The King’s Expectations of His Co-Regents
“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. “When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. “The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. “Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. “But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ “But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ “They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” 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.” Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’? “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. “And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.” (Matthew 21:33-44)
Introduction
In Jesus’ parable of the unworthy stewards we see not only a gross misunderstanding of ownership but also the preposterous actions of servants to wrest land and proceeds from its rightful owner. In this essay we will explore the motivations and faulty thinking of the stewards and its consequences. We will also examine Jesus’ actions as a faithful steward and how His example applies to us today.
Key Words and Phrases
Owner – κύριος – kyrios (Strong’s G2962)
Meaning Lord, lord, master, sir, Sir. The “owner” was not only the rightful owner of the property but had authority over the renters.
Rented – ἐκδίδωμι – ekdidōmi (Strong’s G1554)
Meaning to give out of one’s house, power, hand, stores, to give up or give over, to let out for hire
Wretches – κακός – kakos (Strong’s G2556)
Meaning to be troublesome, injurious, pernicious, destructive, baneful
“and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons” –
The phrase encapsulates not only the expectations of the landowner in the parable but of the King telling the story.
Messianic Model – Jesus the Rightful Owner and Righteous Steward
Jesus quotes Psalm 118:22-23 to affirm the unknown author’s prophecy of the rejection of the Messiah by the “builders.” This was being fulfilled in real time as He rebuked the Jews. They rejected the Chief Corner Stone. As we have seen in previous kingdom passages, the kingdom was given to the Son by the Father (Daniel 7:13-14, Matthew 28:18, Luke 22:29). The Son was the perfect steward of what was entrusted to Him (John 5:19, 17:4-6, Revelation 5:9-10). He is a model and gives us co-regency in His kingdom (Luke 12:32, 22:29). And after all things are accomplished under His stewardship, He will give the kingdom back to His Father (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).
Key Theological Implications
Stewardship in the kingdom should not be a strange or new concept to us as Bible believing disciples of Jesus. We were created in God’s image to have dominion over His creation from the beginning (Genesis 1:26-28). However, we have wrestled with God over true ownership from the very beginning (Genesis 3:1-7). Through history there have been those who understood and embraced their responsibilities as co-regents in God’s kingdom (Deuteronomy 34:10-12, Acts 4:33,13:22) and others who abused their position as stewards and tried to take God’s kingdom for their own (1 Samuel 22:17-19, 1 Kings 21:1-16, Matthew 25:24-30).
This kingdom stewardship or abuse thereof, is what Jesus is addressing with the religious leaders. He exposes their hearts in a story that they initially don’t identify as a scathing rebuke from Jesus for themselves. They don’t connect the stewards’ absolute delusional efforts to acquire the vineyard with their own equally deranged efforts to hijack God’s kingdom. The stewards in the story actually think they will receive the son’s inheritance by killing him. This would be the exact thinking of the religious leaders later when they murdered the Son of God.
But the lesson of the parable is not lost on those who abuse kingdom stewardship. It is also instructive for those who want to honor and serve their Master. We are charged with the care of the vineyard (the kingdom), to nurture and protect it as good and faithful farmers. And the Master has an expectation that we will multiply and give the proceeds back to Him (as also alluded to in the parables of the Talents, Minas, and Hired Workers). We know from Scripture that Jesus set the ultimate example as a steward in the kingdom through His life, death, and resurrection. He became that “grain of wheat” (John 12:24) that dies and then produces a crop. He was the first fruits (1 Corinthians 15:20-23) of a bumper crop being brought before the Father.
Contemporary Spiritual Significance
Good leadership is often learned from bad examples. Such is the case as we read this account of Jesus’ rebuke for the religious leaders of the day. We see what they did wrong and we elect to go in the opposite direction to do what is right. In this case, right looks like being a good steward in the kingdom of God and bringing the produce back to the rightful owner. The King has an expectation for multiplying His goodness and righteousness and His loyal subjects joyfully meet those expectations with wisdom, faith, and love.
The Transformative Power of Being Good Stewards
God designed us to be good stewards. When we were created in His image, we were created to “rule” like He does, with His attributes. As we do so, we take on more and more His characteristics which include but are not limited to;
- Diligence
- Patience
- Nurture
- Intentionality
- Gentleness
- Wisdom
- Endurance
- Assurance
- Loving
- Generous
- Etc.
Conclusion
Many of the Jews and religious leaders of the day rejected Jesus’ rightful ownership of the kingdom of God. They essentially tried to hijack what was God’s and selfishly obtain it for themselves. Rulership, responsibility, and production are not wrong values unless we try to move out from beneath the umbrella of God’s authority and run things our way. Jesus issues a stern rebuke to His generation and a sober warning to subsequent generations of God ordained co-regents. Yes, we are meant to lead and rule in the kingdom. But always the way the Master directs and for His glory.
Disciple-Maker’s Short Story
When Leaders Fail
The windshield wipers carved desperate arcs through the November rain as Sarah gripped the steering wheel, her knuckles white against the black leather. In the passenger seat, Claire dabbed at her mascara with a crumpled tissue, her shoulders shaking with each suppressed sob.
“Twenty-three years,” Claire whispered, her voice barely audible above the rhythmic thrum of rain. “Twenty-three years I’ve sat in those pews, Sarah. I taught Sunday school in the basement where he—” Her words dissolved into a choked gasp.
Sarah’s jaw tightened as she navigated the familiar streets that suddenly felt foreign. The elder’s monotone announcement still echoed in her mind: inappropriate conduct with multiple women… resignation effective immediately… asking for privacy during this difficult time. The clinical language couldn’t sanitize the devastation left in its wake.
“I can’t do this anymore,” Claire said, crumpling the tissue into a tight ball. “I can’t sit there pretending everything’s holy and sacred when the man who performed the marriage for my daughter and her husband, who baptized my grandson—” She pressed her fist against her mouth, stemming another wave of tears.
“Claire—”
“No, Sarah. I’m done. I’m done with church, done with trusting people who claim to speak for God, done with—” Claire’s voice cracked. “How could I be so blind? All those years, I defended him when people whispered about his ego, his need to control everything. I made excuses.”
Sarah pulled into Claire’s driveway but didn’t turn off the engine. The rain intensified, drumming against the roof like impatient fingers. She stared at the modest ranch house where she’d shared countless cups of coffee with this woman who’d become more than a mentor—a spiritual mother.
“Do you remember,” Sarah said slowly, “that parable Jesus told about the vineyard?”
Claire’s laugh was bitter. “A Bible story? Really, Sarah? After what we just heard?”
“The landowner plants this beautiful vineyard,” Sarah continued, ignoring the edge in Claire’s voice. “He builds walls, installs equipment, creates everything the tenants need to succeed. Then he goes away and trusts them to care for it.”
“Sarah, I don’t—”
“But the tenants forget it’s not theirs.” Sarah’s voice grew stronger. “They start thinking they own it. When the owner sends servants to collect what’s owed, they beat them. Kill them. Finally, he sends his own son, thinking surely they’ll respect him.”
Claire turned in her seat, studying Sarah’s profile. The younger woman’s dark eyes reflected something deeper than grief—a fierce determination that hadn’t been there an hour ago.
“They killed the son too,” Claire said quietly. “Thinking they’d inherit everything.”
“Yes.” Sarah finally looked at her friend. “But here’s what I keep thinking about—the vineyard was never the problem. The vines didn’t become corrupt because the stewards were wicked. The soil didn’t turn bitter because the workers were faithless.”
Claire’s tears had stopped, but her voice remained fragile. “Pastor Mitchell wasn’t just a bad steward, Sarah. He was supposed to be different. Called by God. Set apart.”
“And maybe he was, once. But somewhere along the way, he forgot whose vineyard he was tending.” Sarah turned in her seat to face Claire fully. “The thing is—we’re not just victims here, Claire. We’re workers too. Tenants in the same vineyard.”
“What do you mean?”
Sarah’s eyes grew distant. “All those people we ministered to together. The young mothers you encouraged when they felt overwhelmed. The teenagers I counseled through breakups and college anxiety. The meals we cooked for grieving families. That wasn’t Pastor Mitchell’s work—that was ours. The Master’s work, through us.”
Claire shook her head. “But how can I face them? How can I tell people to have faith when my own is hanging by a thread?”
“Because,” Sarah said, reaching over to grasp Claire’s weathered hand, “our faith was never supposed to be in Pastor Mitchell. It was supposed to be in the Son who the wicked tenants killed—and who rose again anyway. The one who became the cornerstone after being rejected by the builders.”
The rain had gentled to a whisper against the windows. Claire stared at their joined hands—her seventy-year-old fingers intertwined with Sarah’s thirty-five-year-old ones, representing decades of shared service and separate storms weathered.
“I feel so foolish,” Claire admitted. “Like I should have seen the signs, should have spoken up when something felt off in my spirit.”
“Maybe. But wallowing in that guilt won’t help the vineyard heal. And it won’t honor the Master who trusted us with it.” Sarah’s grip tightened. “Claire, you taught me that Jesus didn’t just come to save us—He came to show us how to live. How to serve. How to be faithful stewards even when other stewards fail spectacularly.”
“But what if I can’t? What if I’m too old, too hurt, too disillusioned?”
Sarah smiled for the first time that morning, though tears still tracked down her cheeks. “Then you remember that the Master’s strength is made perfect in our weakness. That He chose foolish things to confound the wise. That He delights in using broken vessels because it makes His glory shine brighter.”
Claire was quiet for a long moment, watching the rain create rivulets down the passenger window. Finally, she spoke: “The youth group still needs someone to coordinate the Christmas outreach program.”
“And Mrs. Henderson’s cancer treatment starts next week. She’ll need rides to appointments.”
“The Johnson family just had their third baby. They could use meal trains.”
“See?” Sarah squeezed Claire’s hand. “The vineyard’s still there, Claire. Still needs tending. Still belongs to the same Master it always has.”
Claire nodded slowly, wiping her eyes with her free hand. “I suppose if we abandon our posts now, we’re no better than those wicked tenants.”
“Worse, maybe. Because we know better. We know that our hope was never supposed to rest in human leaders—no matter how charismatic or seemingly godly.” Sarah’s voice carried a conviction that seemed to surprise even her. “Our hope is in the Chief Cornerstone, the one who was rejected and yet became the foundation of everything that matters.”
They sat in comfortable silence as the storm moved eastward, leaving behind the clean scent of washed earth and the promise of clearer skies. The crisis hadn’t passed—there would be months of difficult conversations, institutional rebuilding, and personal healing ahead. But somehow, in the space between heartbreak and hope, they’d found their footing again.
“Sarah?” Claire’s voice was stronger now, tinged with the maternal authority that had guided so many through spiritual storms.
“Yes?”
“Next Sunday, when we walk back into that sanctuary—we’re not going to be the same women who walked out today.”
Sarah nodded, understanding the weight of the moment. They would return as stewards who’d been tested and refined, who understood more deeply that their ultimate allegiance belonged not to human institutions or charismatic leaders, but to the Master of the vineyard Himself.
“The funny thing about cornerstones,” Sarah mused as Claire opened the car door, “is that they have to bear the weight of the entire structure. Everything else can crumble, but if the cornerstone holds, the building can be rebuilt.”
Claire paused, one foot on the driveway, rain misting her gray hair. “Twenty-three years,” she repeated, but this time without bitterness. “Twenty-three years of learning to distinguish between the vineyard and the stewards. Maybe it took this heartbreak to finally understand the difference.”
As Sarah drove away, she caught sight of Claire in her rearview mirror—shoulders squared, walking toward her front door with the measured pace of someone who’d remembered her true calling. The vineyard was still there, still fruitful, still belonging to the Master who’d never abandoned His post, even when His under-shepherds had wandered astray.
The cornerstone would hold. Everything else could be rebuilt.
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