Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Hear another parable. 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.
When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtains his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?” They answered him, “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.”
Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes? 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.”
Gospel Trivia:
This parable is considered an allegory, a literary style where the characters and events are used as symbols. (Note: not all parables are allegorical). It is also one of only four parables that appear in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke; which indicate that it is one of the main themes that is important to all three evangelists.
In this parable:
- the landowner is God,
- the vineyard is the people of Israel -- who were considered as the "chosen ones" of Yahweh. (Incidentally, the response in the responsorial psalm confirms this: "The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel).
- the servants are the prophets that spoke God's message and were ignored by the people of Israel
- the son is Jesus.
Finally, note to whom this parable is being told by Jesus -- the chief priests and elders. In last Sunday's gospel, these were the same people that were being criticized by Jesus as merely good in following the many laws and rules of the Jewish religion, but failed to practice the primary law of loving God through neighbor.
Once again, Matthew criticizes them as not listening to the early prophets who preached justice for the oppressed, care and preference for the poor, and putting mercy and forgiveness above rules and laws.
God has given up on them and proclaims that the Kingdom of God is among those whose hearts are filled with the spirit of the commandment of love, and not among those who believe that righteousness is based simply on faithfulness to rules and pious practices.
(For more on what Matthew means about the Kingdom of God, click here).
- Nil Guillemette, SJ, Parables for Today (Manila: St. Paul's Publications, 1987), pp. 91-93.
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