Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people: "Listen to another parable. There was a property owner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug out a vat, and erected a tower. Then he leased it out to tenant farmers and went on a journey. When vintage time arrived, he dispatched his slaves to the tenants to obtain his share of the grapes. The tenants responded by seizing the slaves. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. A second time he dispatched even more slaves than before, but they treated them the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, thinking `They will respect my son.' When the saw the son, the tenants said to one another, Here is the one who will inherit everything. Let us kill him, then we shall have his inheritance.' With that they seized him, dragged him outside the vineyard, and killed him. What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do to those tenants when he comes?" "He will bring that wicked crowd to a bad end and lease his vineyard out to others, who will see to it that he has grapes at harvest time. " Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected has become the keystone of the structure. It was the Lord who did this and we find it marvelous to behold?' For this reason I tell you the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and will be given to a nation that will yield a rich harvest." (Matthew 21:33-43)

Anyone who has ever taught literature realizes that there are certain techniques or things that you tell students for which they must be on the lookout. Two of those things are repetitions--certain words, certain images, certain phrases that keep occurring again and again. One of those, if you look at a book that has always captured the imagination since it first came out, Gone with the Wind, you can always tell Scarlett O'Hara, because every time Scarlett gets into a difficult situation, gives the stock reply, "Fiddledy-dee. I'll just go plum crazy if I think about that. I'll think about that tomorrow. " And so she always does what is expedient for the moment, but she never thinks about what is important for the morrow, for the long term. Except at the end, when Rhett leaves her. And she starts to say, "Fiddledy-dee, I'll just go plum crazy if I think about what I'm going to do with Rhett walking out of my life. I'll think about that tomorrow--but I can't think about that tomorrow. I must think about it now. " That repetition tells us something about Scarlett's character, her moral outlook on life. But the fact that at the very end of the novel she suddenly realizes that she can't put off a solution to this situation as she has put off so many situations, indicates a change. And so what you teach students is to look for repetition and look for sameness; but also, look for variation, subtle shifts--because they indicate something important.

To go to the gospel this morning, in fact to go to all of the Synoptic Gospels, we can apply the same principle. I cannot remember right offhand how many parables are in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), but there are quite a few. It has always been interesting to me that of all the parables given, there are only three parables that appear in all three Synoptic Gospels. And it's interesting that all three parables deal with agriculture. The parable of the Sower who went out to sow seed. "Some fell by the wayside, some fell among brambles, some fell on rock, and some fell on good soil. " Always it's the same parable used. It's the interpretation of the parable by the Evangelist that differs from Gospel to Gospel. Then the parable of the mustard seed--the seed that is the smallest of seed which is sown and grows up into the largest of shrubs into which the birds come and rest. It is a symbol for the Church. But even there, notice how the Evangelist uses it changes from Gospel to Gospel depending upon the Evangelist's theology.

The third parable is our parable this morning: the vineyard and the vineyard owner, and the leasing out of the vineyard to tenant farmers. We learn something about Jesus from these parables. We don't often think about that, but we learn a great deal about Jesus from the parables he uses and how he uses them. The first thing we learn about Jesus is that he was a very observant individual. He wasn't a farmer by any means. Most of us think he was a carpenter, but in reality I think he was--and there's good evidence for this--a stonemason. But he knew the life of ordinary people. He observed the life of ordinary people. He knew what went on around him. He knew some of the mechanics, some of the difficulties, some of the anxieties of the farmer, who is often the backbone of any society; farmers produce the food, and keep a nation going. So Jesus was that kind of person who noticed ordinary things. But he was able to use ordinary things in a very effective manner of teaching. He used them as a very effective way to get across to people theology--God's concern for them. Another fact that we learn about Jesus (and here as we've often talked about in Matthew, we are dealing with Christology), this is perhaps the clearest statement of Jesus in all of the three Synoptic Gospels as to just who he is. The Jews, the hearers of Jesus' parable, know perfectly well he's talking about God. They know perfectly well, as our responsorial verse has indicated, that the House of Israel is the vineyard. They know perfectly well also that the tenant farmers are the Scribes and Pharisees, official Judaism. They know that. And they know that the vineyard owner is God Himself. But notice what Jesus says: "God sends His son. " Outside of John's Gospel, we have no clear statement by Jesus himself of his divinity. So we're not only realizing something about the humanity of Jesus, we're getting a glimpse into the divinity of Jesus. This is important for Matthew in speaking about Jesus, and we have to keep that in mind.

Now if we go to the parable further, we notice that there are four motifs or four themes that come up in the parable. And these four themes or motifs sum up all of Israelite history, and all of God's dealings with history, with humankind. The first theme or motif is the long-suffering love that God has for his people. He is a patient God. He is a God who goes again and again to try to bring his people to do what he wishes them to become, namely the instrument of salvation of the world. And he goes to any extremes to do that, and that is indicated by the many seedings, of which two are indicated this morning, and the third is indicated in the sending of his son. And Jesus' hearers know perfectly well that he is referring to the prophets, to the judges, to the patriarchs, to all those great personages of the Old Testament, even to John the Baptizer, that God has sent, always trying to bring back his erring, straying people to what he wishes them to do so that He might manifest His love to humankind. So there's the first motif, the long-suffering nature of God. Never quick to judge, never quick to condemn.

The second motif that we see here is the recurring, incredible sinfulness of humanity. The incredible repetitious turning away from God, and yet God bringing in the first motif, and yet God never abandoning the people who abandon him. And the third thing that we can see as a motif, and the centrality, and the most dramatic thing that we can see, is the sending of the Son, Jesus himself. Matthew puts overtones in here, as does Jesus put overtones here, that we're supposed to recognize; those overtones are supposed to resonate within us. When the tenant farmers say, "Here's the son. Let us kill him and then the vineyard will be ours," they probably have good reason for saying that. Because their presumption is that the owner must be dead, and therefore if they kill the son, then they can claim the vineyard by right of eminent domain, by squatters' rights. "We've been here all these years, and the owner is dead. If we kill the son, then who else is there who can claim it. " But there is something more. Let us kill him,, then we shall have his inheritance. That should remind us something that took place in Genesis, 37:3-4. There was someone else in the Old Testament of whom that was said--Joseph, the youngest son of Jacob. Let us kill him, this brother of ours, who is the favorite of our father. But they sell him into slavery, and Joseph goes into Egypt, and Joseph becomes the savior of his people, in their time of need, by providing food for them. Just as Jesus is going to be the slave of the Father, carrying out the will of the Father, so that he can be the savior of people in their need. One savior on a physical, natural level, the other savior on the supernatural level. But Matthew and Jesus both expect us to see those resonances, and this is the central point of the parable.

And of course the last theme of the parable is the urgency and the awfulness of the judgment. Finally, even God's long-suffering patience and love wear out. And we come to a theme that Matthew adds which the other Synoptic Gospels do not have, the theme that the kingdom is going to change hands. There's going to be a changing of the guard. Since Israel has refused to do what God wishes it to do--to be the instrument of salvation--the tenant farmers are going to change, and God is going to appoint the Church of the Jews the Church of the Gentiles. And the scribes and the pharisees, the chief priests, all recognize this. Thus it's not just a parable of commissioning, but it's also a parable of judgment. In Matthew's gospel most of the parables are parables of commissioning and judgment. A commission, a trust, a task is imparted. And the owner or the king or the landlord goes away, and there's a time for carrying out the trust, the commitment, the talent to be used. And then there is a return, and there is an accounting of the stewardship. But what is interesting in the parable and in all of Matthew's judgment parables and what is ironic, is that it is never God, never Jesus as just judge, who renders the verdict. That is shown in the question that Jesus asks them, "What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do when he comes?" And they answer; and in giving their answer, they judge themselves: "He will bring that wicked crowd to a bad end, and he will replace them with someone else. " It always amazes me in Matthew's gospel that the one who renders the judgment is the one who is to be judged. And seemingly what Jesus does, what God does, is just simply say, "So be it. I confirm it."

Now you might say this is very nice on the theoretical level, but what about the practical level, what about the individual level? It's very simple, I think. Each of us has been given talents, has been given a commission, has been given a task to do. Each of us has our own share, in instruments of God's wish for the church, for humanity. Now is the carrying out time of the commission; how are we--you and I--carrying out that commission? And what answer will we give when Jesus comes at our death, at the time of judgment at the end of the world? What answer will we give to Jesus who asks the question, "How have you used the talent I have given you? How have you carried out the commission?" Whatever answer I give, whatever answer you give, Jesus will say, "So be it. I concur. That is your condition for all eternity." We will really judge ourselves. What God will do is simply confirm the judgment that we have given on ourselves. So we're not being asked, how has someone else carried out their commission? How is my spouse used his or her talent? How have my children used their talents? That's their responsibility. But my responsibility to Jesus is to say how I have used my talent, my commission. And Jesus will say, "Fine. So be it." Or another question we can all ask, when will God's long-suffering love and patience run out in our own life, on the church in our age, on the people of our age. To that question, who knows the answer?