Wine Presses and Watchtowers...
Matthew 21:33-44 33
“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. 34When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. 35But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. 37Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” 39So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.” 42Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’? 43Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. 44The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”
*************************
This is one of those less than comfortable parables… the ones that make you go, “ick.” The story goes something like this: God puts people in charge of his vineyards- they don’t want to give back to God when God sends his slaves to collect the harvest- they kill 2 sets of slaves- God sends his son thinking “they’ll respect him” and they kill him too- (God can get blindsided?) God gets pissed and takes away the vineyard and gives it to someone else who knows how to produce and give back!
Some modern interpreters sometimes take this to mean that Jesus was referring to the Jews being the “wicked tenants” and that’s why the whole kit and caboodle has been left in the hands of us capable Christians…
Others take it to mean that the wicked tenants are us- and we better watch out and produce or else God will crush us where we stand and turn things over to someone more capable… obviously the “good” Christians…
It’s not just the scary ending that bothers me in this passage; none of the characters are really likable… the wicked tenants… they are out of control… the Pharisees… looking on disapprovingly… even Jesus seems downright rude. What the heck? Where’s our warm fuzzy Jesus this morning? And how about the landowner… is this another wrathful, smiting, vengeful God story?
But by now we know better don’t we? The fear and trembling stuff where God is concerned doesn’t make sense to us… the argument of the smiting, wrathful, angry deity doesn’t hold water anymore… not when we have been introduced to the God of love. So then lets deeper and see if we can get something out of this parable beside threats of “produce fruit or else.”
Let’s start at the beginning… Jesus says to his first century listeners… There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country.
Safe so far… I can get into that. And from the beginning we know that there has been care and planning on the part of the owner to make sure the tenants have everything they need to make this thing work. The vines are planted- the fence or actually a wall is put up around it- a wine press is dug in it, so their means of production is there- and a watchtower is built- first century watchtowers were used for security.
Then the owner leaves the vineyard to the care of the tenants and waits till harvest time , and sends his slaves to collect from the tenants. But the tenants are somewhat less than willing to give up anything, and instead they beat, kill and stone the slaves.
Now lets just stop here for a second. You’re the landowner. Your slaves have just been killed by out of control renters… what would you do? I think I would go in with more than just another group of slaves and try it again… wouldn’t you? Maybe send in guys with guns and black hats and scars or something. He was wealthy enough to hire an army… why send in a second group of slaves for the same thing to happen to them?
Yet that’s what the owner does. And when they are also killed… the owner sends in his son… and adds these words…”surely they will respect him.” (seriously?)
But of course they don’t- they want what’s his- and figure if they kill him they will get his inheritance; and so the son is killed as well.
This is where the parable ends. That is the story that’s laid out for the listeners. Then Jesus shifts from storytelling mode to making this into a riddle for the people… and he asks “What do you think will happen when the owner comes back?”
And they give him the answer that makes sense to them- and frankly, makes a lot of sense to us too…“He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”
And you expect Jesus to say “YES! That’s exactly what happens!”
But he doesn’t. Instead, Jesus says, haven’t you read that part in the scriptures where it says: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’? 43Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.
Cryptic… or maybe not. Maybe Jesus was laying a little trap of his own for the Pharisees. Maybe this parable isn’t as much about who gets what they deserve as it is about who is being judge over others. (Which is exactly what the Pharisees were doing) Maybe this is an illustration that was meant to show ‘our’ (fellow Pharisees out there) propensity to make a ruling- to cast a sentence- to want justice exacted on those who deserve it (in our eyes)…
But Jesus is saying, it’s not up to you (us) to be judge and jury for other people. It’s not up to you to decide who gets forgiven and who doesn’t- and make up your own interpretation on the laws and limits (?) of God’s love. God planted the field, God set up the fence, God knows the boundaries… not you… and this is all of a sudden amazing to you? That God might know something that you don’t?
And that when things happen, and it seems so clear cut to us who is guilty and why they are guilty, we are ready to bring down the hand of judgment on someone… when we see a behavior we’ve deemed “wrong” we want folks punished, especially when we’ve been hurt, amen?
Yet God sees something beyond what we can fathom. God understands more than we can comprehend. God’s ways are not our ways… God loves and forgives and cares for all of us beyond our reason… and because of our reluctance to embrace that… we miss out. We lose our participation in the shalom making, peace constructing, love building process that we could be enjoying. The richness of Kingdom life that we could be living out is taken from us.
And I can hear you under your breath… “What does she mean our reluctance to embrace it? I’m not reluctant. I want to understand. I yearn to forgive and love unconditionally.”
Really? Because when you do that, that means you sign away your right to hold grudges… and you give away the fun of talking about people behind their back… and no more off color jokes about how fat she is, or how wrong he was or how much “they” messed up… and, oh yeah, no more making another person’s life miserable just because they said or did something in 1968 to tick you off… hummmm…
And of course you would have to give up comparison shopping… you know what that is right? Holding you up against everyone else? (Appearance, weight, job, home, kids, money, behavior, spirituality) Yeah… that no judgment thing holds true for self-judgment as well…
So how do you live then? How do we function on a day to day basis with one another, and figure out how to love each other as God would have us do? Go back to the first verse again… within this beautiful vineyard God has given us to tend, there is a wine-press… A first century wine press looks like a big shallow pit… “The top side of the wine press with steep rectangular floor is where the grapes were arranged. The workers squashed the grapes with their feet, and the juice would flow down to the lower side… into a collecting basin. As a filter, these holes were filled with a collection of thorns or brushes. On both sides of this pit there are two vertical holes, where poles were held by the workers during the pressing over the grapes, providing shadow for the comfort of the workers.”[i]
As expected, the work is hot, tiring and messy. Sometimes you have to get your hands (or at least your feet) dirty. Yet God has provided not just a means, but also a way to make it more comfortable for each other while we work and learn. Can you imagine not just taking part in the kingdom work yourself, but providing shade and coolness for someone else as well?
And by now you may be thinking, “I’m definitely one of those people who will have all this taken away from them- I can’t live up to all of it and if God hasn’t lost patience with me already, it surely is coming down the pike… I’m going to be one of those crushed and shattered people that Jesus talked about at the end of the passage when he said “The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls”
And all I can say to that is:
(1) Stop Judging yourself! Let God be God!
(2) Go back to the beginning of the passage one more time. Along with planting the vineyard and putting up the fence and digging out the wine press… God put in a watchtower… God built in a giant stronghold, visible from anywhere in the vineyard, to let you know you are secure! You’re safe in God’s care. That you don’t have to worry about being thrown out beyond the walls for not producing enough, or cast into some scary abyss for not being good enough…
That from fences to watchtowers, God’s got it covered. And if you let yourself embrace the truth that God didn’t land you here by accident… and that you really are a valued, and loved, and accepted… then it would change everything about you! And you wouldn’t miss out on a thing!
[i] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MigdalHaemek5.jpg
“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. 34When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. 35But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. 37Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” 39So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.” 42Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’? 43Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. 44The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”
*************************
This is one of those less than comfortable parables… the ones that make you go, “ick.” The story goes something like this: God puts people in charge of his vineyards- they don’t want to give back to God when God sends his slaves to collect the harvest- they kill 2 sets of slaves- God sends his son thinking “they’ll respect him” and they kill him too- (God can get blindsided?) God gets pissed and takes away the vineyard and gives it to someone else who knows how to produce and give back!
Some modern interpreters sometimes take this to mean that Jesus was referring to the Jews being the “wicked tenants” and that’s why the whole kit and caboodle has been left in the hands of us capable Christians…
Others take it to mean that the wicked tenants are us- and we better watch out and produce or else God will crush us where we stand and turn things over to someone more capable… obviously the “good” Christians…
It’s not just the scary ending that bothers me in this passage; none of the characters are really likable… the wicked tenants… they are out of control… the Pharisees… looking on disapprovingly… even Jesus seems downright rude. What the heck? Where’s our warm fuzzy Jesus this morning? And how about the landowner… is this another wrathful, smiting, vengeful God story?
But by now we know better don’t we? The fear and trembling stuff where God is concerned doesn’t make sense to us… the argument of the smiting, wrathful, angry deity doesn’t hold water anymore… not when we have been introduced to the God of love. So then lets deeper and see if we can get something out of this parable beside threats of “produce fruit or else.”
Let’s start at the beginning… Jesus says to his first century listeners… There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country.
Safe so far… I can get into that. And from the beginning we know that there has been care and planning on the part of the owner to make sure the tenants have everything they need to make this thing work. The vines are planted- the fence or actually a wall is put up around it- a wine press is dug in it, so their means of production is there- and a watchtower is built- first century watchtowers were used for security.
Then the owner leaves the vineyard to the care of the tenants and waits till harvest time , and sends his slaves to collect from the tenants. But the tenants are somewhat less than willing to give up anything, and instead they beat, kill and stone the slaves.
Now lets just stop here for a second. You’re the landowner. Your slaves have just been killed by out of control renters… what would you do? I think I would go in with more than just another group of slaves and try it again… wouldn’t you? Maybe send in guys with guns and black hats and scars or something. He was wealthy enough to hire an army… why send in a second group of slaves for the same thing to happen to them?
Yet that’s what the owner does. And when they are also killed… the owner sends in his son… and adds these words…”surely they will respect him.” (seriously?)
But of course they don’t- they want what’s his- and figure if they kill him they will get his inheritance; and so the son is killed as well.
This is where the parable ends. That is the story that’s laid out for the listeners. Then Jesus shifts from storytelling mode to making this into a riddle for the people… and he asks “What do you think will happen when the owner comes back?”
And they give him the answer that makes sense to them- and frankly, makes a lot of sense to us too…“He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”
And you expect Jesus to say “YES! That’s exactly what happens!”
But he doesn’t. Instead, Jesus says, haven’t you read that part in the scriptures where it says: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’? 43Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.
Cryptic… or maybe not. Maybe Jesus was laying a little trap of his own for the Pharisees. Maybe this parable isn’t as much about who gets what they deserve as it is about who is being judge over others. (Which is exactly what the Pharisees were doing) Maybe this is an illustration that was meant to show ‘our’ (fellow Pharisees out there) propensity to make a ruling- to cast a sentence- to want justice exacted on those who deserve it (in our eyes)…
But Jesus is saying, it’s not up to you (us) to be judge and jury for other people. It’s not up to you to decide who gets forgiven and who doesn’t- and make up your own interpretation on the laws and limits (?) of God’s love. God planted the field, God set up the fence, God knows the boundaries… not you… and this is all of a sudden amazing to you? That God might know something that you don’t?
And that when things happen, and it seems so clear cut to us who is guilty and why they are guilty, we are ready to bring down the hand of judgment on someone… when we see a behavior we’ve deemed “wrong” we want folks punished, especially when we’ve been hurt, amen?
Yet God sees something beyond what we can fathom. God understands more than we can comprehend. God’s ways are not our ways… God loves and forgives and cares for all of us beyond our reason… and because of our reluctance to embrace that… we miss out. We lose our participation in the shalom making, peace constructing, love building process that we could be enjoying. The richness of Kingdom life that we could be living out is taken from us.
And I can hear you under your breath… “What does she mean our reluctance to embrace it? I’m not reluctant. I want to understand. I yearn to forgive and love unconditionally.”
Really? Because when you do that, that means you sign away your right to hold grudges… and you give away the fun of talking about people behind their back… and no more off color jokes about how fat she is, or how wrong he was or how much “they” messed up… and, oh yeah, no more making another person’s life miserable just because they said or did something in 1968 to tick you off… hummmm…
And of course you would have to give up comparison shopping… you know what that is right? Holding you up against everyone else? (Appearance, weight, job, home, kids, money, behavior, spirituality) Yeah… that no judgment thing holds true for self-judgment as well…
So how do you live then? How do we function on a day to day basis with one another, and figure out how to love each other as God would have us do? Go back to the first verse again… within this beautiful vineyard God has given us to tend, there is a wine-press… A first century wine press looks like a big shallow pit… “The top side of the wine press with steep rectangular floor is where the grapes were arranged. The workers squashed the grapes with their feet, and the juice would flow down to the lower side… into a collecting basin. As a filter, these holes were filled with a collection of thorns or brushes. On both sides of this pit there are two vertical holes, where poles were held by the workers during the pressing over the grapes, providing shadow for the comfort of the workers.”[i]
As expected, the work is hot, tiring and messy. Sometimes you have to get your hands (or at least your feet) dirty. Yet God has provided not just a means, but also a way to make it more comfortable for each other while we work and learn. Can you imagine not just taking part in the kingdom work yourself, but providing shade and coolness for someone else as well?
And by now you may be thinking, “I’m definitely one of those people who will have all this taken away from them- I can’t live up to all of it and if God hasn’t lost patience with me already, it surely is coming down the pike… I’m going to be one of those crushed and shattered people that Jesus talked about at the end of the passage when he said “The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls”
And all I can say to that is:
(1) Stop Judging yourself! Let God be God!
(2) Go back to the beginning of the passage one more time. Along with planting the vineyard and putting up the fence and digging out the wine press… God put in a watchtower… God built in a giant stronghold, visible from anywhere in the vineyard, to let you know you are secure! You’re safe in God’s care. That you don’t have to worry about being thrown out beyond the walls for not producing enough, or cast into some scary abyss for not being good enough…
That from fences to watchtowers, God’s got it covered. And if you let yourself embrace the truth that God didn’t land you here by accident… and that you really are a valued, and loved, and accepted… then it would change everything about you! And you wouldn’t miss out on a thing!
[i] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MigdalHaemek5.jpg
