Matthew 21:33-40: a reflection

33“Hear another parable. There was a man who was a master of a household who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a wine press in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country. 34When the season for the fruit came near, he sent his servants to the farmers to receive his fruit. 35The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36Again, he sent other servants more than the first; and they treated them the same way. 37But afterward he sent to them his son, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38But the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard, then killed him. 40When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?”

Jesus tells of a landowner who plants a vineyard, equips it carefully, and leases it to tenants before going away. When harvest time comes, he sends servants to collect his share of the fruit, but the tenants abuse them, beating one, killing another. He sends more servants, and they are treated the same way. The landowner's patience is remarkable; again and again he reaches out, and again and again his messengers are rejected and harmed.

Finally the landowner sends his own son, saying, they will respect my son. But the tenants, seeing the heir, conspire to kill him and seize the inheritance for themselves. It is a picture of God's dealings with his people: the prophets sent again and again and rejected, and at last the Son himself, Christ, sent and put to death. The parable lays bare both God's astonishing patience and the terrible seriousness of rejecting the one he finally sends.

The parable asks a searching question by its very structure: what will the owner do to such tenants? Rejecting God's messengers, and ultimately his Son, is not a small thing. But held within the parable is also the wonder of God's patience, sending messenger after messenger, and then his own beloved Son, to a people who kept refusing him. Do not presume on that patience, and do not treat the Son lightly. Receive him as the heir he is, welcome him rather than rejecting him, and give God the fruit he seeks from your life.

Lord, in the parable you sent servant after servant, and at last your own Son, to a people who kept rejecting them. Thank you for such patience, and forgive the ways I have resisted your messengers and taken your Son lightly. Help me not to presume on your patience but to welcome Christ as the heir he is, and to give you the fruit you seek from my life. Amen.