In Matthew 21:33-42, Jesus gives the parable of the vineyard as an illustration regarding his death and resurrection within the context of God’s relationship with Israel. This parable is also recored in Mark 12:1-12 and Luke 20:9-18. Let’s begin by reading verses 33-39 in Matthew 21.

Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. ~ Matthew 21:33-39

The words emphasized in bold and italicized font in the verses above represent key truths that will help us understand the biblical narrative regarding the cross and resurrection of Jesus. Let’s take a look at each of them and give a brief definition of what they represent.

1. The householder who planted a vineyard represents God himself. 

2. The vineyard is the nation of Israel. 

3. The husbandmen are the leaders and rulers within Israel.

4. The servants are the prophets and righteous men that God sent to Israel and their leaders.

5. The Son, who is also the heir, is Jesus.

Now before we move forward let’s look at some verses which refer to Israel as God’s vineyard.

Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. ~ Psalm 80:8-9 

Now I will sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. ~ Isaiah 5:1-7

Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? ~ Jeremiah 2:21 

Israel’s role as the vineyard of the Lord is extremely important to remember in any study of the cross and resurrection of Jesus, because the death and resurrection of Jesus happened within the context of the story of Israel as the vineyard that God planted.

Now, I need you to brace yourself, especially if your foundational views of the cross is not rooted within the context of the story of Israel. Within Western Christianity there has been much debate over different theories of the Atonement, and listed below are some the most prominent ones.

1. The moral influence theory. 

2. The ransom theory.

3. Christus Victor.

4. The satisfaction theory.

5. The Penal Substitutionary theory.

6. The Governmental theory.

7. The scapegoat theory.

These theories are sometimes referred to as models of the Atonement, and are presented as a framework to understand the crucifixion of Jesus. Though they all have some aspects of truth, there is one thing that they all have in common: they are not predicated on the story of Israel. The biblical narrative in the New Testament regarding the cross and resurrection of Jesus is given to us within the context of the story of Israel.

To be sure, Bible verses can be stringed together to support any of the theories of Atonement referenced above, but none of them are the narrative given to us in the New Testament. The narrative regarding Christ’s death and resurrection as given to us in the New Testament is referred to as the gospel in the book of Acts. In fact, we have approximately 7 gospel sermons recorded in the book of Acts and everyone of them places the cross and resurrection within the context of the story of Israel.

If we omit the story of Israel, we do not have the biblical view of the cross and resurrection. We only have theories. Theories can have some good points, but they can also be cluttered with false ideas rooted in pagan philosophy and thought.

Almost all of Western Christianity has been indoctrinated with theories of the Atonement rather than the biblical narrative. Nothing speaks to reality of this more than the way that God’s role in the death of Christ is understood.

In this study, I appeal to you to be patient with me and consider the truths I am going to present to you from the narrative given to us in the New Testament. The more we see and understand the biblical narrative, the less appealing theories of the Atonement will be. When the cross is understood within the context of the narrative, the resurrection takes on a whole new meaning.

Lacking in most, if not all theories of the Atonement, is the powerful, life changing work of God in the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus. In the biblical narrative, the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus is not an afterthought, but the beginning of new creation in the Messiah.

The theories of Atonement often fail the biblical narrative because of one underlying concept more than any other, and that is the role that God the Father had in the death of his Son.

If we understand the cross and resurrection within the context of the story of Israel (i.e., Israel’s covenantal relationship with God from Abraham to Christ), our minds will be renewed to the Lord’s doing, and it will be as was prophesied, marvelous in our eyes! While it may be painful to unlearn some of the indoctrination of the theories, waiting for us on the other side is a fresh and powerful understanding of the resurrection that we have never had before.

The parable of the vineyard will be our launching point into this study of the cross and resurrection of Jesus, and as we journey through the narrative given to us in the New Testament, we will see over and over again that the parable of the vineyard is the perfect framework for properly understanding what actually happened when Christ died and rose again.

As we can see in the parable of the vineyard, the Lord of the vineyard (which is a portrait of God the Father) was not the one condemning his Son. Instead, it was the husbandmen who mistreated and killed the Son. They did to the Son as they had done to the other servants which the Lord of the vineyard had sent to them.

This is a portrait of all the prophets and righteous men that God had sent to Israel and their leaders, to call them to repentance and to be his fruitful vineyard. Yet they continued to rebel. Finally, God sent his only begotten Son and they rejected him and put him to death.

This is a good point to end this first lesson. We will pick up here in lesson #2.

Blessings…