13th Sunday After Pentecost

Matthew 21:33-42

In today’s Holy Gospel we heard the parable of the owner of a vineyard. The owner has equipped this vineyard with all that is necessary to produce fruit and to protect its healthy production. He rents out the vineyard to some cultivators to whom he entrusts its care and stewardship. Again and again he sends messengers to collect the rent and over and over again these messengers are ignored, ridiculed, even stoned and beaten. Finally, he sends his own son – expecting that they will respect him. Seeing the son of the owner, the wicked cultivators conspire to kill him in order to receive his inheritance.

The initial interpretation of this parable is obvious… Jesus is speaking directly and referring to the nation of Israel – that vineyard of the Lord which had been so well equipped by the promises and laws of God with all that is necessary to bring forth spiritual fruit. The many messengers sent to the vineyard are none other than the prophets of the Old Testament – the long succession of holy men and women who called the nation of Israel back to repentance and the ways of God and who were again and again ignored, rejected, despised, and killed. And the son is, of course, our Lord Jesus Christ – the Son of God Who was sent to the vineyard to speak directly, to show by living example, and to intercede for the people of God. This parable was spoken by Jesus on Tuesday of Holy Week just before His crucifixion. It was intended to awaken the Pharisees and the people of God to the terrible sins they had committed in the past against the prophets and the great sin they were about to commit against God’s own Son. It is a powerful parable and a clear forewarning of what was to come.

Christ quotes the Psalms saying: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.’ That stone which was rejected is Jesus Christ, rejected by the children of Israel, yet becoming the chief cornerstone of the new temple of the Christian Church and the Kingdom of Heaven.

Brothers and sisters in Christ… we stand here in church today as Orthodox Christians, the new Israel, and woe to us if we make the same mistake as our forefathers. In our Orthodox Faith, we have been even better equipped with all of the sacraments and grace of God, we have everything necessary for our salvation in the Holy Church entrusted to us by our Lord. And yet, let us examine ourselves and ask - how do we behave as stewards of this rich vineyard of our faith? Do we heed the teachings of the holy fathers – those messengers given to us in every generation, sent to wake us up from our spiritual drowsiness? Do we take the blessings and sacraments of the Church for granted? Do we arrive late for services, not perceiving the Great Blessing that takes place here upon the altar where our Lord Jesus Christ offers Himself in His Body and Blood? We must treasure our faith and we must do our utmost to understand it, uphold it, and be transformed by it.

Let us look at what this parable tells us about God and let us think about these attributes of God in light of their affect and influence on our very own souls…

First of all, we must bow in recognition and gratitude for the incredible generosity of God. He provides the rich vineyard - all things necessary for us - and then He leaves us with the freedom to be loving and good stewards of His blessings or, if we so choose, we can be negligent and slothful. He entrusts us with the free will to receive and care for His blessings, which helps bring us into a relationship of love.

Secondly, we should recognize and be astonished at the extreme patience and long-suffering of God. The owner of the vineyard sends messenger after messenger giving them endless chances. Doesn’t God do the same with us? He is mercifully patient with our sins and our selfishness. Every day and every hour he stands at the door of our heart and knocks – welcoming us into a loving communion with Him. And every day and every hour we ignore and dismiss Him because we are so preoccupied with our own selfishness. God’s patience and love are beyond our understanding!

Third, we see that God is righteous and just. The evil cultivators thought that by killing the son they would receive the inheritance – but ultimately this inheritance is taken away from them and given to others. We must recognize that God’s righteousness will ultimately prevail… if we persist in our stubborn choice of selfishness, He will not force us into this union of love, the vineyard of paradise will be granted to others.

Finally, we see the love and the uniqueness of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. There is nothing more intimate, dramatic, and effective that God could possibly do than sending His Son - directly entering into and interceding into the lives of His people, into our lives. And He offers Himself again and again… giving us His very life, His Flesh and Blood… what more do we want from God? He lays His life before us and in that extreme act of humility, opens to us the Gates of Paradise!

God has indeed provided us with everything we need in the vineyard of His Church and in the vineyard of our hearts. God is generous and trusting, He is patient and longsuffering, His righteous justice will prevail, and He demonstrates to us His great love for each of us by His willingness and desire to enter into direct communion and interaction with us.

Let us take a lesson from today’s Holy Gospel.. recognizing the part we play in this story of the vineyard and assuring that we do not take the role of the negligent and wicked caretakers, but instead let us be good stewards of the tremendous blessings given to us by God, let us stay alert and attend to the messages and encouragements given to us by God, and let us always warmly welcome and forever honor the Son of God, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The words of the holy Apostle Paul heard in today’s Epistle capture this perfectly as he says: ‘Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.’