When Rev Fr Biju Kollamkunnel explained the significance and connotation of ‘The Parable of the Vineyard’, it was a new revelation and strong reminder to many of the listeners, including this writer. We often glance through this parable, stoically, without understanding or trying to understand the essence of it and practicing in our lives. We need to take a serious view of the message it conveys, he says.
Mathew 21:33-46 (read below) vividly describes how the landowner entrusted the vineyard to some farmers who, instead of giving the former’s share, treated his servants badly – they beat many, stoned others and also killed some of them. The landowner sent more servants and all of them met with the same fate. And finally, he sent his son. He was killed by the farmers who thought they would inherit the property in the absence of a heir.
Rev Fr Biju, a pious priest from a Mumbai Catholic parish, says the imagery from the parable is very striking: the servants are prophets sent by God on various occasions, farmers are the people of Israel (religious people, Pharisees and Scribes etc), landowner is God the Father and his son is Jesus Christ. Various prophets who preached the Word of God were rejected and killed by the same people who were supposed to be God’s chosen people. Then, when God the Father sent His only Son Jesus Christ, He was also rejected and killed.
The saga of ‘The Parable of the Vineyard’ continues even today. “Many of us behave like the farmers in the parable. In the parable, the story was not over with the killing of the son. The landowner appears and threw out the farmers from the vineyard and punished them. Our fate will be like this farmers if we don’t realize our mistakes and come back to God,” he says.
According to him, we should not treat Jesus like the way farmers treated the son of the landowner. This raises several questions: Have we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour? Or have we rejected Him? It’s very easy to find out whether we have accepted or rejected Him. If we are following the Word of God, we’re on track. If we’re doing what Jesus told us to do, then there’s nothing to worry.
Rev Fr Biju says it’s significant to note that the landowner then brought new farmers who were ready to give him his share of the crop without creating any hassles. Jesus didn’t stop with the parable. “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed,” Jesus said.
This is a warning to us. What’s Jesus indicating here? He says the so-called religious people in Israel let their opportunity go in waste in favour of Gentiles. Jesus indicated that there will be a new people of God made up of all people who will temporarily replace the Jews so that Jesus can establish His church. This is relevant even today. We get many opportunities to work in the vineyard for Jesus, but we either ignore them or go after worldly things.
Dr D John, one of my favourite Catholic charismatic preachers, narrated a story in a television programme recently. A poor family used to live in a slum in a North Indian town. The parents and four daughters used to live in a one-room shanty. “It was poor family… many days they went to sleep hungry. However, one great thing the parents told their daughters was to attend the Holy Mass daily. With the help of nuns and priests, they passed the 10th grade and then attended a nursing course. They got jobs in a Delhi hospital. Later they got jobs in the US,” Dr John said.
“Now they own a 6-bedroom mansion in the US with swimming pool in the backyard. God lifted them from a slum to a good position in the US. Their faith has only increased over the years,” he said. The message: if we persist with our faith and seek His Kingdom, God will shower His blessings on us.
Rev Fr Biju says, ‘we can’t afford to be people who attend the Holy Mass on Sundays just to show that we’re Christians… and not bothered about other things that Jesus had told us.” Let’s listen to Jesus. We should not end up like the cruel farmers who turned against the servants and son of the landowner.
Mathew 21:33-46
The Parable of the Vineyard
“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
“The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
“But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
Mathew 21:33-46 (read below) vividly describes how the landowner entrusted the vineyard to some farmers who, instead of giving the former’s share, treated his servants badly – they beat many, stoned others and also killed some of them. The landowner sent more servants and all of them met with the same fate. And finally, he sent his son. He was killed by the farmers who thought they would inherit the property in the absence of a heir.
Rev Fr Biju, a pious priest from a Mumbai Catholic parish, says the imagery from the parable is very striking: the servants are prophets sent by God on various occasions, farmers are the people of Israel (religious people, Pharisees and Scribes etc), landowner is God the Father and his son is Jesus Christ. Various prophets who preached the Word of God were rejected and killed by the same people who were supposed to be God’s chosen people. Then, when God the Father sent His only Son Jesus Christ, He was also rejected and killed.
The saga of ‘The Parable of the Vineyard’ continues even today. “Many of us behave like the farmers in the parable. In the parable, the story was not over with the killing of the son. The landowner appears and threw out the farmers from the vineyard and punished them. Our fate will be like this farmers if we don’t realize our mistakes and come back to God,” he says.
According to him, we should not treat Jesus like the way farmers treated the son of the landowner. This raises several questions: Have we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour? Or have we rejected Him? It’s very easy to find out whether we have accepted or rejected Him. If we are following the Word of God, we’re on track. If we’re doing what Jesus told us to do, then there’s nothing to worry.
Rev Fr Biju says it’s significant to note that the landowner then brought new farmers who were ready to give him his share of the crop without creating any hassles. Jesus didn’t stop with the parable. “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed,” Jesus said.
This is a warning to us. What’s Jesus indicating here? He says the so-called religious people in Israel let their opportunity go in waste in favour of Gentiles. Jesus indicated that there will be a new people of God made up of all people who will temporarily replace the Jews so that Jesus can establish His church. This is relevant even today. We get many opportunities to work in the vineyard for Jesus, but we either ignore them or go after worldly things.
Dr D John, one of my favourite Catholic charismatic preachers, narrated a story in a television programme recently. A poor family used to live in a slum in a North Indian town. The parents and four daughters used to live in a one-room shanty. “It was poor family… many days they went to sleep hungry. However, one great thing the parents told their daughters was to attend the Holy Mass daily. With the help of nuns and priests, they passed the 10th grade and then attended a nursing course. They got jobs in a Delhi hospital. Later they got jobs in the US,” Dr John said.
“Now they own a 6-bedroom mansion in the US with swimming pool in the backyard. God lifted them from a slum to a good position in the US. Their faith has only increased over the years,” he said. The message: if we persist with our faith and seek His Kingdom, God will shower His blessings on us.
Rev Fr Biju says, ‘we can’t afford to be people who attend the Holy Mass on Sundays just to show that we’re Christians… and not bothered about other things that Jesus had told us.” Let’s listen to Jesus. We should not end up like the cruel farmers who turned against the servants and son of the landowner.
Mathew 21:33-46
The Parable of the Vineyard
“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
“The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
“But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
