Bad Stewards

Matthew 21:33-46

Reader # 1) ‘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 watch-tower. 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,

Reader #2) “They will respect my son.”

Reader # 1) But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves,

ALL) “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.”

Reader # 1) 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,

ALL) ‘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.’

 Reader # 1) Jesus said to them,

Reader # 3) ‘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.’

Reader # 1)  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.

BACKGROUND

This is the third parable in Matthew with a vineyard setting (20:1-16 -- the workers in the vineyard; 21:28-32 -- the two sons).

Isaiah 5:1-2: “My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it.”

“THE DISCOURSE OF THIS VINEYARD PARABLE…IS…SET IN THE CONCRETE LIFE OF Palestinian agricultural production…here Jesus tells a story in which the Jerusalem leadership, who were in fact the absentee landowning class, appear as tenants of an absentee landlord-that is, Yahweh.

What does the vineyard represent? In Isaiah it represents Israel and many have assumed that that is its meaning in the parable, e.g., the vineyard = Israel; the tenants = religious leaders; landowner's slaves = prophets whom they rejected. With this interpretation, we note that the vineyard is not destroyed, but turned over to new tenants.
In v. 43, Jesus indicates that the vineyard is the "kingdom of God".

parable given by Jesus, in part, to continue to deal with the question of the chief priests and the elders in the temple: "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" (21:23)  BRIAN STOFFREGEN, CROSSMARKS)

Matthew 21:34- “When the harvest time had come”= to kairo =”at the critical time, at the time of judgment/crises= “eschatological moment”

In Mark and Luke, “the son” is called agapeton= “beloved”. This is the same adjective used in all 3 synoptic gospels when Jesus is proclaimed as “My Son, my Beloved” at the baptism of John and at the Transfiguration. All 3 are inviting the reader to connect Jesus with the “Son of God/Son of Man” imagery in the Old Testament.

THE PARTABLE DEPARTS FROM reality when the landowner says, “surely they will respect my son.” What father would make such an assumption? INDICTES THE RECKLESS, PRODIGAL, RADICAL nature of God’s love as represented by Jesus. Psalm 118:22-23 is cited in support of Jesus paradoxical messiahship: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the LORD’s doing, and it is amazing…”.

 SUMMARY

 THIS IS A “STEWARDSHIP” PARABLE. The tenants are entrusted with the stewardship of the property, but they aspire to OWNERSHIP and CONTROL. This is not only a flaw in Israel’s spirituality, but a fundamental human characteristic.

What does it mean to be considered as “God’s Beloved?” After Jesus’ baptism, he goes without food for 40 days and is tormented by demons; at the transfiguration he is reminded by Moses and Elijah of the suffering he will undergo at Jerusalem; the “beloved son” in this parable suffers a similar fate… to be the “Beloved Son” of God is a hard road to walk…