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JESUS’ AUTHORITY AS THE SON

Matthew 21:18-46

Key Verse: 21:42

“Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

1. Read verses 18-22. What happened early the next morning? (18-19) What amazed his disciples? In what way is the fig tree a parable of the temple, the religious leaders, and the nation Israel? What did Jesus teach his amazed disciples about faith and prayer? (20-22)

2. Read verses 23-27. What question did the chief priests and elders ask Jesus and why? (23; refer to 12, 14-15)? What was Jesus’ counter-question, and why couldn’t they answer? Why did Jesus talk about John’s baptism?

3. Read verses 28-32. In Jesus’ short story, what did a father ask his two sons and how did each respond? (28-30) What question did Jesus ask the religious leaders and how did they answer? (31a) How did Jesus apply the story? (31b-32) How should we respond to the Gospel message?

4. Read verses 33-36. In another parable, how did a landowner prepare his vineyard to be fruitful? What did the owner expect of the tenants at harvest time? How were the servants received when they came to get some fruit? Why did the tenants behave in this way?

5. Read verses 37-41. Think about the patience and love of the landowner. Why did the owner send his son? Why did the tenants kill the son? What was their fundamental problem? What would happen to the tenants and the vineyard? (40-41)

6. Read verses 42-46. Why does Jesus quote Psalm 118:22, 23 here? How is Jesus the cornerstone? (Acts 4:10-12) Why is this marvelous to us? How did Jesus apply this? (43-44) How did the religious leaders respond? (45-46) What do you learn about Jesus’ authority to save and judge?

Attachment:

• Matthew 21(18-46).que.docx

Message

JESUS’ AUTHORITY AS THE SON

(Matthew 21:18-46)

“Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes”?” (v. 42).

In the previous passage, riding on a colt, Jesus entered Jerusalem. He revealed himself publicly as the Lord, Savior and King. He cleansed the temple, directly challenging the Jewish religious leaders. Instead of repenting of their corruption, they looked for a way to kill Jesus. (Mark 11:18) Jesus knew that he would soon be arrested, condemned, and handed over to be crucified by the religious leaders. Nevertheless, Jesus did not give up on them. Jesus taught them three parables successively to lead them somehow into repentance. In today’s passage, we want to learn about the first two parables among the three: The parable of the two sons and the parable of the tenants. Through the parables, Jesus reveals where his authority originated from and with what kind of attitudes we should accept his authority.

I. The parable of the two sons (vs. 18-32)

Look at verse 18. “Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry.” At night, Jesus stayed at Bethany, the hometown of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus and returned to Jerusalem early in the morning. On his way back to the city, he was hungry, probably Jesus had not had breakfast. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. (19a) Fig trees bloom when the first leaves appear. The fruit itself is the blossom, so we can never see blossoms on a fig tree. Since the tree was in leaf, figs should have been on it, although they may not be mature because it was spring around April in Israel.

Then Jesus said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered. (19b) Some may think that Jesus was too harsh to the fig tree. Did Jesus do this just because he was hungry? No. There is a deeper meaning to this event. Jesus saw this fig tree as a symbol of the nation Israel. Though they had the trappings of religious life, Jesus did not find the fruit from them he was looking for. The religious leaders were proud, greedy, legalistic, merciless and hardhearted. As a result, the temple became like a den of robbers, and the whole nation was badly influenced and became fruitless. Within a few days, that generation would reject their King and crucify him. This provoked God’s judgment, which came in A.D. 70. The temple and Jerusalem were destroyed by the Romans, and Israel scattered around the world.  

The disciples were amazed. They asked, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” (20) Jesus planted faith in their hearts: “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (21-22)

Jesus wants to empower his disciples to do great things in the sight of God. This power comes through faith in God alone through prayer based on his will. (1 John 5:14) God’s power can move mountains. This is what the disciples needed. They faced the mountain of Jewish establishment power, which would be a great enemy of the Gospel. Jesus’ disciples looked powerless. Yet, as we see in the book of Acts, when the disciples were devoted to prayer, the Holy Spirit came upon them and they became powerful witnesses of Jesus. They boldly challenged the religious establishment to repent and overturned Jerusalem. Later, they went to Judea and Samaria, and moved the mountains of prejudice, and they went to the whole world. Eventually the Roman Empire was overcome by the power of God and became a Christian nation.

This encourages us. We face mountains in our society: anti-Christian bias fueled by the devil’s hatred, that influences the powers of this world against Christ. We also may have mountains in our own hearts: doubt, anxiety, fear, sinful desires through the devil’s temptations, the power of death, and so on. How can we move these mountains? Jesus promised, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” Let’s remember this promise as we prepare our new semester. May God bless us to experience the mountain moving power of God in each of our lives and in our ministry as a whole!

Look at verse 23. “Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. ‘By what authority are you doing these things?’ they asked. ‘And who gave you this authority?’” The Jewish religious leaders disregarded any authority apart from them. Jesus did not have a formal education in a Rabbinic school. The leaders understood that Jesus was claiming authority as the Messiah, so they wanted to find ground to accuse him. Jesus counter-questioned to expose the religious leaders’ hypocrisy and give them answers to their question. “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?” (24-25)

John had prepared the way of Jesus. His baptism represented his mission. He had proclaimed that Jesus was before him and far greater than him, testifying that Jesus would baptize people with the Holy Spirit. (3:11-12; John 1:26-34) If they acknowledge John, they should acknowledge Jesus also. The religious leaders should be the conscience of the time. However, they calculated political outcomes, so they did not answer according to the truth or their conscience. (27) They did not live before God but before men. Their answer revealed their hypocrisy, rejection of God’s will and work, and unrepentant heart. If they did not know where John’s authority came from, they would not know where Jesus came from. Jesus now tells them parables to drive his message home.

The first one was the parable of the two sons. Look at verse 28. “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons, He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’” The background of this story was a common Jewish family that operated a grape farm. It was usual for sons to work with their fathers, learning farming and eventually inheriting the vineyard from their fathers. What was the first son’s response to his father? Look at verse 29. “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.” At first, he was rebellious and very self-centered. He neither loved his father nor respected him. He took all of his father’s labor and provision for granted. He did not have any concept of stewardship in his family business. He wanted to live his own life without being interrupted. He was like the prodigal son in the parable in Luke 15. But eventually, he changed his mind and went.  

On the rejection of the first son, the father went to the other son and said the same thing. The second son answered very politely, “I will, sir,” but he did not go. (30) He looks like a good old boy. He knew what the right thing to do was. He wanted to obey his father, initially at least. But he did not do what he said because his heart was actually on something else just like the first son. With his lips, he honored his father, but his heart was far from him. He looked obedient, but he was actually another prodigal son.

Jesus asked the religious leaders. “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” They correctly answered, “The first.” (31a) Jesus explained the meaning of his parable. Look at verses 31b-32. “…Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.”

In this parable, the father represents God: In a narrower sense, the first son refers to the Jewish people who were considered as sinners like the tax collectors and the prostitutes but later responded to John’s baptism through their repentance. The second son refers to Jewish religious leaders who rejected John. In a broader sense, the first son refers to anyone who lives a sinful life but later repents and is changed, while the second son refers to those who are outwardly religious yet remain unchanged.    

Here Jesus mainly emphasizes two things. First, Jesus’ authority came from heaven. Secondly, we must repent and believe in him. God is the Father of all human beings, for he created each person in his own image. He provides for all men’s needs by causing his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sending rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:45) God created us for his special purpose. It was to love him with all our hearts, souls, and strength. Furthermore, God created us to work with him in his vineyard. He works even now to save sinners and restore them. The Father wants us to participate in his world salvation work. So he calls his children to work with him in his vineyard. 

No one can deny his physical parents, but people deny their Creator. Like the two sons in this parable, people show such indifference, rejection, and rebellion toward God and his work. Love of the world breaks our relationship with God. Consequently, people are like withered branches apart from God, and supposed to be picked up, and thrown into the fire and burned. (John 15:6) The only remedy is to repent and believe in Jesus. So John’s message was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matthew 3:2) Jesus' first message was, “The time has come…The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15)

Jesus clearly declared, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.” (31b) These words of Jesus must have hit the religious leaders like an electric shock, “No, it can never be!” Nevertheless, Jesus’ words teach us what the people of the kingdom of God are like. They are repentant sinners. I learned that repentance and faith in Jesus should be my consistent attitudes toward Jesus until I enter the kingdom of God. Repentance and faith in Jesus should be the main message we need to consistently teach and proclaim for campus students and our neighbors. May God bless us to preach the Gospel message this fall semester and may the Holy Spirit mightily work to change students’ minds and obey God through our message!

II. The parable of the tenants (vs. 33-46)

After the parable of the two sons, Jesus continued to teach another parable. Look at verse 33. “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.” The landowner went through great efforts to prepare the best vineyard. He uprooted wild trees and weeds, removed rocks, plowed, fertilized, and seeded in the land. He put a wall around it to protect the vines from thieves and animals. He dug a winepress in it and even built a watchtower to provide a resting place and a storeroom for watchmen and workers. Obviously, the landowner wanted the vineyard to produce the choicest fruit and wine. The landowner rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. Amazingly, he entrusted all things to the tenants. He gave them freedom to work the vineyard with stewardship and creativity. Through this parable, what does Jesus teach us?

First, God is the Owner. Here the landowner is God, and the tenants are the religious leaders or the nation Israel in a narrower sense and mankind in general. This parable teaches us a right relationship between God and us. We can understand this in light of the first verse of the Bible: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1). God created everything, so he owns everything. Our life, both physical and spiritual, came from God. This simple truth is the basis for man’s relationship with God. God is the Owner of our lives, and we are his stewards. God is not like many greedy landlords, but he is the Good Shepherd, mindful and providing everything we need. He is so good and always considers our happiness first.

Look at verse 34. “When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.”  The landowner waited until the harvest time. Then he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. Likewise, God seeks fruit from man. He seeks a portion of the fruit from our lives. Jesus first addressed this parable to his own people, the Jews. God had delivered the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt and gave them a land flowing with milk and honey. God had a hope for them to grow as a holy nation. Through them, God wanted to proclaim the knowledge of the true God to the whole world. For this, God gave them the word of God – the Bible. The word of God transforms a man into a new creation, and gives man eternal life by leading him to know the only true God and his Son. In like manner, God saves each of us from the slavery of sin and death through Jesus Christ. God hopes for each Christian to grow in Jesus’ image in obedience to the word of God by the help of the Holy Spirit. In doing so, God wants us to shine his glory before the world and help many lost souls come back to God. Put simply, the fruit God wants from us is to bear fruit of repentance, grow in his image and to be a blessing to others by obeying his words.

Second, God’s patience and love. Look at verse 35. “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.” When the landowner’s servants came, the tenants treated them so badly. They did something unimaginable. It was like a horror movie. What happened to them? When they had worked hard, the vineyard yielded a good crop. As they saw the fruit of their labor, both self-righteousness and greed grew in their hearts. They lost their thankfulness toward the landowner and behaved as if they were the owners. In the end, they wanted to possess the vineyard. Certainly, the idea of possessing the vineyard was an illusion. It couldn’t happen, for the landowner was alive and he would return. The outcome of their illusion was disastrous. They grew more wicked and violent. This is a downward spiral of an unrepentant heart.

Regardless of the surprising and irrational response of the tenants, the landowner loved the tenants. He was deeply concerned about their lives and future. He really wanted them to enjoy his vineyard permanently. But the only way for them to keep their privilege was to maintain the owner-tenant relationship. So he sent his other servants to them, more than the first time, but the tenants treated them the same way.

Now, it seems that there was no hope for the tenants to be changed. But the landowner takes one final and drastic action. Look at verse 37. “Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.” Mark 12:6 says, “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved.” If the tenants’ behavior was surprising, the landowner’s behavior was even more surprising. The landowner decided to send his beloved son as his last means to help his tenants. He already sacrificed many of his servants. When he sent his son to the hostile tenants, it was the greatest risk and sacrifice. By sending his son, he showed the tenants the full extent of his patience and love. He expected that the tenants would realize his love for them and come back to their right senses.

This is the heart of God. God has compassion even on those who blindly reject their Creator. God wants none of them to lose their privilege and perish. In spite of their rebellion, God never gives up on them. He is ready to forgive all their sins once they repent and come back to a right relationship with him. So, God sent his one and only Son into this world to restore a right relationship with each of us. This is love and hope beyond human love. We see here that God’s love is a long suffering and sacrificial love toward rebellious people.

Third, Jesus has become the cornerstone.  When the tenants saw the son, how did they respond? Look at verses 38b-39. “…They said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So, they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.” What a horrible story! Man’s rejection of God and his Son is beyond human reason, but this is the reality of sinful humanity. This happened exactly in Jesus’ Cross. Jesus was crucified outside of Jerusalem by greedy and blood-thirsty people. Jesus explained the meaning of this event by quoting from Psalm 118:22-23. Look at verse 42. “Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the Scriptures: “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes”?’”

The builders were professional and knowledgeable enough to construct a building. To build a house, they had to choose a cornerstone first. The cornerstone is a foundation stone or principle stone to be set first. This stone is important because all other stones will be set in reference to this stone. Thus, it determines the position of the entire structure and the structure depends on the stone. The builders rejected a peculiar stone because it did not fit their own design. But under God’s hand, it has become the cornerstone. The religious leaders rejected Jesus and crucified him on the Cross because he was not a political Messiah whom they expected. But God raised Jesus from the dead and made him the Cornerstone of his salvation work.         

Jesus is the cornerstone who provides us a firm foundation of salvation. Like the tenants, we are rebellious, ignorant and sinful out of our greed. We were destined to be judged and eternally punished, but God so loved us and gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16). The only thing that we should do for our salvation is to repent and trust in Jesus. It is to trust in him alone as the Cornerstone for our salvation. 

Look at verses 43-44. “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” Jesus is the Cornerstone to those who trust in him, but at the same time, Jesus is the stumbling stone to those who reject him. Anyone who rejects him will face total destruction and eternal judgment. Therefore, based on each one’s response to him, Jesus is the Rock of salvation or judgment. The religious leaders knew that Jesus spoke the parables about them. It was the last chance for them to repent, but they looked for a way to arrest him. Consequently, God's blessing would be given to the Gentiles. 

Based on today’s passage, Jesus teaches that his authority came from heaven. He is the Son of God. He has authority to save or judge us based on our response toward him. God is the owner of our lives whom we have to love with all our hearts and glorify alone. God entrusted our lives and the world to us so that we may bear fruit. But each of us failed in having a right relationship with God. For the fallen tenants like us, God did not spare his one and only Son to recover our relationship. Thank God for sending us his precious Son Jesus. The only way to recover the relationship is to repent and believe in Jesus. May God bless each of us to have a consistent attitude toward Jesus with repentance and faith in him! May God bless us to live a fruitful life based on the cornerstone, our Lord Jesus Christ! May God bless us to proclaim the Gospel message that Jesus is the Son of God, the Rock of salvation and judgment this fall semester and lead many students to repentance and faith in Jesus!

Attachment:

• Matthew 21(18-46).mg.docx