Daily Devotional For Saturday, January 24, 2026
Good morning Southside. The Lord is good all the time and all the time the Lord is good. This means whether things are going my way or not. His goodness never changes. We are making our way through the Gospel of Matthew and today we come to Matthew 21:33-46. Because this is a longer parable by Jesus about evil farmers, we will take several days to work our way through it. Here is the passage below:
“Now listen to another story. A certain landowner planted a vineyard, built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country. (34) At the time of the grape harvest, he sent his servants to collect his share of the crop. (35) But the farmers grabbed his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. (36) So the landowner sent a larger group of his servants to collect for him, but the results were the same. (37) “Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’ (38) “But when the tenant farmers saw his son coming, they said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Come on, let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ 39 So they grabbed him, dragged him out of the vineyard, and murdered him. (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” (NLT).
So, let’s break down the symbolism in this parable Jesus tells about who and what represent who and what. The main elements in this parable are: (1) the landowner represents God, (2) the vineyard represents Israel, (3) the farmers represent the Jewish religious leaders, (4) the landowner’s servants represent the prophets and priests who remained faithful to God and preached to Israel, (5) the son represents Jesus Himself, and (6) the other tenants represent the Gentiles.
What Matthew wants us to know immediately in this parable is how Jesus displayed His knowledge of the religious leaders’ murderous plot (Matt. 21:45). Jesus probably had Isaiah 5:2 in mind here which refers to Israel as a vineyard. A “lookout tower” would have been for his servants and slaves to watch for thieves. The wall was to keep wild animals out and the winepress for making wine.
In Jesus’ day landowners often allowed others to use their land and payment was a percentage of the crops or fruit. Here the landowner’s servants represent God’s prophets who were harmed and/or killed. Some were beaten like Jeremiah (look at verses Jer. 26:7-11 and Jer. 31:1-28). Some were killed like Isaiah according to tradition. John the Baptizer was killed (see Matt. 14:1-12). Some were stoned to death (see 2 Chron. 24:21). Jesus was reminding them that God’s prophets had often been rejected, tortured, beaten and even killed by God’s own people. So, the landowner decided to send his own son, who represents Jesus. They killed his son.
The tenant farmers knew exactly what they were doing. By killing the son, maybe they thought the son’s father was dead, and thus they could take the land for themselves. In the same way, the religious leaders thought if they killed Jesus they would have everything for themselves. They could still keep the people in spiritual darkness, extorting them from their own selfish desires. But justice will be served when the landowner arrives. Accepting or rejecting Him has eternal consequences.
As Jesus has been doing all along, He called out the religious leaders for their faithlessness and disobedience. Since God was the landowner, and historically the religious leaders and Jews killed God’s prophets and would kill Jesus, what should be the proper response of the landowner when He returned to His vineyard – what should be God ‘s response to this? This was the question Jesus posed to the religious leaders and we see their response in verse 41. And then to infuriate the religious leaders even more, Jesus quoted Psalm 118:22-23. When Jesus made His triumphant entry, the people quoted from this Messianic psalm from Psalm 118:25-26. Jesus applied Psalm 118:25-26 to Himself as the Messiah and then He applied verses 22-23 of Psalm 118 to Himself as the religious leader's rejection of Himself.
By quotes Psalm 118:22-23, those who reject the Messiah will be crushed by stones. Here Jesus is referencing the future destruction of the Temple in 70 AD by Rome. Jews would be scattered after they revolted against Rome between 66-70 AD. Up to this point, the religious leaders were in the dark as to where they fit in in Jesus’ parable. Verse 45 tells us they got it and they were furious with Him. But at this point they can do nothing because they fear the people. The people at this point thought Jesus was a prophet from God and to do anything to Jesus in the public forum of the Temple would only prove His point.
Reflection Assignment: Romans 2 makes this point repeatedly. Scripture teaches we are responsible for our thoughts, attitudes, actions, and desires that are against God. Justice will be served when the landowner returns, when Jesus returns. There is a judgment day coming to all. No one escapes being held accountable to God – this includes both the redeemed and unredeemed. There will be justice by God against the unredeemed and rewards based on obedience to the redeemed. Knowing you’re going to face God one day, where do you need to be more obedient to Him now?
Scripture To Meditate On: 1 Peter 2:7b, “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear God, I do not want to be so blind to my own biases that I cannot see them. I do not want to be so stubborn like the religious leaders that I cannot see what You want from me. I do not want to be crushed by my stones of arrogance, pride, and close-mindedness. I love you Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly