Friday in the Second Week of Lent, March 18, 2022

Matthew 21, 33-43, 45-46

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?” They answered him, He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.” Jesus said to them, Did you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes?’ Therefore, I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them. And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.

Although it is clear to us today that the Lord Jesus was speaking of himself as the son whom his father sent to obtain his produce, the Pharisees who heard this parable would have drawn no such conclusion.  “They knew that he was speaking about them”, but not that he was speaking primarily about himself.  For them, Jesus was not the Son of God whom the Father sent into the world; he was a troublemaker from the Galilean town of Nazareth who showed them up and threatened their place in the Jewish world.  He could not be the Messiah, for his coming would be glorious and everyone would know that it was he.

The Pharisees had a high opinion of themselves and they lived well.  How then could they see that the Lord Jesus was speaking of them in the terms of this parable, as lowly tenants — laborers — renting a farm, then brutally assaulting those who were sent to collect the legally owed rent?  And then, conspiring to murder the son, and doing it, in the foolish expectation of obtaining the farm for their own?  This is the portrait that the Lord paints of them: lowly farm workers, brutes and criminals, conspirators and murderers, and fools.  At first, the Pharisees did not know that the Lord was talking about them.  We can tell this from the fact that they remained to answer his question: “What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?”  Their answer was a strong one, as though they were outraged at the situation the Lord had laid before them: “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.”  It is possible that the Pharisees believed that Jesus was speaking of the Romans in this parable: that the father here is God, the Romans the tenants, and the farm Israel.  God allows the Romans into Israel for a time, just as he had allowed in the Babylonians and Greeks previously on account of Israel’s sins.  But the Romans act wickedly and beat up the messengers God sends to tell them it is time for them to leave.  Finally, God sends a prophet, whom they kill.  In the detailed reply the Pharisees give, they are saying that the Romans should be put to death and Israel be restored to “other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times” — that is, to the Pharisees.

The Lord enrages them by showing that he meant them as the wicked tenants: “The Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”  He as good as said that they were just another Gentile army.  His quoting of Psalm 118, 22-23, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes”, may not have told them that he was the son in the parable, but that their rule over Israel was illegitimate in that they were striving to thwart the will of God.  The last line of today’s Gospel reading adds to this: “And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.”  If they truly thought that they had legitimate authority over Israel, they would have arrested him without fear of the crowd.  As it is, they show themselves as less legitimate even then King Herod, who arrested John the Baptist even though the people recognized him as a prophet.

We who belong to the Lord Jesus are, with him, “the stone rejected by the builders” of our society.  Let us persevere in our faithfulness to him so that, in due time, we shall be made “the cornerstone” of his Kingdom.