Matthew 21:33-41 "Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard..."

“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 watch-tower. 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’” (Matthew 21:33-41).

Question:

My understanding has been that the church leaders are the tenants, the first servants to come and claim the fruit were the prophets and the son was Jesus. How does this apply to us today? If I am the son, my Christ consciousness, who were servants before? Are the tenants my ego? My addictions? What does it mean to fall on the stone?

Comment:

PASSAGE: The parables of Jesus are some of the most powerful—and entertaining—stories every told. And like all great stories, they don't necessarily lend themselves to a left-brain, highly analytic and exact approach. They speak more to our right-brain, creative understanding. So we can't say with any authority that Jesus intended this to equal that. We can recognize that the story contains important spiritual truth—and that that truth will express differently in everyone who hears the story—indeed, it will express differently in us when we hear the same story at different points on our own spiritual paths.   I think we are all the tenants—given dominion over this human experience with the expectation that we will tend it and nurture it so that it can grow into the new consciousness that is the kingdom of heaven. On one level the servants (or 'slaves') sent by the landowner are the prophets and spiritual leaders who have been rejected by the people of Israel. On a deeper level they are our own spiritual thoughts—thoughts reminding us that we do not “own” this human experience and its purpose is not simply to continue to perpetuate itself. We reject those thoughts, caught up in the dramas of mortal life, believing that what we produce is ours to keep. The son is our own Christ Presence—the truth of our innate Oneness with God, our divine Source. When we try to reject our own connection to the divine, the consequences are severe indeed. It's important to note, I think, that it is not Jesus but his listeners who decide that the landowner "will put those wretches to a miserable death." Jesus' point is not about punishment, but about consequences. He makes it clear a few verses later: "The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom" (Matthew 21:43). Choices have consequences. If we choose to ignore or deny the spiritual principles and commitments that have brought us into human form, then we can never achieve the spiritual harvest that is our purpose.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed