Jesus Foretells His Own Murder

After Palm Sunday, the Lord Jesus publicly predicted His own murder by the wicked rulers of Israel.

When the leaders challenged His authority, and objected to His being hailed as the Messiah by the people, Christ used the parable of the tenants rebelling against their landlord to describe the motives and purposes of His enemies.

In the parable, the tenants refused to pay the rent they owed, and murdered the landlord's representatives. Finally, he sent his son to collect, thinking they would respect him, but instead they murdered the son, in order to seize the land for themselves. Christ makes it clear that those wicked men would be destroyed by their landlord.

Christ addressed this parable to two groups: the people who believed in Him, and His enemies.

The common people could not believe that Messiah could be rejected by Israel, let alone be murdered.

The wicked haters of Christ had every intention to kill Him, but thought they would get away with it, because they refused to believe He was actually the Messiah in the first place.

Jesus assures both factions of this truth by reminding them of David's prophecy about Messiah: that He would be the stone that was rejected by the builders, but nevertheless would be made the head of the corner.

The rejection of Messiah was not a novel or impossible thing. To the contrary, God had promised it would take place beforehand.

Whereas the parable leaves the son dead, and the wicked tenants destroyed, Christ makes it clear this was not the way it would end with Him. The promise was that He would become the head of the corner!

Man can reject Christ all he wants, but God makes Him Prince and Savior anyway!