Jesus proceeded immediately to tell another parable. Luke wrote that Jesus addressed it to the crowds in the temple courtyard (Luke 20:9). The chief priests and elders continued to listen (vv. 45-46).
21:33-34 Jesus alluded to Isaiah 5:1-7 and Psalm 80:8-16 where the vineyard is Israel and the landowner God. The care the landowner took with his vineyard shows God's concern for Israel. He had a right to expect that it would be a fruitful vineyard and yield much fruit. The tenants to whom the landowner entrusted his vineyard represent Israel's leaders. The harvest time (lit. the season of the fruits) stands for the time when God could expect to obtain some reward for His investment in Israel. The slaves (Gr. douloi) are God's faithful servants the prophets.
21:35-37 Israel's leaders had beaten and killed various prophets (cf. 1 Kings 18:4, 13; 22:24; 2 Chron. 24:21-22; Jer. 20:1-2; 26:20-23; 37:15). Sending his son might seem foolhardy in view of the tenants' former behavior.798However this act showed the landowner's patience and his hope that the tenants would respond properly to the representative with the greatest authority.
"The contrast is between what men would do and what God had done."799
21:38-40 Israel's leaders did not reject Jesus because they did not know who He was but because they refused to submit to His authority (23:37). Jesus had announced to His disciples that the Jewish leaders would kill Him (16:21; 17:23; 20:18). Now He announced this to the leaders themselves and the people.
21:41 The hearers who responded may have been the leaders, but since Jesus identified the guilty in the parable clearly, they were probably the people standing about listening. They easily anticipated God's action. He would depose the leaders and bring them to a miserable end. Then God would deliver the care of His vineyard to other slaves who would present the desired fruit at the appointed time. These refer to the prophets, apostles, and servants of God who would represent Him after Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension.
21:42 Every time Jesus said, "Did you never read?"He was stressing that the Scriptures pointed to Him (cf. 12:3; 19:4; 21:16; Mark 12:10). Jesus changed the figure from a vineyard to a building. This quotation is from Psalm 118:22-23. It probably originally described David, Jesus' ancestor and type. All Israel's leaders including Samuel and Saul had originally rejected David, but God chose him and made him the capstone of the nation. Likewise God had chosen Israel, a nation that the other world leaders despised. However, God would make Israel the capstone of the nations when He established the kingdom.
Similarly in Jesus' day Israel's leaders had rejected after trial (Gr. apodokimazo) the Son of David, but God would make Him the capstone of His building. Jesus' history recapitulated the history of both Israel and David. Earthly leaders were rejecting Him, but God would exalt Him over all eventually. This reversal of fortunes is a phenomenon that onlookers marvel at as they observe it. Jesus made another strong messianic claim when He applied this passage to Himself.
21:43 This verse continues to explain the parable of the wicked tenant farmers. Because Israel's leaders had failed to produce the fruit God desired and had slain His Son, He would remove responsibility and privilege from them and give that to another "nation"or "people"(Gr. ethnei). What God did was transfer responsibility for preparing for the kingdom from Israel and give it to a different group, namely the church (cf. Acts 13:46; 18:5-6; Rom. 10:19; 1 Pet. 2:9).
"Matthew 21:43 could be the key verse in the entire argument of Matthew."800
The unusual term "kingdom of God"rather than Matthew's customary "kingdom of heaven"probably stresses the fact that the kingdom belongs to God, not the leaders of Israel.
Jesus did not mean that God would remove the kingdom from Israel forever (cf. Rom. 11:26-27). When Jesus returns to the earth and establishes His kingdom, Israel will have the most prominent position in it (Gen. 12; 15; 2 Sam. 7; Jer. 31).
"For the first time the King speaks openly and clearly to someone outside of the circle of the disciples about a new age. This is full proof that the kingdom was no longer near at hand."801
21:44 The capstone, the top stone on a wall or parapet around a flat-roofed building, could and did become a stumbling block to some. Many Jews similarly tripped over Jesus' identity and plunged to their destruction. Likewise a capstone could fall on someone below and crush him or her. These are allusions to Isaiah 8:14-15 and Daniel 2:35, 44-45. Jesus was a dangerous person as well as God's chosen representative and the occupier of God's choice position in His building, Israel. Jesus was claiming to be the Judge; He would crush those on whom He fell.
21:45-46 The meaning of Jesus' words was clear to Israel's leaders who heard Him. Matthew probably described them as chief priests, mostly Sadducees, and Pharisees because these were the two leading parties within Judaism. Together these two groups stood for all the Jewish authorities who opposed Jesus.
Rather than fearing Jesus, whom they understood claimed to be the instrument of their final judgment, these leaders feared the multitudes whose power over them was much less. Rather than submitting to Him in belief, they tried to seize Him. Thus they precipitated the very situation that Jesus had warned them about, namely His death at their hands. Their actions confirm their rejection of Jesus and their consequent blindness.
