I once was in a house that was built right next to a quarry. On the main floor was an unusual step up into a side room. The owners of the house explained that when they had built the house, there was a rock outcropping that they had to build around. It would have been very difficult to get rid of it, so they decided to make this one room with a step up.

Christ is the rock that none of us can get around. Our sin­ful natures try to get around Him, but we end up stumbling all our lives long unless we recognize that He is the stone set up by God to be the cornerstone on which we must build. He must be reverenced – or we will never prosper. This is what the parable commonly known as the parable of the wicked husbandmen (or tenants) teaches.

The key to understanding this parable can be found in the relationship between Son and Stone. In Hebrew, there is only one letter difference between the words for “son” (ben) and “stone” (eben). In this parable, Christ reveals Himself as both. On the one hand, He is the Son of God, sent by God that we would reverence Him (v. 37). On the other hand, He is also the Stone of the corner, on which the whole structure of God’s building rests. Just as it is dangerous for a laborer not to respect the son of the owner and for a carpenter to ignore an unmovable rock, so we bring ruin on ourselves if we do not reverence the Son of God.

Honoring the Son of God

Christ told this parable in the last week before His crucifix­ion. Matthew, Mark (12:1-12), and Luke (20:9-19) all record this parable, and the slight variations in details can easily be harmonized. Among all the parables, this one contains the clearest and most explicit reference to the death of Christ.

The basic picture of the parable is that of a vineyard, a comparison that the Bible regularly uses for the people of God (Isa. 5:1-7; Song 8:11-12). However, the focus in this parable is on those entrusted with leadership among the people of God (the husbandmen). This is confirmed in verse 45: “And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.”

The parable does more, however, than just speak about events of that time. This parable gives us a story of how to understand all of human history. It tells the story of the whole design of history as it focuses on the cross and resurrection of Christ.

Despite what we have come to expect from our everyday life, the husbandmen of the parable did not respect the owner, his servants, or his son. If there were any doubt about the intentions of the husbandmen, verse 37 lifts the veil of their heart. We hear them say: “This is the heir, come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.” What arrogance and insanity! It’s no wonder that when Christ asks what the owner will do when he comes (v. 40), the answer is obvious: “He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen” (v. 41).

Honoring the Stone of the Corner

From a certain perspective, the parable could have ended with verse 41. In that case, the parable would have ended with the picture of the dead son’s body outside the vineyard’s walls and the sound of the hoofs of an approaching army ready to judge the wicked husbandmen. But the parable doesn’t end there. If it had, there would be no gospel in the parable, and Christ was keen to speak not just of His coming death, but of God’s design in and through His death.

In order to do that, Christ quotes the Old Testament, as He often did, to prove that the gospel was not a new thing, but designed and prophesied before it was accomplished. He quoted Psalm 118, a Psalm which would have been on the minds of the Passover pilgrims at this time, since it was part of their Passover liturgy. “The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes” (compare Ps. 118:22-23).

As I indicated above, Christ intentionally moves from the picture of Himself as Son to that of the Stone of the Cor­ner. Thus Christ did not just predict His own death, but God’s vindication of His Son in the resurrection. Psalm 118 is a Messianic Psalm in which the Psalmist, who trusts in the Lord, is beleaguered by many enemies (vv. 5-13a). Yet, the Lord does not put him to shame but vindicates him (vv. 13b-21), and even makes the stone what the builders fool­ishly reject as the cornerstone of the whole building of God.

By referencing these verses right on the heels of His par­able, Christ changed the picture of a vineyard to that of a building. Those wicked leaders of God’s vineyard will not succeed. God is above and beyond them, and His purposes will prevail. Though they cast the Son out of the vineyard, this rejected Son will be the approved Stone for a new build­ing of God. Thus God will receive the honor He deserves, and Christ will as well – not just as Son, but as the honorable Stone, rejected and yet vindicated.

Lessons

1. The height of sin is failing to Honor God and Christ, whom He has sent

God has a right to us and our lives, since He made us. Con­sequently, He has a right to receive fruit from us. Especially in the visible church, God has built around us the hedge of His precepts and many ordinances and institutions that speak of His care for us and His will that we should render to Him our lives as fruit to His honor. By nature, however, not only do we not yield Him any fruit, we do not give Him the honor He deserves. In fact, especially those who have been appointed to lead in the visible church heap guilt to themselves when they neglect, despise, and reject God and put themselves in His place. That is what we are doing as long as we are not reverencing the Son totally and unconditionally.

2. The Glory of the Gospel is that God will be honored through the death of His Son

When the Lord says: “They will reverence my Son,” this is not simply the wish of an otherwise “powerless” God. God’s design does not terminate with man’s rejection of Him or His Son. Straight through our rejection of His Son, He furthers His cause. Neither He nor his Son can fail. The Father has ensured that by raising Him from the dead. The very Stone that man rejected as unfit to be used in building, the Lord made into the Stone of the corner. Everything will be built on Him, or it will not be built at all. Thus God brings double honor to Himself, for His design is not dependent on man, but despite him, and against all odds.

3. Those who do not Honor the Son should not expect anything but to be crushed under the weight of the Glory of the Son

The Hebrew word “honor” literally means “to be heavy.” If our lives do not reverence the Son, we have every reason to expect God’s heavy judgment. If we are not built on Christ, the cornerstone, we will either stumble over Him or be crushed by Him (v. 44). He Himself will not move. Imagine a builder who foolishly tries to ignore the cornerstone and build next to it. He is going to be constantly tripping over the cornerstone. It will not budge for him; in fact, when it does move, it will crush him.

Questions

1. Read Isaiah 5:1-7. There is a similarity and a dif­ference between our parable and this parable; discuss the relationship of the two.
    
2. What is involved in reverencing the Son? In order to answer this, compare our parable with Psalm 2:6-12.
    
3. The apostle Peter must have heard Jesus tell this parable. Discuss in what ways 1 Peter 2:1-8 further explains what it means to honor the Son.
    
4. Think about what it meant to Jesus as He was just days away from descending to the death of the cross. Discuss this both from the perspective of the shame He was to face as well as the honor that would be given Him.
    
5. Why do we by nature stumble over Christ rather than honor Him? What practical difference does it make in our lives that Christ’s honor is sure?