120. Parable of the Absent Landlord

        ³³“Hear another parable. There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country. ³⁴When the season of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants, to get his fruit; ³⁵and the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶Again he sent other servants, more than the first; and they did the same to them. ³⁷Afterward he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' ³⁸But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.' ³⁹And they took him and cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
        ⁴¹They 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.” ¹⁶When they heard this, they said, “God forbid!”
        ⁴²Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: 'The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'? ⁴³Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing the fruits of it. ⁴⁴And he who falls on this stone, while he is thereby broken in pieces, will be saved; but when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
        ⁴⁵When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them.^{a 46}But when they tried to arrest him, they feared the multitudes, because they held him to be a prophet.
        (Mt. 21:33–41; Lk. 20:16; Mt. 21:42–46)

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a   “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them.”—In this parable, God is the householder, the tenants are the Jewish nation, and the servants sent by the householder are the Jewish prophets. The son whom the tenants rejected and killed represents Jesus and his gospel of the kingdom.

Mt. 21:42   Psalms 118:22,–23
Mt. 21:43  a people producing (Rieu) / a nation producing (RSV)
Mt. 21:44  stone, while he is thereby broken in pieces, will be saved; / stone will be broken to pieces; (RSV)   (173:4/1893–4)

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