This week’s parable is found in three Gospels (Matthew 21:33-44, Mark 12:1-11, Luke 20:9-18). The story is almost identical in all three Gospels. This would indicate that it was of deep importance to the early Christian communities.
Scripture
‘Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who
planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a
watch-tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. 34When
the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his
produce. 35But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed
another, and stoned another. 36Again he sent other slaves, more than
the first; and they treated them in the same way. 37Finally he sent
his son to them, saying, “They will respect my son.” 38But when the
tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, “This is the heir; come, let us
kill him and get his inheritance.” 39So they seized him, threw him
out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40Now when the owner of the
vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ 41They said to
him, ‘He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard
to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.’
42 Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the
scriptures: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this
was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes”? 43Therefore I
tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people
that produces the fruits of the kingdom. 44The one who falls on this
stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.’ (Matthew
21:33-44)
Conversation starters
This is a parable of warning and retribution to the Jewish
leaders of the time. There are many places in the Hebrew Scriptures that the
metaphor of vineyard is applied to Israel, including Isaiah 5:7: The
vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah
are the vines he delighted in. Jesus, in the parable, is confronting the
Jewish leaders about their rejections of previous prophets throughout Israel’s
history. Ellicott’s Commentary expands the explanation and notes, “the vineyard
is "the house of Israel;" the "fence" finds its counterpart
in the institutions which made Israel a separate and peculiar people; the
"wine-press" (better, wine-vat--i.e. the reservoir
underneath the press), in the Temple, as that into which the "wine"
of devotion, and thanksgiving, and charity was to flow...”
The parable was received as good news by Jesus’ followers
and later the growing Christian community. This group saw themselves as the
‘other tenants’ who receive the vineyard. Jesus’ quote that the stone that
the builders rejected has become the cornerstone is from Psalm 118:22. This
Psalm is labeled as a “Song of Victory” and is still used on Jewish holidays
with Psalms 113-118 as praise (hallel). Jesus uses it to refer to
himself as the cornerstone of God’s Kingdom. In Acts 4:11, Peter picks up on
this imagery and tells the Jewish council that Jesus is ’the stone you
builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’
It is easy to point our fingers at the Jewish leaders who don’t recognize Jesus as the heir and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. As the inheritors of the ‘vineyard’ perhaps we need to pause and ask if we are trying to ‘box’ God in by our definitions.Is God really on the side of one country over another, or one nationality or church community? Whenever we create walls and divisions we are trying to box God into 'our side' and God cannot be kept in a box.
Has there ever been a time when you were resistant to change
that affected the way you felt worship ‘should’ be done?
What are some ways we try to keep God under 'our' control by defining God by a certain 'box'?
Think about your faith community as a vineyard. What ‘fence’ is around the vineyard? What ‘wine’ is being pressed out?
Action Item
Draw a picture of a vineyard, or use the image in the blog. Consider what fruit your personal vineyard is producing and write it on the picture.
Read all of Psalm 118 as a praise prayer.
