Day 283

The Story of the Vineyard

Matthew 21:33–46

Jesus told another story:

“A man planted a vineyard and built a winery there. He then rented the vineyard and went into another country. At harvest, the servants arrived to collect his share of fruit. But the renters beat one servant. They killed another and stoned a third. The man sent more servants, but they were treated the same. Finally, he sent his son. ‘They’ll respect my son,’ the man thought.

“ ‘Here comes the owner’s son,’ said the renters. ‘Someday this vineyard will be his. Let’s kill him. Then the land will be ours.’ So they tackled him and killed him.

“Answer this,” continued Jesus. “When the owner comes, what will he do to those renters?”

“He’ll put those villains to death,” they answered. “He’ll rent the vineyard to people who’ll give him the fruit on time.”

“Right,” said Jesus. “So God’s kingdom will be taken away from you. It will be given to people who produce the kingdom’s fruit.”

The leading priests heard his story. They knew Jesus was talking about them and wanted to arrest him. But they couldn’t because the people saw Jesus as a prophet.

Questions: Who will be given God’s kingdom? Why couldn’t the priests arrest Jesus?