The Rejected Stone
Luke 20:9-18
July 5, 2020
As you know Jesus is now in the midst of the temple
Poking a stick right in the eye of the religious elite.
• He already offended the Pharisees by riding that donkey into Jerusalem.
• He already offended the crowd by turning and condemning them.
• And now He is working on the Chief Priests, Scribes, & Sadducees.
He has cleared the temple and now He is setting up shop
Preaching His gospel in the midst of the temple.
Last time we saw
• A failed intimidation tactic used by the religious elite.
• They tried to spring upon Him and intimidate Him by questioning His authority.
• Instead Jesus humiliated them and basically told them “No”.
Matthew’s gospel tells us that Jesus immediately went from that confrontation to a parable about a father who had 2 sons and he told them both to work in the vineyard.
• One said “no” and then felt bad and went.
• One said “yes” but never actually went.
• And Jesus made the point that tax collectors and prostitutes will get into
heaven before the religious leaders because even though they had a moment of rebellion they eventually repented and did what was required.
Luke doesn’t include that parable.
Luke skips right to the next one.
And it is the parable that we see this morning.
One of the UNIQUE things about this parable,
And perhaps all of the parables Jesus preaches here in the temple
Is that the people were given UNDERSTANDING to them.
You may remember that this was NOT ALWAYS THE CASE with parables.
In particular when we read the parable of the soils we remember that not everyone was granted understanding of that parable.
Luke 8:10 “And He said, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, so that SEEING THEY MAY NOT SEE, AND HEARING THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND.”
As is true with all of God’s word,
It cannot be understood apart from God granting understanding.
And at times Jesus preached parables without granting understanding
Simply because they had not believed what He had already preached
And therefore He wasn’t giving them more.
But this parable is different.
Jesus grants understanding.
We know that because
• In verse 16 the crowd understands the point and cries out “May it never be!”
• And verse 19 says: Luke 20:19 “The scribes and the chief priests tried to lay hands on Him that very hour, and they feared the people; for they understood that He spoke this parable against them.”
While Jesus didn’t grant understanding of every parable He preached,
He did grant understanding of this one.
There was a point here that He did not want anyone in the temple to miss.
For not only does Jesus continue to preach the gospel,
But here He also fires an unmistakable warning shot
To the entire Jewish religious establishment.
He tells them flat out that they will be destroyed for their rejection.
And so we are now reading THE THIRD JAB
That Jesus gives to the Chief Priests here in the temple.
To study the text we can break it down into 3 main points.
#1 A SIMPLE PARABLE
Luke 20:9-15a
“And He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard…”
While Luke’s gospel doesn’t indicate it, Matthew’s gospel makes it clear
That Jesus here is referencing an ancient parable of God recorded by Isaiah.
TURN TO: ISAIAH 5
• Most of you are likely familiar with this for Jesus references it a couple of times and we’ve studied it often.
• But in case you are not familiar, Isaiah 5 is simply a song about a vineyard.
• It is a parable explaining God’s expectation and frustration with Israel.
(1-2a) Simply reminds us that we have a vineyard owner that did everything possible to get the best grapes he could from his vineyard.
(2b) Reveals that despite all his efforts the vineyard was a failure. There were no good grapes.
(3) Asks for a judgment from the reader.
(4) Shows us the two questions. The answer to the first is obviously “nothing” and the answer to the second is “a bad vine”.
And then we get the vineyard operators decision regarding the vineyard.
(5-6) He’s going to destroy the vineyard.
And finally the explanation.
(7) The vineyard was Israel and the expected fruit was righteousness.
God promised to destroy His own vineyard
Because they did not produce
The justice or the righteousness which He expected.
This is the parable that Jesus references here.
They certainly would have been FAMILIAR with it.
However Jesus gives MORE INSIGHT INTO THE STORY
Which Isaiah did not tell us.
(9) “A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to vine-growers, and went on a journey for a long time.”
• Isaiah didn’t include that the vineyard owner leased out his vineyard.
• He rented it to vine-growers.
• They were the ones in charge of working the vineyard to make sure it produced good grapes.
And then the vineyard owner came back with an expectation.
(good grapes)
However there was a problem.
(10) “At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, so that they would give him some of the produce of the vineyard; but the vine-growers beat him and sent him away empty-handed.”
Here we find that the men in charge of the vineyard were corrupt.
We already know the vineyard produced only worthless grapes,
BUT NOW WE KNOW WHY.
It was poorly managed.
The people running the vineyard didn’t know what they were doing
And when called to give an account of their operation
They responded by attacking the messenger.
Jeremiah 10:21 “For the shepherds have become stupid And have not sought the LORD; Therefore they have not prospered, And all their flock is scattered.”
Ezekiel 34:5 “They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered.”
Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”
It is true that throughout the Old Testament
God punishes His people for their lack of righteousness and justice.
• We even see that God exiles them for 70 years to Babylon because of their wicked behavior.
But we also see that God also holds the leaders of the nation doubly responsible for this rebellion.
• They were the ones who were called to oversee the vineyard.
• They were the watchmen.
• They were the pruners.
And they did not do their job.
But instead of owning up to their mistake and asking for mercy
They rebelled against the vineyard owner
And beat up the slave who came to warn them.
Already you can hear the people gasping at such a heinous crime.
• This is unbelievable that such rebellion would occur.
• No doubt the crowd is already thinking about the punishment for such an offense.
But to the shock of the crowd, the owner of the vineyard is MERCIFUL.
(11) “And he proceeded to send another slave; and they beat him also and treated him shamefully and sent him away empty-handed.”
• It’s hard to fathom that the vineyard owner would send that second slave,
• But what is even more unbelievable is that they treated him like the first.
• These people had the chance to save themselves and repent and do what was required but again they refused.
(12) “And he proceeded to send a third; and this one also they wounded and cast out.”
OK now it’s just getting silly.
• What manner of mercy would send a third slave to that vineyard?
• Surely their intentions were clear by now.
After all, we’ve all heard the famous saying,
“Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.”
But mercy is on full display and the vineyard owner tries a third time
And again it is unsuccessful.
And then comes a little crowd interaction.
(13) “The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do?’”
Well we already know what he should do.
• He should take an army and go run those criminals out of his vineyard.
• This is a “no-brainer”
But would you look at his shocking decision!
(13b) “I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him”
And of course you’ve already figured out the meaning of the parable.
• God is the vineyard owner.
• The vineyard is Israel.
• The tenants are the religious leaders.
• The slaves are the prophets who came to warn.
• And the Son is none other than Jesus Christ.
Prophet after prophet had come on God’s behalf
• Warning the people and the religious leaders to stop their rebellion against God.
• And one by one those men had been rejected.
Perhaps you remember Stephen’s sermon in Jerusalem.
The bulk of the first part of the sermon is how the people continually rejected Moses.
Acts 7:25 “And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him, but they did not understand.”
Acts 7:35 “This Moses whom they disowned, saying, ‘WHO MADE YOU A RULER AND A JUDGE?’ is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush.”
Acts 7:39 “Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but repudiated him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt,”
And then at the end of the sermon Stephen lowered the boom.
Acts 7:51-53 “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. “Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”
Every messenger God ever sent they rejected.
Jesus will soon preach to them:
Matthew 23:29-36 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ “So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. “Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell? “Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. “Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.”
Jesus announced to the crowd that the religious leaders of Israel
Have systematically rejected every prophet God ever sent.
And all you have to do is read the prophets to discern that.
• Isaiah was sawn in two.
• Jeremiah thrown in a well.
• Ezekiel put on house arrest.
• Zechariah stabbed before the altar.
• Amos run out of town.
• John the Baptist beheaded.
And yet, despite all that rejection
God was still merciful enough to send His Son.
It is absolutely remarkable to us that
• After all the rebellion…
• After all the scorn…
• After all the rejected prophets…
It is remarkable that God would still be giving mercy.
And yet He gave His greatest mercy next.
John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”
He sent His Son.
• Not with an army that He might destroy those tenants.
• But He sent His Son in love hoping that they might come to their senses.
It is unfathomable mercy.
It is absolutely undeserved.
There is no doubt that the heart of the Father
Is for the salvation of these tenants.
(14-15a) “But when the vine-growers saw him, they reasoned with one another, saying, ‘This is the heir, let us kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.’ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.”
Jesus again announced exactly what was coming.
He’s actually announced it several times already
But no one has been able to see it.
Luke 18:31-34 “Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. “For He will be handed over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon, and after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him; and the third day He will rise again.” But the disciples understood none of these things, and the meaning of this statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said.”
But on this day, He tells them again,
Only He has granted understanding to everyone there.
They all know what the parable means.
• Jesus is God’s Son
• He has come to make the vineyard fruitful and bring that fruit back to God.
In fact, tomorrow night
Jesus will gather in the upper room with His disciples
And will complete this thought by saying:
John 15:1-5 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
Jesus was NOT JUST coming to DEMAND fruit,
Jesus was coming to PRODUCE fruit.
• He was coming to make Israel fruitful.
• He was coming to produce in them what they had failed to produce.
He was righteous, He was acceptable to the Father
And if they would believe in Him
They would also be declared righteous to the Father.
THAT WAS THE OFFER.
And He went to that hijacked vineyard with such a gift in mind.
BUT THEY REJECTED HIM.
• They didn’t want His righteousness.
• They didn’t want His influence.
• They wanted His vineyard.
They wanted the nation for themselves.
John 11:48 “If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
And so their plan all along has been to kill Him.
They desire to kill Him and steal what is rightfully His; the vineyard.
And Jesus just announced it in a parable
That He allowed everyone to understand.
I hope you can see the dropped jaws.
I hope you can hear the murmuring buzz circulating through the crowd.
Jesus just announced that He had come on His Father’s behalf
And yet He was about to be killed,
Just like these religious leaders had rejected
All the other messengers from the Father.
This was an “in your face” announcement.
But Jesus isn’t done.
#2 A SHOCKING RESPONSE
Luke 20:15b-16
Jesus starts by asking a question.
“What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to them?”
He’s following the pattern of Isaiah 5 and asking the crowd for a judgment.
And by the way, Matthew’s gospel says the crowd answered.
Matthew 21:41 “They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”
They answered correctly.
And it is apparent that Jesus repeated their answer to them.
(16) “He will come and destroy these vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others.”
Jesus repeated their answer
WITH ONE noticeable and unmistakable CORRECTION.
The crowd said “He will bring THOSE wretches to a wretched end”
Jesus said, “He will come and destroy THESE vine-growers”
It is unmistakable.
This really isn’t just a warning shot, this is a direct hit.
If the battle line wasn’t already clear, it is now.
• Jesus just announced that these men were going to kill Him
• And in return God would destroy them for it
• And give their vineyard to someone else.
Incidentally the “others” here is the apostles
Who will be mandated to shepherd the flock of God.
BUT IT IS YET ANOTHER ANNOUNCEMENT
Of what Jesus told the crowd during the triumphal entry.
There is a rejection coming which will result in destruction.
And the crowd can’t believe it.
“When they heard it, they said, “May it never be!”
It is the strongest negative in the Greek language.
• The crowd isn’t arguing that the vine-growers didn’t deserve such a fate for such a rebellion.
• As we already saw from Matthew, the crowd already made that judgment.
The “May it never be!” here is the crowd gasping
And responding to the horror of the entire situation.
They are saying, “May nothing like this ever happen!”
• Surely not!
• May there never be such wicked vine-growers who would actually reject God’s Son.
• This can’t be true!
And that paves the way for what Jesus says next.
(Now comes the sermon)
A Simple Parable, A Shocking Response
#3 A SOBERING ANNOUNCEMENT
Luke 20:17-18
“But Jesus looked at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone’?”
Oh He’s good!
Do you remember as Jesus sat on that donkey and descended into Jerusalem what they sang about Him?
• They sang Psalms 118 remember?
Specifically they sang:
Psalms 118:25-26 “O LORD, do save, we beseech You; O LORD, we beseech You, do send prosperity! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD; We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.”
TURN BACK TO PSALMS 118
If you were here a couple of weeks ago you’ll remember that this is the Conqueror’s Psalm or the Psalm of a champion.
I gave you a brief outline of it when we studied it.
• (1-4) begins with exaltation
• (5-9) the Psalmist is in distress but chooses to trust God
• (10-14) the Psalmist is in the fight of his life and should lose
• (15-18) the Psalmist is miraculously spared
• (19-20) the Psalmist rejoices in his victory
And we noted how the Psalm ends with the worship of those He saved.
And look at verse 22, “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone.”
Apparently in all their study of Psalms 118
The children of Israel had never stopped to ponder
What verse 22 meant.
• They saw the battle.
• They saw the death.
• They saw the resurrection.
• They saw the glory.
• They saw the salvation.
But what they never saw was who the enemy actually was.
They never recognized that enemy of this Conqueror
WAS ACTUALLY HIS OWN PEOPLE.
He had been the rejected stone.
His own people had cast Him aside just as Jesus just announced.
And there it was prophesied all the way back in that Psalm they were just singing.
Now do you see perhaps a little more clearly
• Why Jesus wept so hard at them singing that song?
• Why He turned and condemned them so harshly?
• Why He would curse that fig tree for its lack of fruit?
• Why He would become so enraged in the temple?
He was about to be rejected by these very people.
And then He would become “THE CHIEF CORNER stone”
The corner stone was the most important stone of the entire foundation.
• It was what every other things was squared off of.
• If it was wrong the building was wrong.
And the announcement of Psalms 118 is that
“The least valued piece actually becomes the most important piece.”
This foundation piece is the most important piece of all
And yet before He would serve as the foundation for the church,
He would first be rejected by Israel.
The crowd was shocked.
As Jesus confirms the parable.
Psalms 118:23 “This is the LORD’S doing; It is marvelous in our eyes.”
• David calls it “marvelous”
• Another word could be “shocking”
The crowd doesn’t think it possible
That the children of Israel could reject and kill the Son of God
And yet Jesus says, it has already been prophesied
In the song you’ve been singing the last 3 days.
AND THAT VERSE THEN BECOMES THE TEXT
FOR THIS VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM JESUS.
(18) “Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”
I know that is sort of a hard statement, so let me simplify it for you.
First, we see two different fates, but both are bad.
• One is “broken to pieces”
• The other is “scattered like dust”
Second, one fate is worse than the other.
• Clearly being broken is not as bad as
• One gets broken, the other gets absolutely pulverized.
The question comes in as to WHAT CAUSES IT?
“Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces;”
We already know the stone is Jesus,
And so the one who falls on Him will be broken.
The Greek word “on” translates EPI
57 times in Scripture it is translated “over”
Let’s read it that way.
“Everyone who falls over that stone will be broken to pieces;”
And that helps us understand it much better.
Isaiah 8:14 “Then He shall become a sanctuary; But to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over, And a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”
Romans 9:30-33 “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”
It speaks of a people who couldn’t get over the fact that Messiah
Would suffer and die, and because of this they failed to believe.
It falls in line with Isaiah 53 when people simply can’t believe
Because the Messiah had no “stately form or majesty” to help us believe.
They would be people who would hear the message of the cross
And shout, “May it never be!”
They stumbled over Him.
And a person who rejects the cross, thinking it unnecessary
Will end up being broken.
It may be rejection due to ignorance,
But it is still rejection and they will still be judged.
This is the crowd.
• This is the people who just screamed “May it never be!”
• This is the people who thought salvation could occur without the death of Christ.
• This is the people who didn’t think they needed Christ.
And what a tragedy,
They will stumble over this stone and will be “broken to pieces”.
But the second problem is even worse.
“but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”
WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT HERE?
Well some people trip over the stone of Jesus,
Not willing to accept His humiliation and they never believe and are judged.
But some actually have the stone fall on them and crush them to pieces.
What does that mean?
Let me give you a few other Scriptures
To help you understand the figure of speech here.
Zechariah 12:3 “It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.”
In that passage Israel is the stone
And those who try to lift it are severely injured.
So this person tried to lift the stone and the stone ended up hurting them.
Either their back, or dropped it on a foot, or something.
Psalms 2:1-3 “Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!”
Now that Psalm speaks of rebellion and rebellion against God’s anointed,
Namely Jesus.
And there they are trying to “cast away their cords”.
Literally throw Him off.
And maybe now you are getting the picture.
Jesus is referencing those who recognize the rock, they just don’t like it,
And so they are trying to throw it away.
He is not the stone overlooked by the builders,
He is the stone rejected by the builders.
But He says when they do that, the rock will actually fall on them
And crush them into a fine powder.
The crowd did not recognize their need and tripped over Jesus.
The leaders actually rejected Him and will be crushed by Him.
Those vine-growers, they knew it was the son.
It was a pre-meditated attack on the Son of the Vineyard Owner.
They knew what they were doing.
They didn’t kill him thinking he was merely a slave.
And that made them in even greater danger.
And that is Jesus’ point here.
You think that story about the vineyard is shocking
And hope nothing like that ever actually happens.
I’m telling you not only will it happen,
But it is happening right before your very eyes.
• I am the Son
• You are the vine-growers.
• You have produced no fruit and I came to call you into account.
But instead of humbling yourself and listening to My message,
You have rebelled against Me and will kill Me.
And as a result of your rebellion God will bring you to a wretched end.
To reject or to try and destroy Christ is to secure one’s own destruction.
That is the point.
And a painful one.
JESUS IS THAT ROCK.
And you have 3 options.
• You can stumble over Him and be broken.
• You can try to throw Him away and be crushed.
• Or you can build your house on Him.
Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell — and great was its fall.”
But understand there is no middle road.
Jesus was a lightning rod.
There was no way anyone could be a moderate follower of Jesus.
Everything Jesus does during this last week forces people to make a decision.
• There will be no true followers who are able to keep their worldly status.
• There will be no rejecters who are able to keep God’s favor.
He is asking men to trust in a stone
The world is desperately trying to throw away.
This is the calling.
Jesus is the Rejected Stone,
• But if you are willing to bear His reproach He can be the chief corner stone for you.
• He alone can secure your eternity.
• He alone can cause you to safely weather the storm.
What are you going to do with this stone we call Jesus?
