Word to the Wise
Friday, March 1, 2024 - 2nd Week of Lent - Fri
[Gen 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a and Matt 21:33-43, 45-46]"Therefore I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit." [Matthew]
Each of the four gospels were composed for a particular audience and with a purpose in mind. The Gospel According to Matthew was addressed to a predominantly Jewish Christian community which may have been wondering what would become of their way of life since the temple had been destroyed. Furthermore, they were meeting opposition to their faith in Jesus from the scribes and Pharisees who were trying to keep Judaism alive (and they succeeded). The conflict between Jesus and the Jewish authority in his ministry and resentment at their complicity in his death spills over into the subsequent telling of the story, but is also meant for future Christians, since Gentiles were coming to faith in Jesus.
In today's passage, the owner of the vineyard is God. The tenants are the Jewish religious authorities of the time who rejected God's messengers in the past and then rejected Jesus. They had the opportunity to show leadership and faith, but they squandered it, often in violence. The scriptures are full of prophetic challenges to religious leadership that succumbs to the temptations of power and privilege. In the gospels, Jesus confronted the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the chief priests and the elders of the people with their failures. They had not produced the fruit of God's Kingdom. However, for the future, this parable of the vineyard and tenants applies to all of us whether we be a tenant or one of the grapevines! The Lord expects a crop! We cannot simply point the finger at the leadership and blame them for OUR failures. Lent might be a good time to ask ourselves if we have been prone to that temptation. AMEN