The point of this parable about the bad tenants is where this craft resides. We see the rejected prophets becoming the very stones that God’s kingdom is being built upon. It ties into the idea of Jesus as the cornerstone but also that the contribution of those beaten, stoned and killed prophets gave in their service as God’s messengers.
To make this craft, you will need the 1-page template printout, scissors, glue, and foam spacers (or small pieces of thick cardboard).
Cut out all the stones and the background.
It really helps if you solve the puzzle at this point!
(If you are short on time you can simply glue the pieces in place flat like this, but it looks much better if you take some extra time to give it depth)
Add spacers on the back of a stone, double up for some stones and use none for others so the surface isn’t uniform.
Here I used a mixture of 0, 1, and 2 layers of spacers.
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For each passage, there is a collectable card alongside high-quality character images and a colouring page. All other graphics are extra’s!
Click on the images below to see a larger version. Save the images by right click + ‘save image as’ (computers) OR long press + ‘save image’ (mobile).
These images are NOT copyright free.
These resources are provided for personal/classroom use only. Use can use them for teaching, games, publicity, decorations, big screen presentations, flannel graphs, stickers, or any other non-commercial activity in your church, school, home, or organised group. You may not use them in products you are going to sell (both printed and digital). Nor may you upload the original images online, on websites, social media or in YouTube videos. Any questions, please reach out to me using the contact page link at the end of the page.
I love acting out stories, puppets, props, crafts, they can all highlight elements of the story and breath gusts of energy into dry dusty words – these blow life quite literally as you blow them across the table. Move the servants across the table on his way to collect from the Tenants, send the vineyard owner, his son, and a servant, who is returning beaten and broken. Talk about the different characters, What were they feeling on their journeys? What obstacles did they face? What would they meet at the end of their travels?
The parable of the bad tenants is all about consequences, about unheeded messengers, about responses that should never have been an option. Jesus may seem to be teasing the religious leaders with such a brash tale, but the truth is that we all too easily forget that our actions send ripples into the future. Here is a selection of games to suit a wide range of ages and set-ups. Choose the game you would most like playing and your youngsters would respond to best.
Cut up on magazine picture per child / team and place each picture into a separate bag. Have a child randomly pick one piece and try to guess what the whole picture is. Repeat until they guess or reconstruct the picture. Link this game to the idea of how many servants/prophets were sent.
Story Road
All Ages
Small group
Requires setup time
Quiet game
Can be seated
Print this game and travel the journey of the parable. You’ll need dice and counters. Print available by clicking on the picture.
Ripple effect
Ages 7+
Big group
No Setup time
Noisy game
Space needed
Easily described as ‘Simon says’ meets ‘a crowd’s rolling wave’. Have the kids stand in a circle and pass an action around. The easiest is a wave, encourages creativity. Once the action reaches the person who started it for the 2nd time, they stop the action and the next person starts a new one. Links to the idea of consequences.
I was stopped by…
Ages 7+
Any size group
No Setup time
Noisy game
Can be seated
A storytelling game that escalates swiftly. The first person tells the story of beginning a journey (eg. walking down the road) when “they were stopped by…” (eg a falling piano). The second person continues the story, navigates the obstacles and continues the journey until “they were stopped by…” and the third-person takes over.
Consequences
Ages 7+
Small group
No Setup time
Quiet game
Can be seated
This is a classic game. If you don’t know it each player is given a sheet of paper, and all are told to write down a word or phrase to fit a description, optionally with some extra words to make the story. Each player then folds the paper over hide the most recent line, and hands it to the next person. At the end of the game, the stories are read out.
An example may be 1) An adjective 2) A man’s name 3) The word “met” followed by an adjective 4) A woman’s name 5) The word “at” followed by where they met 6) The word “to” followed by what they went there for 7) The words “he wore” followed by what he wore 8) The words “she wore” followed by she wore 9) What he did 10) What she did 11) The words “and the consequence was” followed by details of what happened as a result 12) The words “and the world said” followed by what it said
Some stories seem innocent enough until you get into them, this is such a parable. It wouldn’t have taken long for the listeners to start switching out ‘servant’ with ‘prophet’, to wonder if the vineyard was Eden’s glory or the promised holy kingdom of heaven on earth. The process was thinly veiled even by Jesus’ standard, there would be no explaining this one to the apostles later. For the religious leaders, clearly painted as the worst of tenants, it was a threat that couldn’t be more direct if it physically slapped them, but their hands were tied by the other ears that heard. As if adding insult to injury, Jesus then sets himself up as the cornerstone, the very foundation that the new kingdom would be built upon.
This retold version of the Bible passage is supplied for inspiration, feel free to omit or embellish to give it your personal voice.
Jesus was telling stories: again. Stories about vineyard owners: again. And annoying the religious leaders: again!
“There was a vineyard owner” said Jesus, a small smile playing on his lips. “This vineyard owner bought a plot of land and planted his vineyard, he built a press, he built a fence, it was a fine vineyard. But the owner was old, the long days in the vineyard made him tired, he missed the place he used to live before he bought the vineyard and made a plan to go back there.
“Some men would look after the vineyard, they would be his tenants and once all the grapes had been harvested he would send a servant to collect his share.
“So the vineyard owner left, and many months went past until the day came for him to send 3 servants. Some weeks later, one of the three servants arrived back at the master’s house. He was bruised and his clothes torn. He told the vineyard owner that the tenants had refused to give them anything, they had beaten him, thrown stones at the other servant and killed the third. He alone was strong enough to travel back home.
“Angry, the vineyard owner sent a bigger number of servants, but they returned with the same story. Unsure what to do to communicate with his tenants, he decided to send his son, his only son, who he loved. When the tenants saw the son coming, they made a plan. If they killed his son, there would be nobody to take over the vineyard, and they could keep it forever. So they took the vineyard owner’s son and killed him.
“What would the Vineyard owner do? Well, he threw out those tenants and had them punished, then he gave the vineyard to other men who would share the harvest.”
The crowd went quiet. They knew this wasn’t really a story about vineyards and servants, it was a story about God’s kingdom, about the prophets God sent to his people, how the people of God had treated God’s messengers so badly. The religious leaders knew it too.
“Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’” said Jesus, that smile back on his lips again. He was teasing them. Even if they rejected him, he was going to build a kingdom and right now, they wouldn’t be in it.
