The parable of the householder (Matt. 20:1-16) was given by the Lord Jesus to explain His word about the first being last and the last first (19:30), a word spoken in answer to Peter’s question, “We have left all and followed You; what then is there for us?” (v. 27). Matthew 20:1 and 2 say, “The kingdom of the heavens is like a man, a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire workmen for his vineyard. And having agreed with the workmen for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.” The householder is Christ. The morning denotes the earliest part of the church age, when Christ came to call His disciples into the kingdom. The workmen are the disciples, and the vineyard is the kingdom. The denarius is the reward—the full enjoyment of the divine life in glory in the manifestation of the kingdom—the Lord offered Peter in His agreement with him in 19:28 and 29.
After “hiring” more workmen during various parts of the church age (Matt. 20:3, 5, 6), “when evening was come, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward, Call the workmen and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first” (v. 8). Those hired at the eleventh hour received a denarius, and those hired first, supposing that they would receive more, also received a denarius. When they received it, they murmured against the householder. In his answer the householder said, “I desire to give to this last one even as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is mine? Or is your eye evil because I am good?” (vv. 14b-15). This indicates that, as the Householder, the Lord Jesus has the right to give the same thing to the latest workmen according to His own wish in the principle not of work but of grace. Here the Lord strongly indicates that His reward to His followers is not commercial but according to His desire and grace. For the disciples to gain the kingdom of the heavens they need to leave all and follow Him, but what He will give them as a reward is more than they deserve. It is not according to the principle of commerce but according to the Lord’s good pleasure. The Lord Jesus will not give the kingdom as a commercial transaction. Therefore, we should not think that what we give up to follow Him amounts to the price that will purchase the kingdom. The Lord Jesus gives the reward as an act of goodness. The kingdom comes to us from the Lord’s gracious giving according to His own will. This is the revelation of Christ in His grace as the Householder.
Christ is the son in the parable of the evil husbandmen (Matt. 21:33-46). In this parable the householder is God, the vineyard is the city of Jerusalem (Isa. 5:1), and the husbandmen are the leaders of the Israelites (Matt. 21:45). The slaves sent to receive the fruits are the Old Testament prophets who suffered persecution (Jer. 37:15; Neh. 9:26; 2 Chron. 24:21). Eventually, the householder “sent to them his son, saying, They will respect my son. But the husbandmen, when they saw the son, said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him and possess his inheritance” (Matt. 21:37-38). This indicates that the Jewish leaders were jealous of Christ’s rights and wanted to maintain their false position. Thus, “they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him” (v. 39). This refers to Christ’s being killed outside the city of Jerusalem (Heb. 13:12). Thus, Christ, the Son of the Owner of Jerusalem, was rejected by the evil leaders of the Jews.
In talking with the Jewish leaders concerning the vineyard, thereby indicating that He is the Son of the Owner of the vineyard, Christ eventually refers to God’s building and to Himself as a stone: “The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the cornerstone” (Matt. 21:42). This stone is Christ for God’s building (Isa. 28:16; Zech. 3:9; 1 Pet. 2:4), and the builders are the Jewish leaders, who were supposed to work on God’s building. Here the Lord Jesus says that the stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone. Christ is not only the foundation stone and the topstone (Zech. 4:7), but also the cornerstone, the stone that joins the walls. As the cornerstone, Christ connects the Jews and the Gentiles. Through Christ as the cornerstone the Jewish and Gentile believers are brought together as one building for God.
According to Matthew 21:42 and 44, Christ is a stone to three categories of people: for the believers He is the building stone; for the rejecting Jews He is the stumbling stone; and for the Gentiles He is the smiting stone. For us, Christ, the Son of God, the Savior, the Redeemer, the One who is our life, is God’s building stone. As the building stone, Christ is the building element, the building life. Ultimately, Christ as life within us is for God’s building. Now for God’s building we need to enjoy and experience Christ as the building stone, as the building life and element. Christ is not only the foundation stone that bears us up; He is also the cornerstone that holds us together. In Him and through Him we are built together.