The Gospel According to Luke: The rejection of God

Oct 19, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: The Vineyard Owner’s Patient Pursuit

A landowner plants a vineyard, leases it, and keeps sending messengers despite violent rejections. This parable reveals God’s relentless pursuit of His people through prophets, servants, and ultimately His Son. His patience stretches across generations, offering repeated chances to return to covenant faithfulness. Yet human rebellion escalates—beating messengers, shaming truth-tellers, and plotting against the Heir. The Owner’s compassion persists even as tenants claim ownership of what was never theirs. How long will grace endure before justice comes? [54:08]

He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones, and planted it with the finest vines. He built a watchtower in the middle of it and dug a winepress as well. He expected it to yield good grapes, but it yielded worthless grapes. (Isaiah 5:1-2, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you recognized God’s patient pursuit in your life? What areas still resist yielding “good fruit” to the One who planted you?

Day 2: Rejecting the Cornerstone Builders Toss Aside

Builders discard a stone as flawed, only to discover it’s the irreplaceable cornerstone. Jesus confronts religious leaders with their blindness: they’re so focused on protecting their systems, they miss God’s foundation. Rejecting Christ as Messiah doesn’t negate His role—it ensures their collapse. The stone still stands, unshaken, while those who stumble over it fracture. What seems foolish to human wisdom becomes salvation’s anchor. [01:10:51]

The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but anyone on whom it falls will be shattered. (Luke 20:17-18, ESV)

Reflection: Where might you be treating Jesus as a disposable stone rather than your foundation? What systems or comforts compete with His centrality?

Day 3: The Son Sent to Rebellious Tenants

“Perhaps they’ll respect my son,” the vineyard owner pleads, knowing the tenants’ hatred. The parable’s tragic irony unfolds: the murder of the Heir becomes the means of reclaiming the vineyard. Jesus names the religious leaders’ plot before they enact it, exposing their greed for control. Yet the Son’s rejection opens the covenant to all nations. Divine patience meets human violence, transforming rebellion into redemption. [50:47]

He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, “They will respect my son.” But those tenants said to one another, “This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.” (Mark 12:6-7, ESV)

Reflection: How does receiving Jesus as the “beloved Son” challenge your claims of self-ownership? Where does His authority disrupt your personal vineyard?

Day 4: From Judgment to Grace for New Tenants

The vineyard’s transfer to “others” shocks the crowd—they object to grace expanding beyond their walls. Judgment on faithless stewards becomes mercy for outsiders. God’s kingdom isn’t inherited by bloodline but given to those who honor the Son. The religious elite’s loss becomes the Gentiles’ gain, fulfilling Abraham’s promise to bless all nations. New tenants receive what they didn’t cultivate. [01:05:16]

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people. (1 Peter 2:9-10, ESV)

Reflection: How does being a “new tenant” of God’s grace shape your stewardship? Where might you exclude others from the vineyard Christ opened to you?

Day 5: Building Life on the Living Stone

Rejected stones become cornerstones when God does the building. Christ’s resurrection proves His worth as the foundation no human verdict can overthrow. To build on Him means aligning every brick of life to His truth, even when culture discards Him as irrelevant. The church rises not on popular approval but on the Stone that bears eternity’s weight. [01:18:38]

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house. (1 Peter 2:4-5, ESV)

Reflection: What parts of your life still rest on unstable stones of human approval? How might you realign one relationship or habit to Christ’s cornerstone truth this week?

Sermon Summary

Jesus’ authority has been the question hanging over these chapters in Luke. Jesus has ridden into Jerusalem as King, cleansed the temple as the true High Priest, and now tells a parable that makes clear he is the beloved Son of God. The religious leaders want to know who gave him the right to act this way, but the parable turns their question back on them.

The owner of the vineyard is God, and the vineyard is Israel, meaning not just a group of descendants but the promise and relationship God established with his people. The Old Testament already uses that vineyard picture, especially when Israel turns from justice and righteousness into rebellion and despair. God planted, cared for, and expected good fruit, but the vineyard kept yielding worthless grapes.

The tenant farmers stand for Israel’s leaders: judges, priests, kings, scribes, elders, and all those entrusted with leading God’s people. The servants stand for the prophets God kept sending to call the people back. The increasing violence toward the servants shows the steady hardening of rebellion: one is beaten, another is treated shamefully, another is wounded, and all are sent away empty handed.

God’s patience is all over this story. God gives chance after chance after chance to people who continually reject him. God finally sends his beloved Son, language that echoes Jesus’ baptism: “You are my beloved Son.” The farmers see the heir and decide to kill him because they want the inheritance for themselves.

Jesus gives a thirty-thousand-foot view of Israel’s history, and the religious leaders know exactly where they stand in it. Their response proves the point, because they seek to arrest Jesus even as they hear that the tenants will kill the Son. Sin makes people tremendously blind. The leaders hate what Jesus says, then do exactly what Jesus says they will do.

The vineyard’s transfer to others shocks the crowd because they cannot stand the thought of God giving his promise and relationship beyond Israel to the Gentiles. Jesus then names himself as the stone the builders rejected that became the cornerstone. The leaders deem him worthless, but God makes him primary. The cornerstone becomes the stone of salvation for those who believe and the stone of judgment for those who reject him.

Jesus remains King, High Priest, beloved Son, and chosen cornerstone. John’s Gospel says his own people did not receive him, yet all who receive him and believe in his name become children of God. The question remains whether people will keep choosing unfaithfulness or receive Christ, repent, and build life off the cornerstone.

Key Takeaways

1. God’s patience is not indifference
God’s repeated sending of servants shows patience that is active, personal, and full of warning. God does not ignore rebellion, but keeps calling people back before judgment comes. God’s kindness gives room for repentance, not permission to remain unchanged. [1:01:45]
2. Sin can make people blind
The religious leaders hear a parable exposing their desire to kill the Son, then immediately look for a way to seize him. Sin does not merely break rules; sin bends vision until people cannot see themselves clearly. Jesus’ words call for honest repentance before rebellion becomes settled and self-justifying. [1:11:37]
3. Jesus is God’s beloved Son
God sends no mere servant at the end of the parable, but his beloved Son. Jesus comes with the full authority of the Father and reveals the depth of God’s compassion toward rebels. The rejection of Jesus is therefore not a small disagreement but a rejection of God himself. [55:42]
4. The rejected stone becomes cornerstone
Jesus is rejected by the builders, especially the leaders who should have recognized him. God takes the one they cast aside and makes him the stone everything else must be built from. Life built apart from Christ eventually collapses under the weight of rejecting the One God has chosen. [1:10:05]
5. Receiving Christ changes the outcome
John’s Gospel holds out real hope after the tragedy of rejection: those who receive Christ become children of God. Faith receives Jesus as Savior and Lord rather than treating him as a threat to personal control. Repentance keeps bringing life back under the authority of the King, Priest, Son, and Cornerstone. [1:13:56]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[44:25] - Prayer and the Question of Authority
[45:25] - Jesus as King and High Priest
[48:34] - Jesus Is the Son of God
[49:48] - The Parable of the Vineyard
[51:33] - The Vineyard, Tenants, and Servants
[56:38] - Israel’s History of Rejecting God
[1:01:45] - God’s Patience and Coming Judgment
[1:03:35] - The Vineyard Given to Others
[1:05:56] - The Rejected Stone and Cornerstone
[1:11:37] - Blindness, Rejection, and Judgment
[1:13:56] - Receive Christ and Become God’s Child
[1:15:25] - King, Priest, Son, and Cornerstone
[1:16:48] - Repentance and Building Life on Christ

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Luke 20:9-19
“And he began to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.' But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.' And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others." When they heard this, they said, "Surely not!" But he looked directly at them and said, "What then is this that is written: 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone'? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him." The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.” [49:48]

Psalm 118:22-23
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” [01:05:56]

John 1:11-12
“He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,” [01:13:56]

Observation questions

In Luke 20:9–19, how does the tenants’ treatment of the three servants grow worse each time? [01:00:14]
What details in the parable identify the owner, the vineyard, the tenants, the servants, and the beloved son? [51:39]
What part of the owner’s response causes the crowd to say, “That must never happen,” and what does that reveal about their concern? [01:03:35]
After Jesus applies the image of the rejected stone to himself, how do the scribes and chief priests respond? [01:11:37]

Interpretation questions

Why does Jesus describe the son as the owner’s “beloved son”? How does that title make rejecting Jesus more serious than rejecting one of the servants? [55:42]
The owner repeatedly sends servants before sending his son. What does this show about God’s patience, and why should that patience not be mistaken for approval of continued rebellion? [01:01:57]
Why would the transfer of the vineyard to others have been so upsetting to the crowd? What does their reaction suggest about treating God’s promises as something people possess rather than receive by faith? [01:05:06]
Psalm 118 calls the rejected stone the cornerstone. What does it mean for Jesus to be the cornerstone, and why is rejecting him not a neutral decision? [01:10:15]

Application questions

God’s patience gives people room to repent, not permission to stay unchanged. Is there an area where God has been patiently confronting sin, bitterness, selfishness, or disobedience in your life? What would repentance look like in one specific step this week? [01:17:10]
The religious leaders heard Jesus expose their hearts and then sought to seize him anyway. When are you most tempted to defend yourself, explain away conviction, or focus on someone else’s sin rather than honestly receiving correction? [01:12:06]
The tenants wanted the inheritance for themselves. Where can the desire for control show up in everyday life—at home, at work, with money, in relationships, or in church? What would it look like to place that area under Jesus’ authority?
Jesus is King, High Priest, beloved Son, and chosen Cornerstone. Which of these truths about Jesus do you most need to remember right now, and how could it reshape a decision or struggle you are facing? [01:14:49]
John 1:11–12 says that those who receive Christ and believe in his name become children of God. What is the difference between merely knowing facts about Jesus and receiving him as Savior and Lord? Where might that difference become visible in a person’s life? [01:13:56]
A life built apart from Christ will not stand. What parts of your life are presently being built on something other than Jesus—such as approval, comfort, success, control, or security—and how can you begin to rebuild on him? [01:18:38]
God’s patience and compassion led him to send his Son. Who in your life may need to hear about the love and authority of Jesus, and what is one natural way you could begin that conversation this week? [01:17:27]

Sermon Clips

41s

#JesusChrist

“Our main idea this afternoon is this, Jesus is the son of God sent to us. He is the chosen cornerstone. And so will we reject him or we will... Will we believe in him? If you're not yet follower of Jesus Christ, will you believe that he is son of god? Will you believe that he is cornerstone? And will you receive him as savior and lord? That's our heart for you, that you would know him, believe him, and receive him.”

33s

#RepentAndBelieve

“And so the question for us is, are we going to rebel and reject the Lord? Are we going to live in this disobedience and this unfaithfulness? Remember, this whole parable really is about the rejection of the people of God as they reject the Lord. So are we going to be like that? Or are we going to believe and receive Jesus? Are we going to respond to the patient compassion of god by receiving Christ and repenting of our sins? I think that's where that this parable takes us.”

51s

#SinBlindness

“You know, the irony of hating Jesus and his teachings but doing exactly what he's accusing you of. I think it's a reminder to us just how tremendously blind sin can make us. Like, how do you not see that? Because this parable, was certainly about the religious leaders of that day. But church, I wanna say it's also about us today as well that god has planted a vineyard, right? He's given us a promise. He's offered us a relationship. But today, people still reject him. Today, people choose to rebel. Today, people will still live unfaithfully and disobediently and selfishly. They'll choose violence and greed all the time.”

51s

#GodsJudgment

“And so Jesus teaches this parable which highlights the people's persistent rebellion and rejection of god through their disobedience, their unfaithfulness, and their idolatry. And if you look at the Old Testament, that is a snapshot of the history of god's relationship with his people whom he loves and he pursues and they constantly reject. God is portrayed here as patient, compassionate, and gracious until it's time for judgment. Because in the parable, Jesus says, then the owner will come. He will kill the farmers and he'll give the vineyard to others.”

57s

#FaithfulLiving

“For those of us that know the Lord, I wrestled with this week, kind of what this means for us. How do we respond? I think sometimes it's really easy to clear response. What's our response this week? And I don't think it's too different because even if we've been saved by Christ, the question still for us every day is, are we gonna continue in our sin or are we gonna repent of this? Even if we have a relationship with the Lord, are we gonna walk in unfaithfulness or in the righteous faithfulness that he's called us to? And, also, are we gonna tell others about the love of God who, in his patience and compassion, sent his son to be our savior?”

48s

#TheCornerstone

“And so what Jesus is saying here is that the stone that the builders thought was worthless, the stone that the builders looked at and said, that is not what we need. The stone that the builder said, uh-uh, not for us. God has taken that stone that you rejected and made it the most important stone. It's the cornerstone. And he's saying that's me. That's me. The one that the leaders of the people, the Jewish religious leaders are throwing out, the ones that the the leaders hated, the ones that were deemed worthless or wrong. That is the one that has become primary. That is the one that god has chosen to build everything else off.”

60s

#GodsAmazingGrace

“Heavenly father, your love and your patience, I I, I'll be honest. I cannot even understand. Second chances and third chances and a hundred and ninety seventh chances and everything beyond that. God, you are so good to us. And I thank you that you sent your son and that he is king. I thank you that he is the high priest. I thank you, God, that he is the true son of God, and you've also chosen him to be the cornerstone.”

32s

#JesusTheBelovedSon

“And then the third one was actually wounded. And then finally, as the ultimate act of patience and the ultimate act of, compassion and a willingness to forgive what these guys have already done, the owner says, hey, maybe I'll send my son, my beloved son. Which of course is god sending his one and only son, Jesus to the people of Israel. And much like the parable, they don't just beat him. They plot to kill him for their own selfish purposes.”

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