Jesus began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes, and the
elders in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around
it, dug a wine press, and built a tower. Then he leased it to
tenant farmers and left on a journey. At the proper time he sent a
servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of
the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away
empty-handed.” Mark 12:1–3
This was the first of “many” servants the owner of the vineyard
sent to the tenants to obtain some of the produce of the vineyard.
Some of the servants were mistreated, some beaten and others were
killed. In the end, the owner sent his son. The tenants killed him,
thinking that they would inherit the vineyard if the son were
dead.
The context of this parable is important. Jesus had just entered
Jerusalem for the beginning of the first Holy Week, which would
ultimately end with His death and resurrection. The day before,
Jesus had cleansed the Temple of the money changers. The chief
priests, scribes and elders were outraged and began to plot His
death. Jesus especially addressed this parable to them.
To understand this parable, you need to understand who represents
whom. The religious leaders of Israel were the tenants, the
vineyard was the Jewish nation, God the Father was the man who
planted the vineyard, the many servants sent to gather the produce
were the prophets of old, and Jesus was the Beloved Son Who was
killed. The parable concludes by saying that the owner of the
vineyard (God the Father) will put the tenants to death and give
the vineyard to others. In other words, the scribes, Pharisees,
chief priests and elders would soon have their religious authority
taken away from them, and it would be given to the Apostles and
their successors. This parable, therefore, presents us with a
summary of the way the Church was formed.
It’s helpful to note that the religious leaders of the time knew
that Jesus addressed this parable to them, but they failed to heed
the lesson. Ideally, if they were open to the gift of faith, they
would have realized that they were attempting to steal the
“vineyard” from God. They were attempting to control and manipulate
the Kingdom of Israel, to make it into their own image, and to
disregard the will of God Who established it.
This parable is especially important for anyone who exercises some
form of holy authority. Parents exercise authority within the home.
Bishops and priests exercise authority within the Church. And we
all exercise a certain spiritual authority when we seek to fulfill
our unique mission in life. The lesson from this parable is simple:
don’t abuse your authority. Don’t exercise authority according to
your own will; exercise it with humility only in accord with God’s
will. Every leader, always and everywhere, must lead according to
the mind and will of God. If they fail, they will suffer the
consequences.
Reflect, today, upon any way that God has entrusted you with a
spiritual duty to fulfill His mission in this world. When a duty of
leadership is entrusted to a person, the leader is also entrusted
with the spiritual authority to fulfill that duty in accord with
the mind and will of God. This requires constant humility so that
it is only God’s will that is fulfilled. Seek to exercise all
authority in accord with the mind and will of God, and the vineyard
entrusted to your care will bear an abundance of good fruit.
Loving Father, You have chosen to send me, as a tenant of Your
Kingdom, to bear good fruit for eternal life. Please help me to
always exercise the authority and duty entrusted to me with
humility so that I will seek to fulfill Your will and Your will
alone. Jesus, I trust in You.
Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.com
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Featured image above: The Parable of the Vineyard (one of a set
of twelve scenes from The Life of Christ) Creator:Jan Rombouts, via
Wikimedia Commons
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