“Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’”
- Luke 20:13
Things are beginning to heat up in Jerusalem at this point in the Gospel of Luke. An important Jewish holiday is drawing near, so the city is going to be even busier than usual, which increases the Roman presence in order to keep order, and we just had Jesus enter the city with His triumphal entry which symbolized His kingship. Jesus persists in His ministry of preaching the good news of the Kingdom and healing people. Meanwhile, the religious elite in the city are plotting ways for His downfall. Chapter 20 of Luke is just one of those instances they hope to oppose Jesus and fail.
Their main problem is that they refuse to hear Him. His teachings are consistent, His way of life has been life-giving, and both in tandem are shaping individuals and groups for the better. However, it's disruptive of the current power structures that allow the religious elite to rule. Though they may see and hear the truth, they refuse to truly hear and live by Jesus’ teaching.
Parable of the Wicked Tenants:
Jesus illustrates the elite through a short parable that Jesus uses to talk about both the past and the present leadership.
In this parable, a landowner plants a vineyard and moves off. He entrusts the vineyard to the care of some tenants who work and live and harvest. Around harvest time the land owner sends a servant to go get a sample of the vines. When the servant arrives, the tenants beat him up and send him off. They do the same to a second servant and then a third. Finally, the owner decides to send his son, whom he loves, thinking that they will surely respect and provide the sample. Yet, this time the tenants kill the son, to take the land for themselves. In response, the owner goes and destroys the tenants and finds new ones.
There’s more going on in this story too in how Jesus is sharing it. The land owner represents God, who established the nation of Israel and then appointed the tenants, both religious and political leaders in the nation of Israel. The Old Testament is full of good and bad leaders and spares no time letting you know what made someone good versus what made someone bad. That’s where the three servants come into play. They represent the many prophets that God sent to the leaders in order to help correct the course of the nation. Their jobs were to call out and correct the idolatry and the injustices. They spoke against the things that kept people from God, and the things that kept Israel from being a light to the world. If you read the prophetic books, you see many of them run into a lot of conflict with the leaders and are often criticized and even put to death for speaking out about idolatry and injustices. Thus we get the three servants who are sent and then beaten, we have the prophets sent and then beaten or even killed.
Then we have the son, Jesus inserts himself into the story as the beloved son of the owner. Jesus is the leaders’ of Jerusalem’s last opportunity to turn from religious corruption and toward the heart of God for all peoples. Jesus though is saying they won’t. There are some, but not to the extent required to reshape the whole system. So rather than continuing with the current tenants, the owner gets new ones to lead the way. It starts with 12 dudes in Israel and a handful of women. These few go on to shake up the whole Roman world and establish the church! The new tenants of the vineyard.
Are you listening?
By this point, there is an echo in Jesus’ teachings going all the way back to the beginning of His ministry. “If you have ears to hear, hear!” In other words, are you listening?
This goes beyond merely paying attention and being respectful to a speaker. This is a challenge to heed the words with contemplation and action. Think about it and do it. In these two works, the religious leaders routinely failed. They would debate and argue but they would never meditate and consider if they needed that correction. They wrestled through the message in their brains but never allowed their hearts to be softened to the merciful mouth of Jesus. Then their actions never really changed either; they continued to be the elite, looking down on sinners and poor, and combated healings.
This can be a problem amongst Christians. We hear the words and ideas that we have always heard, but we don’t always let those words make roots in our hearts and lives. We say “Amen” to the teaching “Love your enemy as yourself,” and go on doing the negative behaviors we have always done. When God sends Jesus, it’s a challenge to our idolatry and injustices.
Many of us aren’t directly worshipping idols, but many of us do make other things more important in our lives than Jesus. Is God your first and top love? Or is it money? Family? Thrill? Security? Is your top devotion to God or is your top devotion something else?
And we are all guilty of injustices. Times we did harm or hate. Times we burned bridges rather than breaking down walls. Times we ignored a need. Jesus wants to restore the connections among humanity as much as He wants to be restored to us.
Final Blessing:
So think about the tenants. If we are them, will we give up a sample? Will we hear Jesus who only wants to see the fruit of His work making an impact against our idolatry and injustices? This week even, how can you choose to Hear Him? Ask yourself and think deeply, what is just one thing you can do that puts you in line with what Jesus teaches? Is there an idol to cast out of your life? Is there an injustice that you need to reverse?
Now may the Lord of Life and Redemption be with you in every step, every breath, and every heartbeat of your journey!
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