A Reflection on Matthew 21:33–44
The Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost
“The kingdom of heaven is like a householder who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country.”
There are two layers of interpretation in this parable, and we do well to hold both of them together. There is the original, straightforward meaning – the one that first met the Lord’s hearers – and there is the allegorical meaning, which meets each of us this morning, face to face.
The Straightforward Meaning
In the original sense, the vineyard is Israel, i.e., the Jewish race, the Hebrew people. They are planted and cultivated by God Himself. The hedge, the winepress, the tower: everything needed for a fruitful harvest was provided. The vineyard should have been cared for by the leaders to whom it was entrusted, but it was not.
When the owner sent His servants, the prophets, they were stoned, killed, and mistreated. Finally, He sent His own Son. And He, too, was mistreated and killed.
But here the story turns in a way that it never could have with the prophets. Unlike the prophets, the Son is an indestructible rock. The tenants cast Him out and kill Him – but then He rises from the dead. Afterwards, judgment comes upon the Hebrew race in 70 AD, when Jerusalem falls. But even here, notice God’s mercy, for the Lord gave them several decades to repent before that judgment fell.
The Son is also the cornerstone: the stone that ties two great walls together. In this case, two peoples, Jew and Gentile. The true Israel is now the Church, not a Middle Eastern nation. It is Jew and Gentile brought together in one building, one Body: the Body of Christ, the Church.
As much as some people hate this and pejoratively call it “replacement theology,” it is senseless to fight it, because “this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” This is the straightforward meaning.
The Allegorical Meaning
But the parable does not stop at history. It comes home.
The vineyard that is leased out is an allegory for my soul and for yours. My existence is on loan from God. I am a tenant, not an owner. And God will require an account from every one of us. He will ask for fruit.
So the question the parable presses upon me is this: what will I do with the vineyard of my soul?
God has hedged this vineyard about. He has given us the Gospel, the lives of the saints, the sacraments, the teachings of the Church Fathers – all of which preserve the grace of God within this interior vineyard. The question is whether I will let that hedge do its work.
Will I allow God’s messengers to speak to me? These messengers are named hardship, suffering, and affliction – all of whom I disdain so much. Or will I fight the messengers, trying to impose my will on this life? Will I stone the prophets and the apostles with my rejection of the way of the Cross, by seeking pride, comforts, and pleasures instead?
And then comes the decisive moment. When the owner of the vineyard of my soul sends His Son to me, and He comes – bearing a cross instead of worldly power and prestige – and He beckons me to be like Him, saying, “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me” – will I resist or obey?
The Cornerstone
Christ is the cornerstone: an unbreakable, heavy stone. This is the same image as the Cross. The stone which others have rejected is the Cross, because it is scandalous, foolish, and unpleasant. Nobody would choose to build with such a cornerstone.
And yet we are invited to fall upon this Rock – to let our sinful habits and the mask of our ego be shattered. That is the healthiest thing to do for every person entering the Orthodox Church: allow yourself to be shattered upon the Rock that is Christ. For only then can Christ pick up the pieces and rebuild us in His divine image.
But we mustn’t hold anything back – like the rich young ruler did in last Sunday’s Gospel reading. Let it all be shattered. If we will not let Him shatter our false selves, we will be utterly crushed in the End, when the Rock of God’s judgment falls on us.
Notice, in the first case, the stone just sits there. It is we who do the falling. We are shattered by meeting the mighty God who will never be pushed around by our will power. In the end, we shatter ourselves. And the greater our ego and delusion lift us into the clouds, the greater our fall and shattering.
But there is still hope. There is hope for anyone who will allow themselves to be shattered upon the Rock, which is the beautiful, salvific Cross of Christ.