The Parable of the Tenants - Year A Proper 22 Matthew 21-33-46

Jesus said to the people, “Listen 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.”

Last Sunday, you may remember my hurrying off to pick up my husband and our cat, Pearl, so Pearl could be blessed at St. Paul’s. Blessing of the Animals is an old Church tradition which may have roots way back in Judaism, but within the Christian faith is all about St. Francis of Assisi – the saint often pictured surrounded by birds and animals. On October 3rd back in the 13th century, St. Francis died after first Vespers, a monastic office said at sundown, and because in those days the new day began at sundown, on October 4th the Church celebrates his going home to God.

St. Francis is remembered by most people for his great love of all of God’s creatures, and for creation itself. He was also known for his great passion for the Church and for the Gospel, and for bringing the church back to its main purpose of proclaiming to all of God’s children the Good News of God’s love in Jesus Christ. He was particularly passionate in bringing that love to those that the world often forgot. But there is one other thing that St. Francis is known for, something that fueled his ministry and his passion for God and for all that God made, and that is his great zeal for prayer. He would spend hours in prayer. And when he did, he would often pray a very simple prayer: “Who are you, God? And who am I?”

Today’s Gospel, along with many of Jesus’ parables, helps to answer those questions.

In today’s parable, we learn of a landowner who has planted a vineyard, leased it to tenants, and gone to another country. According to Biblical scholars, the practice described in today’s parable was not unusual in Jesus’ time, and it would typically be five years before the landowner would expect to receive his first payment.

Think about this arrangement. Try putting yourself in the tenants’ place. For the last five years you have worked hard in this vineyard, and it has produced much fruit. Now, after five years without a word from the landowner, there suddenly appear some servants of his to collect the landowner’s produce. You might have begun to think and to hope that these servants would never appear - that the landowner had forgotten all about this vineyard. You might be hoping that you would get to keep it all for yourself. After all, it’s been five years. But now, here these servants are, demanding his produce.

Without condoning the actions taken by the tenants, it’s not so great a stretch to think that they had really begun to believe that they owned the vineyard. That is always a danger for stewards when they haven’t seen the owner in a long while. Isn’t that a danger for us, the stewards, but not owners, of God’s creation? We have done some terrible things to each other and to our planet. And we know what the tenants did, they killed the servants who came for the produce.

The landowner proves to be very forgiving, but very persistent. He sends more servants. The tenants treat them the same way. Then, the landowner sends his own son. The landowner is hoping that the tenants will finally get the point. That he hasn’t forgotten about this vineyard, and that the fruit is important enough to him that he’s going to send his own son to collect it. He doesn’t send an army with the son, which perhaps would have been prudent. He sends his son with the hope that the tenants will respect him.

St. Francis asked, “Who are you, God?”

Of course, it’s not much of a stretch to see that the son is really Jesus, sent by our heavenly Father to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom, and to call everyone to repentance. This parable teaches us who God is in part by teaching us who the Son of God is.

What happens when the son appears at the vineyard? The tenants kill the landowner’s son, so that they can inherit the vineyard for themselves. Don’t you just wonder, what were they thinking? Or, as Jesus puts it, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? Of course, he’s going to put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time. What else would he do?

Did they really think that by killing the landowner’s son they would inherit the vineyard? Why would they possibly think that? And the only possible answer seems to be that those first tenants must have been convinced that the owner of the vineyard would never come. Or perhaps even 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 without fear of any consequences. 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 five days before he is killed. Clearly, this parable is teaching us about God as the landowner, and Jesus as His son. And clearly it is teaching us that the chief priests and the Pharisees are like the original tenants of the vineyard. It was pretty obvious to Jesus’ listeners at the time. 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 gotten so used to being stewards of the vineyard that they forgot that they didn’t own it. They must have been convinced that the true owner would never come to judge them.

St. Francis asked, “And who am I?”

If this parable is about the chief priests and Pharisees, what does it teach us about ourselves? We can see what it teaches us about God. What about us? Well, Jesus seems to be teaching us that we are now the tenants, the stewards, of God’s vineyard. We have been entrusted with this world, with all that we have, and are now called to care for it well, and to give our Creator the fruits of our harvest. It is no small responsibility.

And this parable is also warning us not to take any of this for granted. Our world, our life, our salvation – it is all grace, 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 the Lord’s.

The landowner of this vineyard still hasn’t returned, 2,000 years later. Judgment day still hasn’t arrived. And whether or not we share the fruits of our harvest with those in need, we will probably not be struck down by lightning. And whether or not we are nice to our neighbors this week, we will probably not receive a visit from the owner of the vineyard to receive the consequences. Whether or not we have lived selfishly this week, we probably won’t notice any immediate consequences from our Heavenly Father.

But then again, none of us are guaranteed tomorrow. Today the only thing of which we can be certain. 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 a people who will produce the fruits of the kingdom, as Jesus warns us in this Gospel reading?

Why would we do that? There can really only be one reason – we would do this only if we believed that the landowner would never return. When it comes right down to it, this is a parable about faith, about the importance of believing that God is very real. This world is a vineyard that is not owned by us. We have a Landowner who has entrusted us with it, and will one day hold us accountable to this trust.

Our God is very real, and sent to us His only beloved son, Jesus, not just to check on the vineyard, but to die for us, and for the sins of all the world. And after He died on the cross, He was raised from the dead and sits at the right hand of the Father. And one day He will come again to judge the living and the dead, to check on His vineyard, to see what we have done with the place, and to receive the fruit of our labor.

There will be a day when we will be judged. And the best way to prepare for that judgment is to expect the landowner to return soon. To be faithful tenants of the vineyard of our Lord. And then, to look forward to his promised return.

Let us pray

Gracious and loving God, we understand that you call us to be the stewards of Your abundance, the caretakers of all You have entrusted to us. Help us always to use Your gifts wisely and teach us to share them generously. May our faithful stewardship bear witness to the love of Christ in our lives. All this we ask in Jesus Name. Amen,