The Parable of the Landowner, the tenants, the vineyard, and the son

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Matthew 21.33-46

The classic reading on today’s gospel reading is that of an allegory for the passion of Jesus. Every character, and even the vineyard represent something:
The landowner represents God.
The tenants represent the chief priests and the elders – those folks whom Jesus is talking with as he tells the parable in the gospel of Matthew.
The slaves of the landowner are the Old Testament prophets.
The son of the landowner is Jesus.
And the vineyard is Israel or the larger creation.

When read this way, it’s easy to point out who the good guys are- landowner, slaves, and son – God, prophets, and Jesus
and who the bad guys are- the tenants who rent the land and end up killing the son.

But, the lovely thing- and sometimes confusing thing- about parables, is that they can twist easily out of our grasp and take on a whole new definition if we consider them in another light.

Certainly this is the meaning of the parable- God sent his only son into the world to reconcile it to himself, and the world rejected the son and killed him.

But perhaps also this-
What happens if you, or anyone who might have heard this parable, considered himself or herself as each character in the story?
What if you are the landowner? How does that open up the parable- what does it reveal to us about the kingdom of God?
Frankly, I’m not sure I could be as patient and trusting as the landowner in the story. Over and over again, he sends his slaves to try to redeem what is rightfully his, and he fails- he doesn’t get what belongs to him- instead he just gets dead slaves.
This landowner has great faith in the folks who have been hired to work the land. As a landlord he won’t make a prophet- so he probably doesn’t have the best business strategy- but he does show a lot of mercy, he gives his tenants second, third, unending chances to show their respect and give back what rightfully belongs to the landowner.
And maybe this reveals something about God, and maybe this suggests a way we should be with other people.

And what if you are the vineyard? What do we learn about the kingdom of God from this perspective?
The vineyard is built by the landowner, it is outfitted with everything it needs to protect it and make it successful- a fence, a winepress, a watchtower -and the vineyard is given tenants to till it and to keep it. There’s no reason for an unsuccessful harvest.
So what- we are a part of the created order, the vineyard- in fact we’re given tools and protection in the form of families and gifts and abilities to be fruitful and successful and to become a bountiful harvest for the landowner. Perhaps an important thing to remember is that the vineyard belongs to the landowner, the one who has created it, not the ones who sustain it in the meantime and hope to exploit it in the end.

And what if we’re the son? What window do we gain on the kingdom of God?
The son is the rightful heir to the vineyard. The son is the one who will gain all that the landowner and the tenants have worked for. The son receives the inheritance not because he has earned it, but simply because he is the son- inheritance could be by birth or by adoption- it is at the landowner’s discretion. The parable makes clear that the son will receive the inheritance- in effect, he will be gifted the vineyard- and gift is the same as grace in Greek. It is be the landowner’s, by God’s grace that the son receives the inheritance.

We have been baptized into this community of faith. We have been promised that we have received the gift and seal of the holy spirit, the cross of Christ on our foreheads- that we have become children of God and that we will inherit, we will be given the kingdom of God and eternal life.

Of course, that’s not the end of the story of the son. The son is also taken by the tenants, beaten, thrown out of the vineyard and killed. It’s hard not to think of this part as only Jesus’ part. And maybe that’s one gift of looking at the parable through multiple lenses. Jesus is God’s only begotten son, the one whom God sent so that the rest of us would not suffer the same fate. We will not have to die to receive our inheritance, instead there was one who died for us.

But still, it does not mean that children of God won’t struggle to receive the inheritance, to remember who we belong to, to whom the harvest truly belongs. We are heirs of the kingdom of God and of eternal life, but we are not kings and queens.

So far it hasn’t been too bad, has it? There is the risk of being killed by the tenants, but other than that the kingdom of God is looking pretty good, no?

So- what if we’re the tenants? What if we’re the ones appointed by the landowner to take care of the vineyard and then at the harvest to give over the portion that rightfully belongs to the landlord?

This perspective is probably just as easy as looking at the parable as an allegory of the passion narrative. Here we are, chosen by the landowner, trusted by the landowner to work the vineyard, make it successful. And being a tenant doesn’t mean that we have to give the whole harvest over to the landowner. We certainly would get to keep our portion and then give a part to the landowner as well. But, we tenants, we decide that we should get the whole kit and caboodle. I mean- gee we’ve worked really hard and where has the landowner been? He hasn’t shown up at all, he only sends his slaves and his son- he obviously doesn’t have that much invested in this vineyard- we can keep the harvest for ourselves.
And looking at ourselves as the tenants of course can load us down with guilt. Certainly we’ve exploited what God has created and tried to keep for ourselves what should be given to God. We’ve made most natural resources a commodity- we’ve put price tags on gifts from God. And we keep the money. Finders, keepers, right?

And as tenants we are guilty of the son’s death. It is for our sin that Christ died, it was for us that he was handed over to the chief priests and elders and condemned to death and crucified.

And we’re the guilty ones. And we are deserving of death- for as created beings who have exploited God’s creation and God’s gifts, death is what we will inherit.

But at the same time, the son came to take on our guilt. God knows that we are broken and that we cannot save ourselves. We cannot fix what we have done to ourselves, to one another and to the world. And so the son comes and accepts us and our brokenness. He holds out his arms to embrace us all, even as we have nailed him on the cross.

The stone the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

Yes, we are responsible for the tilling and the keeping of God’s creation. We are responsible for giving back- be that tithing or giving of our time and our talents to the work of God in the world. We are responsible for caring for one another for protecting others from exploitation and injustices.
And oftentimes we succeed at these things. And oftentimes we fail.
God holds us responsible.
God also saves us.

The son is nailed to the cross. But it is his death that brings life.
We rejected him, him who is the cornerstone, the chief cornerstone on which all lives stand and are sustained.
Perhaps its capricious, perhaps its unimagined grace that abounds beyond our wildest dreams.
But as landowner, vineyard, son, or tenants, we belong to God, whatever we harvest belongs to God, and we give thanks for that and we act and give out of that knowledge. We act and give out of his mercy and grace and love that knows no end.

Thanks be to God who gave his only son that we might have life, and have it abundantly. AMEN