PASTORAL CORNER

“…the kingdom of God will be…given to a people that will produce its fruit.”

T oday’s parable seems so clear in its message. We hear Jesus tell of the landowner who planted a vineyard, carefully making all the preparations necessary—hedgerows, winepress, tower. The vineyard is leased out to tenants and the owner goes away. As the time for the grape harvest draws near, the owner sends servants to receive the harvest. In turn, they are terribly abused and even killed. Other servants are sent with the same outcome. Finally, the owner sends his son, thinking, “They will respect my son.” But instead, the tenants conspire to kill the heir, scheming to make the vineyard their own. “They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. They killed the son. So what,” Jesus asks, “will the owner do to these tenants when he comes?” And Jesus’ listeners fill in the blanks: “put those wretched men to a wretched death…lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at proper times.” So the parable ends, a parable that seems so clear in its intent.

Of course, we hear this parable of our Lord from a privileged perspective. We are those “other tenants.” Israel was the first, and they rejected the prophets, killed the Son, and in the fall of Jerusalem, suffered a wretched death. It all seems to fit this template. We, God’s new Israel, are the new tenants. And yes, it does seem to fit this template as well. After all, it seems so clear and easy to decipher. But this is the problem. After all, when did Jesus tell a parable that was so evident on the surface as to every meaning of every detail? Didn’t he instead tell of hated Samaritans becoming good neighbors and of laborers in the vineyard working one hour and getting the same wage as those who worked all day? Let’s face it; if the obvious meaning of today’s parable is so plain, then it is the first time that our Lord has told such a thing. Other parables leave us challenged, surprised, reversed, even judged. But here, if this template is right, we are just left as before, in the vineyard.

A nd we find ourselves asking about those other tenants, the ones who maimed and killed the servants and then the son. “Who are they?” we ask. They are the ones who in every age are given the privilege of tending the tender vines planted by our God. They are the ones who are entrusted with bringing the vines to a good and abundant harvest. Tenants that need to be replaced from time to time because they develop delusions of owning God’s vineyard themselves.

God grants tenancy to all sorts of people; people from every walk of life, every nation, every tribe and every family. And their tenancy, too, is a gift from the Lord of the vineyard. And they also must bear good fruit.

For all of us, planted with such loving care by our Father, the vintage time draws near.

Pax. Fr. Jerry