GOSPEL REFLECTION, FRIDAY, 2ND WEEK OF LENT, 6 MARCH 2026 

Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46.  In many of Jesus’ parables there is a clear single point, although it may take some searching to find it.  That is the nature of these parables.  In these, the details are secondary to the main point.  In the Parable of the Vineyard, today’s gospel, the details really matter.  The Pharisees and Scribes, about whom this parable speaks, knew full well that it was a parable of judgement condemning them.  All who heard it would have known too.

One commentator has said that every detail of the parable is founded on remarkably familiar things in their experience.  “For the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel” (Isaiah 5:7).  The thick hedge around it prevented wild creatures or thieves from raiding it.  There was a winepress in it, and the watchtower kept track of wild creatures or thieves who might break in to steal or destroy.  It was also a lodging for those who worked the vineyard.  The vineyard is the nation of Israel owned by God.  The cultivators are the religious leaders of Israel who were to protect the nation.  The messengers who were sent repeatedly were the prophets sent by God.  As with many prophets, they were ill-treated or killed.  The Son who came at last was Jesus himself as a prophet who would be killed too.  All of this meant doom for Israel if matters continued as they were.

But the parable also tells us that God trusted his cultivators.  It tells of God’s patience with them and the various prophetic messengers he had sent, despite their sin.  In the end it tells of God’s judgement, for he took the vineyard out of their hands and gave it to others.  It tells us that those who treated the vineyard badly would be held accountable; we are answerable for the way we perform the tasks given us by God.  Like the disobedient and rebellious cultivators, their sin and ours must be reckoned with.  The prophets who came before were servants, but finally God sent his own Son, who would be treated just as badly as his forerunners.  Finally it tells us of the sacrificial death of Jesus yet to come.  Jesus was never in  any doubt about what lay ahead for him, but he went anyway in sacrificial obedience to the Father.