Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-december-3-2024
Luke 20:9-19
The Parable of the Tenants
9 He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. 10 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. 12 He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.
13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’
14 “But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
“What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”
When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!”
17 Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written:
“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’?
18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”
19 The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.
This story comes from Luke’s account of the final days of Jesus’ earthly ministry. In those final days before his arrest, the conflict between Jesus and the Hebrew religious leadership was becoming more and more bitter. In the previous passage in Luke, a group of these leaders had confronted Jesus and demanded to know by what authority he was “doing these things.” Jesus had been teaching and preaching in the temple, but he had also entered the city at the head of a big crowd and then chased the corrupt merchants and money-changers out of the temple. It seems likely that’s what they had in mind by “these things.”
Rather than giving the religious leaders a straight answer, Jesus had responded as he often did: by asking them a question in return. He asked them by what authority John the Baptist had performed his ministry. And if you remember, we get to listen in on the leaders’ deliberation on Jesus’ question, so we know they base those deliberations entirely on what people would think about the answers they might give, with no thought to what the truth might be. And when they saw there was no ‘right answer,’ the temple leaders had refused to give an answer. So Jesus refused to answer their question, as well.
Following that exchange, Jesus turns to the people gathered around him, and tells the parable that’s our reading for today. He apparently intended it as a criticism of the same religious leaders who had confronted him and questioned his authority.
In the parable, a man plants and nurtures a vineyard, then rents it to a group of tenants and goes away. When the landlord sends servants to collect his share of the fruit, the tenants abuse the servants. The landlord sends servants three times, then sends his own son to represent his interests. But the tenants kill the son. So, Jesus says, the furious landlord will kill the tenants and turn the vineyard over to others.
To understand the impact of this parable, it’s important to keep in mind that the people of Israel understood themselves to be ‘God’s vineyard.’ They got this idea from various parts of the Old Testament, including a text in the fifth chapter of Isaiah. The metaphor seems fitting, because a vineyard takes a lot of time and effort to establish, and the Israelites understood that God had taken a lot of time and effort to establish them in the promised land.
So the point of the parable, it seems, is that God has been sending servants to collect the “fruit” he expects from the people to whom he has entrusted his vineyard. The servants Jesus had in mind were probably the prophets, who were regarded as God’s spokesmen to the people of Israel. The tenants probably represented the religious leaders. But lots of the prophets were abused and rejected at the behest of the leadership, and some of them were killed. Now God had sent his own Son into the world to represent his interests, but as we know, that Son would soon be murdered by those who were supposed to be ‘producing fruit’ for their God.
You don’t have to be a Bible scholar to see what Jesus was saying: The religious leadership of the covenant people, instead of being the ‘fruitful leaders’ God wanted, had become corrupt and self-centered. They had come to have a sense of entitlement about their power and privileges. So, Jesus seems to be saying, God had decided it was time to get rid of them and turn the vineyard over to others.
And it’s interesting to note that by the time the Gospel of Luke was published, the temple and its leadership had in fact been destroyed by the Romans. After a thousand years of sacrifice on the same spot, it would never be re-established.
So if we’re the new Israel, as the apostle Paul says we are, what kind of fruit is God expecting from us? In ancient Israel, God was calling for a society marked by justice and mercy, one committed to righteousness and mercy for the needy and vulnerable. One committed to spreading the word of God throughout the world. Sadly, none of those things was being produced by the Hebrew leadership of that time.
But what about us? I’m pretty sure the Holy Spirit intends for us to be challenged by this parable, as well – to ask ourselves how fruitful we are being for God’s kingdom. So what kind of fruit does God expect from us?
Probably the same kind he expected from the people of the first covenant, it seems to me. That we be committed to bringing about a world marked by justice and mercy. That we be growing in righteousness ourselves, and helping and encouraging others in their commitment to righteousness, too. That we be committed to spreading his word all around us, so that others come to know and serve him as we do.
So how are we doing? Do people look at us and say, “Look! Those people are really committed to justice and mercy!”? Are we committed to becoming more and more godly people, and holding ourselves to a higher standard than we apply to others? Are people coming to faith through us?
Most uncomfortably, this parable suggests that God will wait only so long for us to be fruitful. Then he’ll clear the space and turn the vineyard over to someone else. Even though this parable was originally directed at the temple leadership, I’d say it really should make us all think hard about our own level of ‘fruitfulness.’
Let’s pray. Lord, grow us up in our faith so we can be fruitful disciples, doing the work you give us to do, reaching out to the suffering in your name and bearing witness to the love you showed in Jesus. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
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