Sunday 05 October 2008

Background

The writer of Matthew begins chapter21 with Jesus' entry to Jerusalem, riding on a donkey overa carpet of branches and leaves. This, and the other incidentsrecounted in this chapter, point up his role as king, albeit a kingwho subverted the traditional understanding of authority andsovereignty.

Today's passage - the parable of the tenants - was told to thechief priests and elders in response to their question, "Who gaveyou [this] authority?" (verse 23). In telling it Jesus purposefullydraws a line from a similar parable in Isaiah 5 - theparable of the vineyard.

Both parables reflect the mistreatment of God's prophets by theleaders of the nation of Israel and it seems the ecclesiasticalelite were no more in tune with God in the early 1st century ADthan they were 500 years earlier. In each of the parables thelandowner was patient, almost absurdly so, as well as abundantlygenerous - the vineyard contains everything a tenant needed to makeit a success. And yet the tenants, cyphers for the Pharisees andchief priests, went out of their way to destroy and reject both thevineyard and the owner.

The religious leaders probably knew in their bones that Jesus wasreferring to them, publicly challenging their interpretation ofancient holy texts in his ministry. His inference that he himselfis "the cornerstone", the "stone that the builders rejected", andthat the "kingdom of God will be taken away" from them stirred upfeelings of antagonism and fear.

To Ponder

What particularly strikes you in reading thisparable. How do the radically prophetic messages of Jesus, and theprophets from the Old Testament, sit with us today?

In what ways might the attitude of the tenants bereplicated in our churches and communities?

How do we respond to Christ's absurd patience andabundant generosity?