Matthew 21:33-43,45-46

The gospel passage has many layers of meaning to it, I'm really only going to scratch the surface.

It is very clearly a condemnation of the religious leaders who were rejecting Jesus and would ultimately have him killed.

The church has long identified the vineyard as Israel, the tenants as the religious leaders, the chief priests and the scribes, and the "other tenants" as the christian church who inherit the kingdom of God.

There are a couple of important points though:

It is the original tenants who come to a wretched end, not the vineyard. The vineyard, Israel or God's kingdom, take your pick, is handed to new tenants who will care for it and produce fruit.

Those new tenants were both Jew and Gentile. It is the leadership that Jesus is rebuking, not the faithful people.

The kingdom of God is given to a people who will produce its fruit.

I think this is key to understaning the parable. We are not saved simply because we inherit the faith. We have to live it. If we don't we risk becoming like the bad tenants in the parable, trying to keep for ourselves what we should be giving to God.

I never want to feel that God might look on me as a bad tenant in his vineyard.

Let us seek always to produce the proper fruits of the kingdom and share them as God intends.