Tending His Vineyard

(13th Sunday after Pentecost) (Matthew 21:33-42)

When our Lord speaks in parables, He is using familiar imagery to allow us to see more deeply into the reality of our existence. In today’s Gospel reading, He tells a story about a man who, in today’s terms, makes an investment by planting, and making other improvements to, a vineyard. He then rents his property, and goes to a far country. As the harvest time comes, he sends his representatives to collect the rent, deferred until the harvest is in. But instead of paying the rent, the tenants drive off the representatives, beating one, stoning another, and killing another.

Now, at this point, we would have called the police – probably even before this point. But the property owner decides that he will send his son as his representative, thinking that the people who had done business with him would respect his presence in the person of his son. Instead, the tenants say among themselves, “Look, here is his son. Let us kill him, and take this property, which is his inheritance.” And so they seize the son, drag him out of the vineyard, and kill him.

Of course, we recognize that the son who is killed is our Lord speaking about Himself, the Son of God; He is speaking of His own death. The deeper truth, then, is that this is a parable about the world. The fathers tell us that the man who plants the vineyard is God Who, in His love for man, calls Himself a man. The vineyard is the Jewish people, planted – that is to say – established by God in the land He promised to them. The hedge may be understood to be the Law He gave to guide them, or the holy angels He set to guard them. The winepress is the altar; the tower is the temple. Those who tend the vineyard are the teachers of the people, the scribes and Pharisees. We are also meant to understand that the “far country” to which the owner departs represents the long-suffering patience of God, when evil increases, and it seems that God is absent. The representatives who were sent are the prophets; and the son sent, of course, is His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The tenants, who were meant to receive the Son on behalf of the vineyard, the people of God under the old covenant, crucified Him; and as a result, they were destroyed; and the vineyard was rented to new tenants, to the apostles, and to those who teach the apostolic faith.

Thus, on the one hand, we have received the inheritance spoken of; but, on the other hand, we are also responsible for delivering to the landlord His portion of the fruit of the vineyard. There are a number of levels we should understand in what we are meant to give to the Lord. Probably the most obvious is in terms of rent: when we pay rent, we are doing so in money; and so we can see the need to give our tithe to the church, and to make offerings for the needs of others. Money, of course, is usually the result of our labors, using our time and our talents; and so these, too, are meant to be placed at the service of the Lord. Among the demands upon our time is the need for prayer, and to gather to worship the Lord. Finally, at the deepest level, we are speaking of love: for all our giving of money or time or effort, all our prayers, all our worship, are empty and meaningless is not rising from a love for the Lord Who loves us, and without love for each other – a love that is patient and long-suffering and forgiving of offenses, and understanding of weakness. We have been planted as a vineyard in God’s love. We have been surrounded and protected by the hedge of God’s love. We have been raised up to see visions of the heavenly country by the tower of God’s love. We have in our midst the altar where God shows His love for us by giving Himself for us, and giving Himself to us in the bread and wine that He blesses to be His Body and Blood. And we have each other, a vineyard to be cared for in love – love for God, and for each other.

Brothers and sisters, the vineyard of God: Let us love one another, as Christ loves us, and gave Himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God. Let us worship God, giving thanks for His love; and let us care for each other, as we are His Body; and let us love those who have not yet been joined to Him, that, by seeing our love, they may see Him, and so come to Him, to the glory of God, and the salvation of our souls.