Matthew 21:33-43
33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
I’ve heard this parable many times before. Like the other parables Jesus told, the characters in the story represent others. God is the landowner. People, especially the Pharisees and chief priests, are the tenants. The prophets of the Old Testament are the servants, and Jesus is, of course, the son. Jesus is making the point that those listening to him will, ultimately, reject him and that rejecting Jesus is rejecting the kingdom of God.
This time, I saw the story through a financial lens and heard, for the first time (?), how shocking and surprising the parable is.
In verse 33, Jesus gives the setup of the story. I imagine even the first listeners would have immediately understood the landowner to be God. God is the owner of all land. God plants and causes the sun to shine, and rain to fall, and the seeds to sprout open and grow. God protects and defines with the wall and the watchtower; this would be God’s Law. God prepares for a harvest by digging the wine press and renting to tenants. The world belongs to God, who then gives to his tenants — us — the place to live, the work to do, the purpose to fulfill, the protection we need, the hope for a future.
Verse 34 is not at all surprising. The landowner sends servants to “collect his fruit.” Of course it is his fruit. It is his land. That the tenants have lived on the land and co-operated in working to produce the harvest does not make what is produced theirs. It too belongs to the landowner. The only thing mildly surprising is that, if we already know the landowner is God and we remember our Hebrew history and law, then we might expect him to collect his tithe – the first fruits, his portion. But the landowner comes to “collect his fruit.” This is not to imply that God comes to strip us of the means to meet our needs by taking all our food, stripping us of all we have worked hard to create. But it is implying there is no portion that belongs to God; it all belongs to God. It is faith that God will use what belongs to Him to bless us. To not just meet our needs for food and clothing and work, but to give us beauty, hope, a sense of accomplishment, a relationship rooted in trust and profound love.
Image by Michael Schwarzenberger from Pixabay
Verse 35 is like a cold cup of water thrown at the face. The tenants beat and kill the servants. What?!?! Why? What are they thinking? What’s their plan? What do they think is gonna happen? Why are they so violent and angry? I mean, if they didn’t want to pay (if they wanted to reject God’s call on their life), did they really have to act so viciously and violently? Holy crap. Though, I suppose it raises the question, is it possible to reject God in a non-violent way? Or is all rejection of God in some way vicious and violent?
Verse 36 is to make a point. The landowner sends even more servants and they are also beaten and killed. Now, this kind of makes sense. You own something and send a few to collect. When they are unable to collect, you send a larger posse, maybe stronger, burly, scarier people to collect what is yours. But when even the toughest servants are unable to return, what do you do next?
Verse 37-38 is where we learn that everybody in the story is insane. Having unsuccessfully retrieved what is his through several servants, the landowner sends his son because “they will respect my son.” I don’t know if the first-century hearers would have heard this and thought, “Ah yes, solid plan. This has obviously been an issue of respect with these tenant-farmers-turned-murderers.” I’m aghast. The landowner is foolish to think his son will be any more successful than the previous servants. Why make the landowner appear foolish?
I’m reminded of Paul’s writing in 1 Corinthians, “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” (verses 18-19) Perhaps the landowner isn’t interested in having a transactional relationship with the tenants. I give you this, you give me that. Perhaps the landowner offers yet another opportunity for the tenants to choose to give the fruit because the landowner desires respect and mutuality, not fear or commerce. He sends his son to show, in the flesh, what the owners are like.
Surely even the first hearers were not surprised when the tenants kill the son in verse 39. What is shocking is the admission they make in verse 38. “Let’s kill him and take his inheritance.” They actually say it out loud. Their plan really has been to forcibly take from the owner all that has already been given to them. Do they honestly think this will work? Do we? They’ve stated what we all believe and exposed our insanity. This is mine. I worked for it. I earned it. It is reasonable for me to keep things from God. If I ignore Jesus or reject God’s call on my life or God’s Law or the whispers of the Holy Spirit, I will totally be able to keep everything in my life for myself. I am more powerful, wiser, stronger than God. Insane.
When Jesus then asks his audience what they think the landowner’s next move will be, they state the obvious. Having unsuccessfully gotten the tenants to do the right thing of their choosing, the landowner will (should) forcibly take what is his. He will kill them and give the land to others who will tend it and give to God what belongs to God.
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
What is the fruit of the kingdom of God? What is it God wishes us to produce and return to Him? Is it not love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? God doesn’t care about our income or money in and of themselves. As always, God cares how those things prevent or hinder the kingdom of God becoming alive in you and your community. What are you producing in your life? Or, what is your life producing? What do you wish you could keep for yourself? Or, what are you afraid of giving to God?