Video Discussion Q+A

1) What is the Master hoping to find when he sends his servants to the vineyard?

– He is hoping to find fruit. God is sending the prophets to see whether Israel was faithful to him.

2) Who do the hired tenants symbolize and what do they do to the servants that the Master sends?

– The hired tenants symbolize Israel’s leaders. They take the servants (prophets) and they beat, stone, kill, and reject them all. Israel’s leaders rejected all those that God sent to warn them and call them back to repentance.

3) Who does the Master send last? What do the hired tenants do to him?

– The Master finally sends his Son (Jesus). The hired tenants (Israel’s leaders), reject him and kill him also. The way they do this and the way they talk about the Son is similar to Joseph in Genesis and the outcome is similar too. The rejection of the Son brings about salvation and blessing for the world.

4) When did the leaders of Israel finally understand that this parable was about judgment on them?

– When Jesus quoted Psalm 118 and Daniel 2. They realized Jesus was talking about them when Jesus was saying that he was the chief cornerstone. Jesus is the foundation that God is going to build his temple, and if you reject the cornerstone, you cannot become a part of the building (see 1 Peter 2:6-7, Eph 2:20). In other words, if you reject Jesus, you reject God.

5) Who is the kingdom given to and what does this mean for you and me?

– The kingdom of God and its mission is given to the church. It is given to both Jews and Gentiles who place their faith and trust in Jesus as their King. They are the ones that bear fruit and show that they belong to God by how they love and obey Jesus. This means that when we come to Jesus in trust and faith, we become a part of his people. We are to show that we belong to him by how we live and bear fruit that shows that we know him. This doesn’t earn us our salvation, but instead shows that we truly have it. Praise God in his amazing plan that the rejection of Jesus by the Jewish Leaders means salvation goes out to the entire world (Romans 11:11).