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.
Again he sent them another servant. And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully.
He sent yet another whom they killed. So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed.
He had one other to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, 'They will respect my son.'
But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'
So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
What (then) will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, put the tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others.
Have you not read this scripture passage: 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes'?"
They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd, for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them. So they left him and went away.
Source: https://dailygospel.org/M/AM/
Analysis
Today's passage describes a parable, that is the parable of the landowner. This parable is quite interesting, as it tells us of Jesus' own sacrifice here, how? Before anything else, since this passage only contains the parable, we will go ahead and discuss the parable itself. The parable is supposed to be a metaphor for God and the People of Israel. This parable, is one of the parables that makes Jesus seem associated with ethnic biased belief, though is that truly how it is? The common interpretation of this is that the landowner represents God, the workers represent Israel, the servants are prophets, and the son, well Jesus Himself. The parable perfectly describes the historical situation of Israel. Many prophets were sent to the Jews, but the Jews never really took it seriously. And even when Jesus came, He was rejected and crucified. Is it this simple though? Let's analyze it further.
It makes sense that the workers are Jews of the old testament, but if we are to say that they have the same relationship with God as the workers and the landowner, then we can say that the Jews had a contract with God. Perhaps this contract is the old testament. In the parable, the landowner sent servants to retrieve the produce of the vineyard, but these servants were killed. Then how does this correlate with the Jewish community? The produce may be metaphor for the good deeds of the Israelite, when they went astray, the prophets came to warn them, though their words fell on deaf ears. Then, the landowner sent his son to retrieve the produce. Now, if the landowner sent his son, that means it was the landowner's decision to send his son. Either that, or it may simply be an odd wording choice.
If it is God's decision to send Jesus, that would mean that Jesus never wanted to sacrifice Himself. But isn't it true that it is said that Jesus sacrificed Himself because of His love for humanity? That means it is His choice for this to happen, why don't we look back to our understanding of the trinity? Since technically God is only one, and Jesus has said that He is one and the same with His Father, we can assume that God's decision is also Jesus' decision. As such, this parable still makes sense. But why is it very ethnic centralized? It may simply be Jesus adapting to the Jewish environment. Metaphorically, this may simply be how humanity has kept rejecting God, no matter what. Jesus explains in a Jewish setting as He is explaining to Jews, and it would make it easier to understand.
In the end of the passage, Jesus said that the rejected stone has become the cornerstone. This rejected stone of course, refers to Jesus and Jesus alone, Jesus has been rejected, and became the foundation. What kind of foundation? The foundation towards reaching the Father, or the foundation towards understanding the true nature of God. Of course, we can not say that Jesus is the foundation towards moral truth, as Buddha has done the same previously, however Buddha never really addressed the problem of God. And thus Jesus is the foundation towards the truth of God. Any further truths is laid in reference to His teachings. That is all I can say, have a nice day, and see you tomorrow.
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