Sticks Against a Tank

Based on Matthew 21:33–46 • October 5, 2025

Picture this: six boys in a small town — the biggest, toughest kids around. They’ve ruled the playground for years. Everyone knows you don’t mess with them. Then one day, a tank rolls down their street. Without hesitation, the boys grab sticks and rocks and march out to defend their turf.

It doesn’t take long to realize how absurd that scene is. Six kids with sticks cannot stop a tank. It’s not even a contest. The words that come to mind are foolish, futile, delusional, maybe even absurd.

And yet, that’s what it looks like when human beings think they can defy God.

That’s the heart of Jesus’ parable in Matthew 21 — the story of the tenants in the vineyard. It’s one of the most sobering parables Jesus ever told, and it came at a tense moment.

The Setting: Questioning Authority

Just before Jesus told this parable, He had a confrontation with the chief priests and elders in the temple. They came to Him demanding, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” (Matthew 21:23).

Jesus didn’t answer them directly. Instead, He said, “I’ll ask you one question. If you answer me, I will answer your question: the baptism of John — was it from heaven, or from man?”

The religious leaders huddled up to calculate their options: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He’ll ask why we didn’t believe him. But if we say, ‘From man,’ the crowd will turn on us because they believe John was a prophet.”

Neither answer would achieve a good end, so they answered: “We don’t know.”

And Jesus replied, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

The problem is that the religious leaders weren’t after truth; they were after control. Their whole reasoning process was political, not spiritual. Augustine once said, “They did not love the light of truth, but feared the loss of their power.”

That’s exactly what was happening. These men who claimed to represent God were actually trying to manage Him — to keep their position safe instead of submitting to His authority.

That sets the stage for Jesus’ next story: a parable about people who lived off the master’s generosity while trying to deny his rule — tenants in a vineyard who decided they didn’t have to give the owner his due.

A Vineyard Fully Prepared

Jesus begins, “There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower, and leased it to tenants, and went into another country” (Matthew 21:33).

Everything was ready. The master did all the hard work — planting, protecting, preparing. All the tenants had to do was tend the vines, harvest the grapes, and give the owner his fair share.

In Isaiah 5, the prophet used almost the same picture: Israel as God’s vineyard, planted and protected by His hand. The people of God were meant to bear fruit — justice, mercy, righteousness — and yet they turned away.

The same pattern plays out here. Privilege turns to pride. Gratitude turns to greed. The tenants begin to act like owners.

From Privilege to Defiance

When harvest time came, the master sent his servants to collect his share. The tenants beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Patiently, the master sent more servants, and they did the same.

This is Israel’s story — prophet after prophet sent to call the people back to faithfulness, and prophet after prophet rejected, silenced, or killed.

And then, in an act of almost unthinkable mercy, the master sent his son. “They will respect my son,” he said.

But they didn’t.

“When the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance’” (Matthew 21:38).

That’s where the story crosses from defiance into madness. There is no version of reality where that plan could succeed. It’s sticks against a tank.

Defiance, if left unchecked, twists into delusion.

Psalm 2 says, “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His anointed… He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.”

You can’t fight God and win. But human pride tries anyway.

Losing the Plot

When Jesus asked, “What will the owner do?” the people answered correctly: “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him the fruit in its season.”

Exactly. And that’s when the religious leaders realized He was talking about them.

But instead of heeding the warning, they continued to scheme about how to silence Jesus. They had lost the plot completely.

They were meant to be stewards — caretakers of God’s vineyard — but they desired to be owners. They wanted to hold their position more than they wanted to serve the God they claimed to serve.

There’s a wise Pharisee in Acts 5 named Gamaliel who saw things more clearly. When others wanted to kill the apostles for preaching Jesus, Gamaliel said, “Keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” (Acts 5:38–39).

In other words, sticks against a tank.

A Warning and an Invitation

This parable still speaks today. It’s not just about first-century religious leaders. It’s about every human heart that forgets the Owner.

For those who are on the fence — who believe in God but treat faith like a side project — the message is simple: take it seriously. If there really is a God who created you, who redeemed you through the death and resurrection of His Son, then faith is not a hobby or a good habit. It’s the organizing principle of life.

Jesus once said, “The things whispered in secret will be shouted from the rooftops.” There’s no hiding from the truth forever. Reality can be delayed, but it can’t be defeated.

For those who are long-time believers, there’s a warning here, too. The moment we start thinking of the church as ours — our building, our ministry, our people — we’ve begun to think like owners instead of stewards.

This is our congregation in the sense of shared responsibility. But it is never our congregation in the sense of ownership. The bricks, the pews, the carpet, the instruments — they all belong to Jesus. And so do we.

Paul wrote, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20).

Stewards, Not Owners

To be a steward means to be entrusted with what belongs to someone else — to use it wisely, to care for it faithfully, and to return it gladly.

Everything we have — our time, our talents, our resources, even our very selves — are gifts entrusted by God.

The Apostle Paul asked, “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7).

C.S. Lewis put it beautifully: “Every faculty you have, your power of thinking or moving your limbs from moment to moment, is given you by God. If you devoted every moment of your whole life exclusively to His service, you could not give Him anything that was not in a sense His already.” (Mere Christianity, Book III, Ch. 11).

The point is not guilt. It’s grace. God doesn’t call us stewards to crush us under obligation but to free us from illusion. Ownership is heavy. Stewardship is light.

We don’t have to be the masters of the vineyard. We just get to work in it — under the care of a patient, merciful, generous Owner who sent His Son not to condemn us, but to call us home.

So maybe this week is a good time to pause and ask:

What’s been entrusted to me?

And how can I return it to God with gratitude and love?

Because the truth is, you are not an owner. You’re a steward.

And that’s not bad news — it’s freedom.