Fool me once …

What’s your reaction to today’s gospel reading? Did anything move you, positively or negatively?

For me, it was the harsh and violent ending! “Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? … 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.” 

Ouch! But it’s made no better by Jesus’ seeming endorsement of this harsh and violent ending! 

“Therefore I tell you," Jesus says to his audience, the chief priests and the Pharisees, “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.“

That moves me. But not in a good way! I don’t like it! The voices in that parable don’t sound like God or Jesus to me. And yet, isn’t that what the parable says? …

Or does it? Might there some other way to hear this parable? And, in this other way, can the authentic and loving voice of Jesus nonetheless be found even here?

The answer is, of course, yes! But, before I share that good news with you, let me first remind you where we are in the Gospel of Matthew,

Gone are the days of Jesus meek and mild teaching adoring crowds along the seashore. Palm Sunday has already happened. Right now, Jesus is in Jerusalem, contending with those who will soon put him to death!

Emotions are at a fever pitch. And, in this parable, Jesus—like the prophets before him—is trying to convey to his enemies just how wrong they are. And how dangerous their decisions about him could be! To him, yes, but, even more so, to them!

“Therefore I tell you," Jesus says specifically to them—and only to them—as a result of what they’re about to do to him, “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.“ 

In brief, the parable is harsh and violent because what is about to happen to Jesus is harsh and violent.

Nonetheless, the authentic and loving voice of Jesus can still be found in it!

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I had an “aha!” moment when I learned that Jesus’ parable of the workers in the vineyard would have been heard differently by Matthew’s original audience than the way I’d always heard it. 

The minute Jesus starts talking about a vineyard they would have known he was talking about God’s people (a point also made in today’s reading from Isaiah!). 

Then, when Jesus starts talking about a vineyard at harvest time, Jesus’ audience would know he’s talking about what happens to God’s people at the end of time. 

And then, when Jesus talks about vineyard workers at harvest time standing in line to see what their wages will be, everyone would know that, instead of talking about the unfair labor practices of a vineyard owner, Jesus is proclaiming the good news that, when God comes to give us what we’ve earned or failed to earn in this life, each and every one of us will be met by God’ surprising and amazing grace!

Hooray! So might something similar be going on in today’s parable about the owner of a vineyard and the workers he entrust to tend it? 

Of course!

While on vacation last week I started reading a book I’d been given for my birthday. Called The Deepest South of All: True Stories from Natchez, Mississippi, Richard Grant does just that. He tells stories about the people living in the very quirky town of Natchez, Mississippi.

One of those stories concerns William Johnson, a former slave who became wealthy as a barber and owner of several businesses in Natchez. Everyone knew him. And every male—black or white—went for a shave or a haircut at one of his many shops.

Although not a farmer, Johnson used his wealth to buy a farm. And here’s where his story gets eerily like Jesus’ parable! 

As an absentee owner—just like the owner in the parable—-Johnson hired tenants to work his land—just like the owner in the parable. And, tragically—just like the owner in the parable—when he sent agents to collect his share of the produce, the tenants—just like in the parable—rose up and killed the agents.

Except, in this case, the “agent” was the owner himself! But get this. Even though William Johnson’s murder was witnessed by his son, a free black apprentice, and a slave the murderer got off scot-free!

Since the witnesses were black and the murderer claimed to be half-white and half-Native American (a dubious claim), black witnesses could not legally testify in a capital case against a white man in Mississippi. The murderer, therefore, could not be convicted despite the fact that everyone knew he killed Johnson!

The point here is that for Jesus’ original audience, this was an all too familiar scenario. Absentee landlords routinely hired out their land and expected a portion of the produce as their fair share.

Even though it was foolish and foolhardy, occasionally, tenants thought they could murder the owner’s agents and claim the land as their own. Unlike the murderer of William Johnson, however, they seldom if ever got away with it!

You know the expression, “Fool me once, shame on you! Fool me twice, share on me!”? After being tricked once, you should learn from your mistakes and avoid being tricked again.

And that’s what Jesus’ first audience would have noticed and been shocked by in the parable. 

When the harvest time had come, “the owner sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.” 

That’s the first time. But, “Again [the owner] sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way.” 

That’s the second time! He was fooled once. He was fooled twice. But he’s still not done or giving up! "Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’” 

Really? That’s what you think? Think again! “When the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.”

Are you ready for the real ending of this parable? Are you ready for what it’s meant to say to us? We believe in a foolish God! And thank God that God is foolish! 

God won’t take no for an answer! When his people rebelled or stopped listening to him, God sent prophets. 

Time and time again God sent prophets. But when God’s people still would not listen to him, God sent his Son. And even killing him can’t—and won’t—stop him!

God wants all of us to be lika ‘dis. And nothing will ever stop God from doing just that! 

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In Jesus' name. Amen.