Violence in the Vineyard!

“There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went away.” (Matthew 21:33)

Thus begins one of the most violent parables Jesus ever told though it doesn’t begin violently. It’s a story of a beautiful vineyard, and it might have been a lovely story except that the vineyard goes to seed very quickly through themismanagement of its tenants, though the focus of the story is not so much on their mismanagement of the property as it is on their callous disregard for the rights of the legal owner.

“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.” (Matthew 21:34-36)

The behaviour of the tenant-farmers in this story is vicious. Moreover, it’s senseless! Even if they were useless tenants and couldn’t come up with the rent, why would they act with such disregard for the law and for their relationship with their landlord?

The longer I live, the more I become convinced that all violence is senseless, and indeed, I’ve seen way too much of it.

I’ve been in war zones in Syria a number of times. I was almost killed in a riot in Israel in 2004, and I somehow survived being drowned off the coast of Manus Island in 2016. Even so, the worst violence I’ve seen has been right here at home.

I was parish priest in Dulwich Hill during the early 1990’s when the heroin trafficking was at its peak, and during that time three members of our parish were shot though, happily, they all survived. Now, depending on where you are in the world, that may be pretty normal for your church. In Sydney, that’s pretty rare.

Yes, there’s violence in the streets, violence in our homes and here there’s violence in the vineyard and it is absurd violence! The master sends his servants to collect the rent and, if these tenant farmers had wanted to keep the master happy and at a safe distance, you’d think they would have just given him some token amount of rent to keep him satisfied? He doesn’t seem to have been a hard man to please.

Or why didn’t they try to give the owner the impression that his servants hadn’t shown up, or, if they were determined to kill the master’s servants, why didn’t they do it covertly and dispose of the bodies in secret? No! These people are unabashed in the way they behave! It’s as if they had forgotten that they had a master? Certainly, they act as if the master didn’t exist!

The only character more difficult to understand than the tenant farmers in this story is the master whose consistent response to the violence of these people is just to keep sending more servants! One messenger after another is abused and killed, and we’re waiting for the master to try something different, and … eventually, he does. He sends his son! They will respect my son,’ he said.” (Matthew 21:37)

What made the landowner think that these people would respect his son? Given their behaviour up to this point – their complete disregard for his rightful claim on the property, and the acts of violence that they had consistently meted out to every one of his representatives, what made the landowner think these people would now act differently? When is the penny going drop that this situation is not going to improve?

“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.” (Matthew 21:33-39)

Jesus ends his story with a question: Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” (Matthew 21:40) My response to that question is, ‘I don’t know. Has he got another son?’

We could have told him what would happen. What was he thinking? What sort of set-up is this where everyone is trapped in an endless cycle of mindless violence? What sort of people are these tenants? What sort of master is this?

This is our world, isn’t it? Look around! This isn’t just some 2,000-year-old fable. This is our story – the lies, the violence, the exploitation, and the complete disregard for rightful claims of the master. We aren’t just reading this. We are living it!

And so Jesus’ ends the parable with nothing resolved. The master has no rent, no servants, no vineyard and now … no son! The evil tenants are alive and well, and appear to still be running the show, and so the violence continues with no sign of resolution. ‘He who has ears, let him hear!’

When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

Yes, the hope for a final reckoning is there at the end of the story, and yet the reality we experience is exactly as Jesus depicts it – the servants have been rejected, the Son has been killed, and the ownership of the vineyard still seems to be very much in doubt! Meanwhile, the tenant farmers run wild in their violence and stupidity!

Where’s the Good News? Is there any good news in this story?

Personally, the good news I find in this story is less in the hope for a final reckoning than it is in the character of the master. Yes, the master is hard to understand. He seems far too indiscriminate in who he lets take charge of his vineyard, and he seems way too tolerant in terms of what he puts up with. Even so, there are two things that come through very clearly in this story.

Firstly, the master will not give up on his vineyard, and this despite the fact that it seems to be a lost cause. The master still loves the vineyard. He’s not letting go. That’s the first thing, and the second is this: that the master is committed to doing whatever it takes to regain control. No price is too great!

Hear the parable of the vineyard! Hear it in the chaos of our world. Hear it in the violence we endure. Hear it in the patience of God. Hear it in the sending of the Son.

The Master has not given up on us. He has not abandoned His vineyard. He has not withdrawn His claim on us. And He still calls out: “You who have ears, hear.”

Our Sunday Eucharist

We celebrated another wonderful Eucharist last Sunday, and a big thank you to our dear brothers, Jakob Pyeatt and John Queripel.

I’ve clipped our discussion on Philippians 2 below as it was one of the most insightful discussions I think we’ve had for some time.

John highlighted the irony of Jesus being ‘lifted up’ and Jakob speculated on how bizarre it is that we celebrate Christ’s humility while most religions prefer to celebrate their God as the all-powerful Lord of battles. I draw a comparison with Shia Islam’s veneration of Imam Husain, and then AI Saint Paul joins in and cites a variety of religious traditions where humility is explicitly esteemed.

Our discussion was too valuable to trim down to less than twenty minutes, I’m afraid, but I do encourage you to watch the entire clip if you missed the broadcast, or even to watch the entire broadcast on Rumble.

Our two most popular short videos of the week are posted below. See all our short videos on The Sunday Eucharist Instagram page and all our video on Rumble.

This Sunday coming is the first Sunday of the month which means we’ll be privileged once again to have David Baldwin and Tom Toby back on the panel. Can’t wait! 😊

I should warn you though that I’m starting a new part-time position with a church at The Wesley Mission in Sydney on Sunday and their service starts at 10.30 am! I’m hoping not to offend anyone there by dashing away to start our service at midday.

We go live at midday – Sydney time – (and I trust I won’t be late) via Rumble, Facebook, Twitter (X), LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia and StreamYard.

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What’s On?

Sunday, October 4 – Our Eucharist from noon @thesundayeucharist.com, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia, StreamYard and Rumble.
Tuesday, October 6 – Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm.
Thursday, October 8 – Bible Study @www.thesundayeucharist.com/bible noon.
Friday, October 9 – Boxing at Brofit Gym in Bankstown from 6.30 pm
Saturday, October 10 – Boxing at the Legends Gym in Kensington – 3 pm

I pray you’ve had a blessed week. It’s been another week of highs and lows for me.

I mentioned the dramas at Binacrombi last week, culminating in a visit from the police and an arrest. I drove our dear brother, Scotty Piggot, out there last night and he’s planning on being there for a month. No doubt he will be a stabilizing force. Please say a prayer for him.

As mentioned above, I start a new part-time position on Sunday with Wesley Mission located in the heart of Sydney’s CBD. I’ll be preaching and pastoring their 10.30am congregation, and I feel privileged to be on the team there for the next three months. I trust I’ll be able to wind things up with them in time to start our broadcast at midday.

This new position means that my window of opportunity for a quick trip to Syria has now closed. I put the starting date off for month, but I can’t put it off any longer. This leaves me pained and (I must confess) a little relieved, as I was thinking it might be a one-way trip. The pain has also been much relieved through my communications with a wonderful Australian human-rights lawyer currently in Damascus.

I mustn’t say too much about this wonderful woman at the moment as she is keen to keep her head below the parapet. Even so, she is a Lebanese Australian woman of enormous integrity and courage. God willing, she’ll be visiting Dr Hassoun very soon at which point we’ll be able to speak more openly about her work.

That’s enough for today.

May the Lord bless and strengthen you for the work to which you have been called.

Your brother in the Good Fight,