The Prophet Isaiah and Evangelist Matthew have virtually the same story. Isaiah has a love story between God and His people. The story is how he planted His vineyard and cared for it constantly but with no good result.

God’s efforts did not result in sweet grapes. He got wild grapes. Isaiah tells us that God was angry – very angry.

Matthew tells almost the same story. The parable of the tenants follows directly upon last week’s parable of the two sons and continues its emphasis on the rejection of Jesus’ message by the Jewish leaders. Today’s parable places Jesus in the company of the prophets and further describes him as the son, the heir.

The owner of the vineyard in the parable is God. The messengers are the prophets. The two groups that are sent symbolize the earlier and late prophets. The Son is Jesus, and the “others” to whom the vineyard will be given are the Gentiles and sinners. The fate of the messengers recalls the way in which Israel had treated the prophets before Jesus.

Even the detail of the son being thrown out of the vineyard and killed corresponds to Jesus’ crucifixion outside the city of Jerusalem. The drama of the story as it builds up to the death of the son underscores the total rejection of Jesus by the religious leaders of his time.

The tenants in both stories believed that they would not suffer any consequences from rebellion, but they were wrong. We dare not make the mistake of thinking that God will not get angry with us. What we have been given can be taken away.

Fr. Zacharias Nadakel