“Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time.”
My Notes
What Does Luke 20:9 Mean?
"Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time." Jesus retells the parable of the wicked tenants: a landowner plants a vineyard, leases it to tenants, and leaves for a long time. The tenants are Israel's religious leaders. The vineyard is God's people. The far country represents God's apparent absence. And the "long time" is the centuries between the covenant's establishment and the current confrontation.
The "long time" is Luke's unique detail — emphasizing that the owner's patience has been extensive. The absence wasn't brief. The tenants had generations to produce fruit. And the longer the owner stayed away, the more the tenants acted as if the vineyard were theirs.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What has God's 'long absence' tempted you to treat as your own rather than his?
- 2.Where have you shifted from tenant (steward) to owner (proprietor) in how you view what God entrusted to you?
- 3.How does the 'long time' between God's provision and God's return create the specific temptation of forgetting?
- 4.What 'servants' (messengers, conscience, circumstances) has God sent to collect his portion that you've rejected?
Devotional
A man planted a vineyard. Gave it to tenants. Left for a long time. And the long time is where everything went wrong — because the longer the owner was away, the more the tenants forgot they were tenants.
Planted a vineyard. The owner did the initial work: cleared the ground, planted the vines, built the infrastructure. The vineyard wasn't the tenants' creation. They inherited a functioning operation. Everything they have — the vines, the soil, the winepress, the tower — was provided by the one who planted it.
Let it forth to husbandmen. The tenants are managers, not owners. They have a lease, not a title deed. The arrangement is stewardship: tend what I planted, produce fruit, and give me my portion at harvest. The owner trusts them with access to the vineyard in exchange for faithful management and a share of the profit.
Went into a far country for a long time. The owner's absence is both geographical and temporal. He's far away and he's been gone a long time. The combination produces a specific temptation: the tenants start to believe the owner isn't coming back. The far country makes him invisible. The long time makes him forgettable. And invisible plus forgettable equals: this vineyard is ours now.
The 'long time' is the theological key. God doesn't hover. He plants, he provides, he delegates, and he leaves — for a long time. Long enough for the tenants to forget who owns the vineyard. Long enough for the managers to start acting like proprietors. Long enough for the stewards to begin believing the resources are theirs.
The owner will send servants (the prophets) to collect his portion. The tenants will beat, wound, and kill them. The owner will send his son (Jesus). The tenants will kill him too. And the owner will come and destroy those tenants.
The parable is a history of Israel compressed into a story — and a warning to anyone who manages what God planted and starts to forget who it belongs to.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And again he sent another servant,.... Or set of prophets in after times, and yet before the Babylonish captivity:
and…
A certain man planted a vineyard, etc. - See this parable largely explained, Mat 21:33-46 (note). See also on Mar 12:4-9…
Christ spoke this parable against those who were resolved not to own his authority, though the evidence of it was ever…
- 19. The Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard.
9. to the people but still in the hearing of the priests and scribes…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture