Jesus’ parable of the evil workers in the vineyard (Mat. 21: 33-460 is a real downer. Who likes to listen to a story about workers who mistreat or kill every agent of the owner and then, when the owner sends his only son, they kill the son, thinking they will get the vineyard for themselves?
The Parable is obviously a variant of the love song of the vineyard in Isaiah, (Is. 5: 1–7) where the prophet sings about a vineyard that is set up with everything that is needed, and yet it yields wild grapes. Isaiah’s listeners probably didn’t like being denounced as wild grapes, and Jesus’ listeners obviously didn’t like being called evil workers in the vineyard. Nobody, perhaps especially evil people, like to be called evil, but a person who seeks to do good is wise to heed any warning of pitfalls of falling into evil.
In the flow of Matthew’s Gospel, the story clearly stands as a warning that the Jewish leaders are in danger of committing an act of collective violence that will turn out to be an act against God. As we know, the Jewish leaders, at least most of them, didn’t heed the advice. But focusing on the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ time misses the point of the parable for us. Both Isaiah’s love song and Jesus’ parable stress how God prepares the world for human flourishing and yet humans thwart God’s intent. Isaiah sings of grapes growing wild with hints of social oppression, while Jesus stresses the human tendency to solve social problems through collective violence. In this perspective, the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ time are only one example out of countless others of the fundamental tragedy of collective violence. In our time, one can’t help but also think of the ongoing collective violence on the environment which God provided us and which we are squandering to an alarming degree.
In both the love song and the parable, there is judgment, or threat of judgment, which make both of them pretty grim. But we should note the care that God gives to God’s creation as symbolized by the vineyard. What we are presented with is a loving God who wants us to flourish. But what if we reject the love and care given us? If God’s love is rejected, we are left only with human wrath. The consequences are violent and terrifying.
God’s will for flourishing applies to everyone, not just some or a few. A vineyard does not flourish if some people or somebody is expendable. To drive home this point, Jesus quotes the key verse from Psalm 118 that the stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone. In one respect, culture is historically built on the victim. But in a more profound sense, the victim is the missing piece needed to be included for the sake of full human flourishing.
One puzzling detail of the parable is the foolishness of the owner. If every agent has been mistreated, sometimes killed, why send his son into what must clearly be a dangerous situation? But this is what the cosmic owner of the vineyard does. This is the last and final act of caring, to suffer the violence of the workers himself so as he can be the cornerstone for a new culture of full human flourishing. What more proof do we need that God continues to call us back and give us all we need to work the vineyard for the sake of all?
