"'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. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, They will respect my son. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance. And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?' 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.' 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? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.'"
- Matthew 21:33-44
This is the Parable of the Tenants, which Jesus told to the Pharisees. He borrowed some of the imagery from Isaiah 5:1-7, which is why His audience immediately understood the significance of the parable, and realized that He was speaking of them (Matthew 21:45). In it, in addition to His commentary on the rebellion of the Pharisees, Jesus also made some significant claims about Himself. The master of the house represents God the Father, the vineyard is the land of Israel, and the tenants are the Jews. The servants were the Old Testament prophets, which would include finally John the Baptist. Israel killed the prophets (Matthew 23:37), whom God had sent to recall her to her duty to Him. By silencing the prophets, the renegades of Israel believed that they could be free to live their dream of autonomy (Genesis 3:5). Finally, God ceased to send prophets, and sent His final message in His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2). There would be no further prophets.
Israel would listen to Him (Matthew 17:5), or she would be judged. She chose to be judged (Matthew 27:25). But even as He warned His audience, Jesus was telling them who He was: the Son and Heir of the Father, offices which could be held by no one less than deity Himself.
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