Friday of Week 2 of Lent – Gospel
33“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went away. 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. 37Then 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’?
43“Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces its fruits.
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.
Commentary on Matthew 21:33-43,45-46
Today’s Gospel is a parable spoken to the unbelieving chief priests and elders of the people. It is the history of the Israelite people told in parable form. In fact, it is more of an allegory than a parable, as each of the persons and incidents described point to real people and real events. Some scholars think that what we have here is really an early Church document, rather than something directly from Jesus. What may be more likely is that a parable spoken by Jesus has been modified in the light of later events.
The owner of the vineyard is clearly God. The vineyard is the house of Israel, where God’s people are to be found. The tenants of the vineyard are the people of God.
Servants sent to collect the harvest are abused in various ways—beaten, killed or stoned. The servants represent the prophets and other spokespersons sent by God to his people, many of whom were rejected, not listened to and even abused.
Finally, the owner decides to send his son, saying:
They will respect my son.
On the contrary, the tenants rationalized that, if they got rid of the son, they could take over the whole vineyard for themselves. They could carry on without the owner.
So they seized the son, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. This is a clear reference to Jesus’ being crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem.
And what will the king do then? Jesus asks. The leaders condemn themselves by answering the question: “He will put those wretches to a miserable death”—just as happened when the city of Jerusalem was totally destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
Instead, the vineyard is let out to new tenants—those Jews and Gentiles, the new people of God, who believe in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. The stone rejected by the builders becomes the cornerstone. Jesus says:
Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces its fruits.
This is one of only two instances where Matthew uses the term ‘Kingdom of God’ rather than ‘Kingdom of Heaven’. The Gentiles had for long been rejected as unbelievers and outsiders. Now, it is on them, together with those Jews who accepted Jesus, that the Kingdom will be built.
The Gospel ends by commenting that the unbelieving priests and elders understood his message perfectly, but because of Jesus’ popularity with the people, they could do nothing in retaliation for the moment.
Again and again it has happened in world history that fighters for truth and justice have been rejected, jailed and tortured, but eventually found themselves the saviours of their people. Let us make sure that we are listening to the right people—the people who have the message of truth, love and justice—and that we follow them. Jesus, our Saviour, still speaks through his followers.
