SolLuna, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

12/2

Matt. 21:33-46

“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."

"When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another."

Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'"

"But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.'"

"So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" They 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."

Jesus 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'? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls."

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

What is Jesus trying to teach in this unusual parable that appears in all three of the synoptic gospels?

There are some hints in the context. He has arrived in Jerusalem and the reactions are mixed.

The crowds consider him a prophet and the leadership of the religious establishment considers him a threat to their power, peace, and stability. Maybe he is.

For the leadership to remain in power and for the rituals to proceed without interruption, a delicate balance had to be maintained. The local powers among the Jewish establishment had to appease the interests of their Roman occupiers. Anything that hinted at upsetting Rome or that balance was surely a threat.

Jesus peached the Kingdom of God and the masses considered him anything from a messenger of that kingdoms to a messiah to a king.

That sort of talk could be perceived as political, though Jesus declared that his kingdom was not of this world. Yet, to be thought of or heard as political is to rattle cages, offend, ignite, incite, and invite angst.

Jesus is a lightening rod in all that he is and says and does. He identifies himself as a rock of offense. Rocks do not bend. His sort of rockiness does not crumble. Everything that throws itself against him crumbles.

The parable reminds us that God is at least a bit like the landowner who, within his rights, sends servants and a son to collect what is his from people who resist him Jesus declares that people can resist him all they like, but he will not crumble or go anywhere.

He is the cornerstone.