There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.
When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. “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.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” “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” (Matthew 21:33-46).
Did the tenants really think that by killing the landowner’s son they would inherit the vineyard? Why would they possibly think that? And the only answer that I have been able to come up with, is that those first tenants must have been convinced that the owner of the vineyard would never come back. Or perhaps hoped that he was dead. But either way, they must have been convinced that judgment day for them would never arrive. That they could simply keep the fruits of the vineyard for themselves. What other reason can explain their actions? Convinced that the landowner would never return, they boldly killed his son.
A sad irony of this parable, by the way, is that it is told by Jesus just before he is killed. Clearly, this parable is teaching us that God is the landowner. And clearly it is teaching us that the chief priests and the Pharisees are like the original tenants of the vineyard. When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard this parable, they knew it was about them. How could they not? And yet, they still had Jesus put to death. What were they thinking? They must have forgotten that they didn’t own the vineyard and were just tenants. They probably had been convinced that the true owner would never come to take his property back. What is this parable teaching us? Jesus seems to be teaching us that we are the tenants, the stewards, of God’s vineyard. We have been entrusted with this world and with all that we have, and are now called to care for it well, then finally give our creator the fruits of our harvest.
And this parable is also warning us not to take any of this for granted. Our world, our life, our salvation – it is all a gift from God. We, too, can be tempted at times to think that we can keep the fruits of God’s vineyard for ourselves. We work hard, making our living and providing for ourselves and our family, and it’s easy to forget that everything that we have is not ours, but given to us to be taken care of, and to provide returns in due seasons.
Biblical scholars tell us that it would typically be five years before the landowner would expect to receive his first returns from the land. So, I want you to imagine for a moment that you are one of those tenants. And that for the last five years you have worked hard in the vineyard, and it has produced much fruit. And then, after five years without a word of warning from the landowner, there suddenly appear some servants of his, to collect his share of the produce. Over the five years the tenant may have hoped these servants of the landlord would never appear. That the landowner would forget all about his vineyard and by some miracle they would get to keep it all for themselves. After all, five years felt like a lifetime. However the servants did come after five years for the landlord's share as instructed.
But then again, none of us are guaranteed tomorrow. Today is all that we can be certain of. So why would we put off living faithfully as God’s steward until tomorrow, if we can do it today? Why would we tempt God to take the Kingdom of God away from us, and give it to others who will produce the fruits of the kingdom? One day He will come to check on his vineyard and on us, to see what we have done with his investment, and what has become of us.
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