Friday in the Second Week of Lent, March 10, 2023

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.

“Hear another parable.”  Today’s Gospel Reading is taken from the section of St. Matthew’s Gospel in which the Lord has entered Jerusalem in triumph with a large crowd, cast the money changers out of the Temple grounds, and challenging the religious authorities in the city — the chief priests and the elders.  In this he prepares the people for the New Covenant in his Blood that will fulfill and supersede the old covenant, whose time has come to an end.  

“There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower.”  The “vineyard” can be understood as Israel, while the “hedge” is the Law as the preserver of Israel as a people.  The “wine press” can be understood as the Law as the moral commandments.  The tower is the holy men and women of old whose lofty example encouraged the people to obey the Law.  “Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.“  The tenants are the priests and teachers of the people (later, the Pharisees).  The Land Owner is God who goes on a “journey” in that he did not directly intervene in the people’s history as he had in the days of Moses.  “When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.”  These servants are the Prophets who sought the “produce” of virtuous living from the people.  Through promises and warnings they strove to convert the people so that they might be prepared for the time in which God would descend to earth, the “vintage time”.  

“But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned.”  The religious authorities in whose care God had put his people did not wish to yield their imagined power over the people and so killed the Prophets sent to them.  “Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.”  Within the world of the parable, this may seem a foolish decision, but it shows that the Land Owner did not desire the death of the tenants but rather their conversion.  The Son is sent as a goodwill gesture, for if the Land Owner himself had come, this would have been seen as a terrible threat.  “They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.”  The tenants show themselves the true fools here, thinking that somehow the Land Owner will cease attempting to obtain his produce and not wish to avenge his Son.  They mistake patience for weakness.  “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.”   The chief priests and the elders name their fate.  They are riled up by the terrible injustice that they recognize in the parable, perhaps thinking that the “tenants” are the Romans who occupy the vineyard of Israel and use it for their own profit.  They themselves would be the “other tenants” who will take good care of the people.  Through their arrogance they fail to see the possibility of themselves as the wicked tenants. 

“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes?”  The Lord abruptly quotes Psalm 118, 22, ripping from from the chief priests and the elders the idea that they are these “other tenants”.  They recognize themselves as “the builders” of Israel, in the continuing reconstruction of the Temple but also as the rulers of the people.  The Lord follows this with words that could not be misconstrued: “The Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”  That is, to the Apostles who will govern the Church, but also to the Church as a whole.

“And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.”  They had no grounds for arresting him and they found themselves in much the same position as with John the Baptist: while they possessed a certain amount of institutional power, if the people opposed them they had no means for enforcing their will.  We should note how Matthew points out that they “feared” the people, that is, they did not fear God not seek to know his will in this case.  Matthew also tells us that the people regarded Jesus as “a prophet”, on the level of Isaiah and Jeremiah.  He was even greater, though, and surpassed Elijah and Elisha in his miracles.  The authorities of the time had persecuted and killed the Prophets who had come before.  The authorities in the days of the Lord knew this and knew that the people would fight to save this one from them.

The elders and the chief priests were quick to see the sin in the tenants in the parable that they themselves were committing.  It can be a useful tool for us as we examine our consciences every evening to see what sin we see in others and whether we see it because we are guilty of it too.