33Listen to another parable. 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. 34When the
harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his
produce. 35But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another,
and stoned another. 36Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and
they treated them in the same way. 37Finally he sent his son to them,
saying, "They will respect my son." 38But when the tenants saw the son,
they said to themselves, "This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get
his inheritance." 39So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and
killed him. 40Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to
those tenants?" 41They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a
miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him
the produce at the harvest time." 42Jesus said to them, "Have you never
read in the scriptures: 'The stone that the builders rejected has become
the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is amazing in our eyes'?
43Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and
given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. 44The one who
falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on
whom it falls." 45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his
parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. 46They wanted to
arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a
prophet.
Step 1-Initial Diagnosis: Stealing the fruits
This parable, for those gathered, described a first-class vineyard (fences
to keep out the wild animals, a watchtower to help guard against thieves at
harvest time, and a press for making wine) constructed by the owner and
leased with the best intentions to the tenants. Not only did the tenants
disregard their contractual obligations -- producing no fruit for the owner
-- but they struck out to claim that which was not their own by killing the
owner's messengers, including his rightful heir. Under Jewish law,
unclaimed property could be legally claimed by tenants. Their greed had
turned into covetousness and even murder. Is this parable a singular
example of miserly, non-productive tenants in their relationship to a kind
owner? Probably not.
Step 2-Advanced Diagnosis: Rejecting
When Jesus asked the scholarly audience to remember the Scriptures, a flood
of texts poured into memory and drowned the parable. The Pharisees and
chief priests understood Jesus' comparison -- God is the owner, Israel the
tenant. The Covenant is expressed in words by God to Israel: "I will take
you as my people, and I will be your God" (Exodus 6:7). The words of
Isaiah declared Israel as an unfruitful vineyard -- God "expected justice
but saw bloodshed" (Isaiah 5:1-7). And the words of Jeremiah said, "what I
(God) gave them has passed away from them" (Jeremiah 8:13; cf. 6:9). But
Jesus goes on to quote Psalm 118:22 -- the "stone which the builder's
rejected" is God's "rightful heir," Jesus. After hearing this, those
gathered show no remorse, but reject the "rightful heir," and would
eventually go on to act out the last lines of the parable. Israel (and we
with Israel) has ignored the Covenant and showed extreme enmity toward God.
Step 3-Final Diagnosis: Taken Away
Jesus asks, "What will become of these tenants?" Those hearing the parable
provide their own word of doom: the wicked tenants would receive a
"miserable death," and there would be total enmity from the Creator of the
vineyard who will give the vineyard to others. More than a little
Law-abiding effort will be required of the tenants to change the Owner's
mind. Nor have the tenants of the past two millennia produced the
"perfect" fruit. "Do not enter into judgment with your servant for no one
living is righteous before you" (Psalm 143:2). Both the old and the new
tenants will suffer the same grim verdict. Both Jew and Gentile, both you
and me, have a God-relationship problem that can only be fixed by a
God-sized solution that can make us righteous before God.
Step 4-Initial Prognosis: Given
Christ has crossed out that God-sized problem of sin -- of enmity toward
God. God's mercy paid the cost of our lease with the fruit of the
crucified and risen Christ, "the rightful heir" which the tenants not only
rejected, but had killed. Our debt of unrighteousness is scratched out
with the blood of Christ's atonement. Christ's righteousness becomes our
righteousness. Christ's perfect fruit becomes our perfect fruit. The
lease on our lives has been paid in full.
Step 5-Advanced Prognosis: New Fruits (faith=life and righteousness)
In Christ, the "rejected stone," we find a new lease on life -- indeed, new
life! Life in Christ's vineyard of fruit that cannot be deterred by sin
and death. That life is freely given to us, and we get to live under God's
gracious mercy-management. Our first response, our first fruits, is to
trust in God's promise of being made righteous through the gift of "the
rightful heir" and to turn toward him (repentance) for the benefits of
righteousness and the joy of working the vineyard.
Step 6- Final Prognosis: Producing Fruits
Under God's mercy, we are free to work the vineyard. We promise in the
familiar offertory prayer in the Lutheran Book of Worship to dedicate our
lives to the "care and redemption" of all of God's creation. All people
are called to be about the caring works of justice, love and nurture, so
that life is preserved, so that fairness and equity happen in human
interactions, so that the needs of people and things are met. God assigns
the caring work to all humankind, but the redeeming work is an additional
assignment for God's redeemed. The world, at its best, operates on God's
law for caring, but not God's gospel for redeeming. To "redeem" means to
"buy back" the world under God's mercy-management. Christians confess that
creation gets redeemed by the redeeming work of Jesus the Christ -- his
fruits freely offered to all.