Oct 3, 2026 · 6 min · 3 segments
There is one other thing we must do. We must hear and heed the messengers God sends to us workers in the vineyard. For we, too, need to be converted throughout our lives. About the Speaker: Father…
They use and abuse the vineyard for their own purposes and not for those of God.
No matter how often God's prophets call them to repentance, they fail to respond.
So responsibility for the people of God will be turned over to a new laborer, the church.
The evangelist included this parable in order to give Gentile Christians confidence that their membership in the community of disciples was in accord with God's will.
Gentiles were not always welcome because they were frequently unable or unwilling to follow the Law of Moses.
This parable tells them that they are in the church because God has handed that vocation to them.
Millennia have passed, and a parable that gave Gentile Christians a sense of vocation and legitimacy vis-a-vis the Jews does not have the same emotional force for us.
So what are we to make of the parable? Is it of merely historic interest? Let's look at the comment of the chief priests and elders.
Jesus asks them, "When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" They answer, "He will put those wicked ones to a miserable death and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time." It's easy for them to recognize that the tenants are wicked.
Could it be that we fail to see the same failure in ourselves? The church has its own chief priests and elders of the people.
Are those called to the ministry of leadership in the church always and everywhere good stewards of the trust they have been given? No.
That was easy to say, and it's not untrue, but yet might we not repeat the error of those who heard Jesus and recognized others' failings? There always have been, are, and always will be l- bad leaders in the church.
But who are the tenants of the vineyard of the Lord? Are they solely the clergy? We must think about where that vineyard is today.
In that case, the laborers in the vineyard are not merely the leaders of the church, but the church itself.
That means that every Christian has the duty that once belonged to the chief priests and elders of the people.
Our vocation is to give guidance, correction, and encouragement to all people that they may yield the harvest God longs for.
How can we do that? Preaching and teaching, explicitly declaring the loving will of God, is certainly one way, an essential one.
They use and abuse the vineyard for their own purposes and not for those of God.
No matter how often God's prophets call them to repentance, they fail to respond.
So responsibility for the people of God will be turned over to a new laborer, the church.
The evangelist included this parable in order to give Gentile Christians confidence that their membership in the community of disciples was in accord with God's will.
Gentiles were not always welcome because they were frequently unable or unwilling to follow the Law of Moses.
This parable tells them that they are in the church because God has handed that vocation to them.
Millennia have passed, and a parable that gave Gentile Christians a sense of vocation and legitimacy vis-a-vis the Jews does not have the same emotional force for us.
So what are we to make of the parable? Is it of merely historic interest? Let's look at the comment of the chief priests and elders.
Jesus asks them, "When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" They answer, "He will put those wicked ones to a miserable death and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time." It's easy for them to recognize that the tenants are wicked.
Could it be that we fail to see the same failure in ourselves? The church has its own chief priests and elders of the people.
Are those called to the ministry of leadership in the church always and everywhere good stewards of the trust they have been given? No.
That was easy to say, and it's not untrue, but yet might we not repeat the error of those who heard Jesus and recognized others' failings? There always have been, are, and always will be l- bad leaders in the church.
But who are the tenants of the vineyard of the Lord? Are they solely the clergy? We must think about where that vineyard is today.
In that case, the laborers in the vineyard are not merely the leaders of the church, but the church itself.
That means that every Christian has the duty that once belonged to the chief priests and elders of the people.
Our vocation is to give guidance, correction, and encouragement to all people that they may yield the harvest God longs for.
How can we do that? Preaching and teaching, explicitly declaring the loving will of God, is certainly one way, an essential one.
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