace would satisfy His justice at the cross of Calvary.
Brennan Manning once said, "God's grace proclaims all that is good is ours not by right but by the sheer bounty of a gracious God. Life itself, eyes to see and hands to touch, a mind to shape ideas, and a heart to beat with love. We have been given God in our souls and Christ in our flesh. We have the power to believe where others deny, to hope where others despair, to love where others hurt. This and so much more is sheer gift; it is not reward for our faithfulness, our generous disposition, or our heroic life of prayer. Even our fidelity is a gift."
In v.42-44 of today's passage we read, "42 Then Jesus asked them, 'Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures? 'The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.' 43 I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the proper fruit. 44 Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on."
Here, the Lord Jesus changed metaphors from a vineyard to the cornerstone. In doing so, He quoted Psalm 118 which was a prophecy of the Messiah's death. The Rejected Stone is the rejected Son of God. He is the Cornerstone. The cornerstone is the large stone that forms the foundation of the building which has to be perfect, because all the other stones are aligned according to the cut of the cornerstone. And so, as the builders would be very particular about how a cornerstone looked, they would reject a number of stones till they got the perfect cornerstone, because the symmetry and the stability of any building depends on how good and how well made that cornerstone is. The Lord Jesus was and is the Perfect Cornerstone who was rejected by the religious leaders of Israel.
After the religious leaders rejected the Son of God, the Son of God then rejected them. God said, "I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the proper fruit." The word translated "nation" here means people. These are the people of which Peter speaks in 1 Peter 2, "A holy nation." This group of people are largely gentiles who have believed on the Perfect Cornerstone. These people are all who have chosen to believe on the Lord Jesus as Savior.
In v.45-46 of today's passage we read, "45 When the leading priests and Pharisees heard this parable, they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers. 46 They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesus to be a prophet."
When the religious leaders rejected God's Cornerstone, they rejected the salvation of God and they ended up losing their minds. Only those who realize they were born in the clutches of an enemy who has always wanted to destroy us are positioned to see the Lord Jesus for who He is, the One who is "The Way, The Truth and The Life." He said, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." It is the Lord Jesus Christ who sets us free from the tyrannical clutches of the evil one. The religious leaders who rejected the truth were aware that they were in bondage. They were not aware that this slavery was far worse than that of the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and even the Romans. This is a slavery that is bondage to the self life, the one that loves sin which is contrary to the life the Lord Jesus died to give us.
Discipleship under the Lord Jesus is the only one true path to freedom. It is important to understand that true belief only comes from evidence. We never find real freedom until we examine the evidence that the Lord Jesus is who He claims to be. We must believe Him first, and that means examining the evidence about Him. Hundreds of thousands of people have rejected the Lord Jesus without ever really examining the evidence for who He truly is. If you have never trusted Him as your Savior, be honest with yourself and the truth. Examine His claims and try to prove Him wrong. In your attempt to do so will sharpen your ability to see that He truly is the Savior of the world.
