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He went on to tell the people this parable: \u201cA man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. \xa0At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. \xa0He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. \u201cThen the owner of the vineyard said, \u2018What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.\u2019 \xa0\u201cBut when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. \u2018This is the heir,\u2019 they said. \u2018Let\u2019s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.\u2019 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. \u201cWhat then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.\u201d (Luke 20:9-16a)

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The point of this parable would not be lost on the religious leaders.\xa0 Just prior to this, they had asked Jesus by what authority he did the things that he did, like teaching and cleansing the temple of merchants. \xa0Jesus does not answer them directly, but he does tell them this story.\xa0

A man plants a vineyard.\xa0 Folks who knew their Bibles, particularly Isaiah, would have recognized that man to be God, and the vineyard to be Israel.\xa0 The vineyard owner then sends to get some of the fruit, which would have been the rightful rent payment due him.\xa0 He sends three servants, each of them treated worse than the last.\xa0 The reference here is likely to Israel\u2019s stoning and killing of the prophets: God\u2019s servants sent to them time and time again.\xa0 \xa0

The vineyard owner is placed in a dilemma: what to do next.\xa0 Our Bible translation doesn\u2019t quite catch the full drama of this parable.\xa0 The culture of the Middle East in the days of Jesus was a culture of honour and shame.\xa0 So it is worth noting that the renters treated the owner\u2019s servants shamefully.\xa0 Biblical cultural commentator Ken Bailey says this honour culture means that \u201cthe abusing of his servants is an insult to his person, and he is expected, indeed honor bound, to deal with the matter.\u201d\xa0

He had every right, and also the power to contact the authorities and have them send an armed company of trained men to storm and retake the vineyard.\xa0 He could choose force, power, and violent judgement to put an immediate end to their abuse.\xa0

But instead he chooses a merciful and a costly act of peace.\xa0 He chooses to extend the olive branch once more, knowing full well what these violent tenants have done to his servants, and what his risky choice of deeper vulnerability might cost.\xa0 \u201cI will send my son,\u201d he says, \u201cwhom I love.\xa0 Perhaps they will\u201d not respect, but \u201cfeel shame in his presence.\u201d\xa0 That\u2019s what the Arabic versions say, in faithfulness to the original intent within a culture of honour.\xa0

God had been insulted and had had His honor tarnished in the eyes of His people, and yet He chose to put His anger far away and not deal out the judgment they deserved.\xa0 Instead, He sent His Son.\xa0 A costly act of self-emptying love that has the power to disarm the violence of the tenants, reawaken their sense of shame, and bring peace.

That is still the reality today.\xa0 So, do we exert our will and control on God\u2019s church today, believing in the righteousness of our position?\xa0 Or do we still feel ashamed and humbled in the presence of our gentle, self-giving Lord who mercifully comes to us with the offer of peace rather than the sword of judgement?\xa0

The invitation, of course, is to continue to accept the offer of peace given us in Jesus, let him heal and take away our shame, and go forward in this same humble, self-giving way of love and mercy that he has offered to us.

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