Upside-Down Christmas: Luke 20

Luke 20

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I don’t know if you’ve ever really read the bible or if you’ve really read the parables that Jesus tells—but the Sunday school, children’s versions, the sanitized, cutesy things—that’s not the parables of Jesus. And the parable of the tenants in Luke 20 is not a nice parable.

Welcome back to the Upside-Down Christmas podcast where we’re walking our way through the Gospel of Luke, looking at how Jesus turns things upside down with his life and ministry.

And in this case, Jesus is showing that he himself is the upside down thing—at least to those to whom he told this parable.

Jesus was at the temple talking to the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Now they were like rival religious parties who had varying levels of political and social influence, but they were united in their opposition to Jesus. And so they’re setting themselves up to trap him in some words that they can use against him. They want to turn him over to the Romans so that they’ll execute him. And in this case, Jesus tells a parable that makes them even madder.

The gist of it is that there's a man owns some property. And he leases the property to others. And then some time later, he sends his servant to collect some rent. But the tenants keep beating up the servants sent by the man and basically refuse to give him the fruit of his own vineyard. So the man says, “You know what, I’ll send my beloved son; surely they’ll respect him.” But of course, they do not. In fact, they don’t just beat the son; they murder him, thinking that they’ll gain some right to the land.

Then Jesus asks the listeners, “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘The stone that the builders rejected bas become the cornerstone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” (Luke 20:13-18)

Now, this parable is obviously being told about Jesus himself and about the religious leadership that he’s speaking to. In fact, Luke says as much in v. 19. And if you keep reading, you of course find that they really did kill Jesus.

And that’s the upside down part, of course. Because the son was meant to be respected. He was supposed to be a guiding force, an emblem of authority, and so on. But instead they killed him.

But then there’s another twist because the stone that’s rejected becomes the cornerstone. The very one that they reject becomes the center of all that God is planning and doing, and everything else in his kingdom will be aligned to this one person.

The high one becomes low, accepting rejection and scorn and even death. But then the rejected one becomes that highest and most important in the kingdom of God. Meanwhile the mere tenants who were given the privilege of the field to work and keep—they end up biting the hand that feeds them, so to speak. And then, though they are triumphant over this son, in the end they are the ones who end up trod asunder. It all turns upside down indeed.

Father, thank you that the stone that was rejected has become the cornerstone. It is marvelous in our eyes. We pray that we might be found aligned with him, our lives in his order, following after his way. For he is worthy of our allegiance. Amen.

Family Devotional:

Have the children summarize the parable and then ask: What do you think Jesus is even talking about? (There’s an even more detailed version of this parable in Matthew 21:33-46 if you wish to read it.)

How did the owner show patience to the tenants?

Why did the tenants want to kill the son?

What does it mean for Jesus to be the "Cornerstone" of our lives?

How can we be "good tenants" of the gifts and life God has given us? 

Jesus often uses parables to help his followers understand much bigger, spiritual things. So the vineyard isn’t really a vineyard; and the cornerstone isn’t an actual stone. I know…it can be confusing. Maybe you can break it down together. Do this by asking questions like, "Who do you think the landowner is?,” etc.

In this parable, the owner is God. God first sent men such as Noah, Moses, David, the prophet Isaiah, and others to tell people of his love for them and to call them to turn away from their wicked ways, but many would not listen. Finally, he sent His own Son, Jesus. What did they do to him? God gave them a chance. He even gave them a second chance—and a third. But when they rejected His Son, that was their last chance.