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.
The wine press of our world is something we only have on lease. It is not ours to reconstruct on a whim, nor are the good things it produces ours to do with as we will. But the actual owner is not visible to us and we often forget. We rip out fences because we forget what they why they were in place. We tear down towers because they seem like unnecessary obstructions.
The buildings and fortifications of the vineyard might be taken as symbolic of the rules and institutions meant to help us to live peaceful, safe, and holy lives. That these are increasingly dismissed as irrelevant or dangerous seems obvious. The fruits are not just the material but all the goods which life in this world has to offer. We may not be actively tearing down the institutions. But we don't like any interference when it comes to how we choose to enjoy the fruits of life. We can't be bothered to consider how the landowner might want us to dispose of our time, talent, and treasure. Part of the reason is that we don't trust that there will be any rest or resources left for us. We actually demonstrate a fundamental distrust of the landowner and doubt his goodwill toward us.
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.
We are not typically killing prophets anymore, nor silencing those who speak God's word. But we often manifest mental hostility to those who speak prophetically. More to it, try to ignore when the landowner speaks to us through our own thoughts. We're much quicker to reject any idea but our own about what to do with the produce of the vineyard.
Finally, he sent his son to them,
thinking, 'They will respect my son.'
May it always be said of us that we did and do respect his son. And yet even we know we still have some discomfort with the idea that even he could come in and demand of us our fruit. It would seem to us that we were the ones who worked for it and that therefore we should be the ones to consume it. But the vineyard was not ours to begin with. Nor did we create the natural laws that allowed fruit to grow. This is at least partially an experience the curse that God placed on Adam, making work burdensome. But that curse was not God's original intention. Whether or not it is evident, there is something good and purifying about enduring such things as healing remedies. It is a privilege, therefore, that we were even called to lease the vineyard in the first place.
Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.
Like the prodigal son we want the inheritance but don't want to share life with our heavenly Father or anyone else who might tell us there are better ways than those we now choose. We prefer increasing isolation where we need answer to no one but ourselves alone.
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.
We are called to be fruitful. The Pharisees failed to deliver on this, which was especially required of those in positions of leadership, and therefore they were on the verge of losing it. But we have been given greater potential for fruitful than they through the power of the Holy Spirit. So where is our fruit? How hostile are we to the landowner when he comes for what is his?
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?
Even if we make mistakes God is still the chief architect of the project. If we have been building and consuming on our own apart from him, even in small ways, it is time to get on board with his plan. The more we act as willing participants the more we will realize the plan's goodness. The less we begrudge giving, and the more we do it cheerfully, the more joy there will be.
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