Study 46. Luke 20:9-19. 2/2/24

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4. What is Jesus trying to tell the crowd in 20:9-16?

  • God owns the vineyard (Isa 5:1-7, Jer 12:10, Ez 19:10). The Israelites are only tenants.
  • The tenants are wicked and greedy: they have killed the prophets, and they will kill the son.
  • The vineyard will be given to others.
  • The tenants are the people ("he looked directly at them")
  • Jesus is the cornerstone (Is 28:16, Eph 2:20, 1 Pet 2:7): rejected, validated, precious, dangerous.

Jesus quotes Ps 118:22. This part of the parable is also not hard to understand. In Acts 4:8-12 after being arrested for healing the lame man at the Temple, Peter interprets the second half of this parable for the Jewish leaders who had condemned Jesus just some months earlier. He says:

“Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a cripple, by what means this man has been healed, be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, but which has become the head of the corner. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. “

See Peter's interpretation:

  •  v.10: the stone is Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
  •  v.8: the builders are the Jewish rulers and elders.
  •  v.10: the rejection of the stone was the crucifixion of Jesus.
  • v.10: the elevation of the stone to the head of the corner was the resurrection of Jesus.
  •  v.12: because of this position as the cornerstone, there is salvation in no other.


How does the parable portray the vineyard owner's character?

Gracious, deliberately not sparing His own Son, not making a naive mistake (9:22)

5. The crowd responds to Jesus' parable with horror (20:16). What point does Jesus make by quoting the Messianic prophecies in 20:17-18?

Some stumble when they go our own way, an unexpected obstacle comes in our path

Some are crushed by judgment (Da 2:34)

After the story of death of the heir there is a horrified reaction, not at the evil they have just heard. They are horrified that the punishment for the crime would apply to them

 

6. What does the interchange in 20:9-19 have to do with the leaders' challenge in 20:1 -8?

Those that challenge Jesus' authority are challenging His sonship. They will not surrender to his ownership, and will kill him to preserve their own place.




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