GOD’S people, who are like a treasured vineyard, are being ravaged because of their own infidelity; only God can restore them (Psalm 80:9, 12, 13–14, 15–16, 19–20). Unfaithful tenants want the vineyard for themselves; it will be entrusted to one who faithfully carries out God’s plans (Matthew 21:33–43).
Give us new life
PSALM 80 is a lament for the destruction of the people of God at the hands of their enemies. Israel is the vineyard, originally a vine plucked out of Egypt. To plant the vine in its own soil, the Promised Land, God, like a cultivator, cleared away the land of Canaan and drove out its inhabitants. There, it took root and flourished under the reign of David, expanding from the Mediterranean Sea to the great Euphrates River. But now the vineyard of the Lord has only broken walls; it has been intruded into by predators, and ravaged and desecrated by wild, unclean animals. The sufferings of Israel may have been at the hands of other nations, but these were allowed by God.
Begging for God’s mercy to look kindly upon them again, the psalmist recalls God’s special care for His people in the past; He planted this vine with His right hand and made strong the man (David) He chose as His own. Based on God’s past blessings, there is hope for salvation. As the Lord of Hosts, God, like a military leader, can marshal the forces of heaven and protect Israel. They confess that they have turned away from God; they caused their own misfortune. They ask to be restored and given a second chance and a new life, and they promise to be faithful in the future and to never to turn back from God and to call upon His name. Only in God’s favor can they be saved.
Let us acquire the inheritance
IN yet another parable involving a vineyard, Jesus, this time, portrays not daily-wage laborers or the owner’s sons, but tenants. The owner supplies the principal needs: he planted the vines, put up an enclosure against wild animals, dug a wine press for the harvest, and built a tower as a watch post and shelter. The owner has done everything he can: “What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it” (Isaiah 5:4). The vineyard is Israel, and the tenants are the religious leaders who are only tasked to look after it, bring in the grapes in due time and produce wine.
Something goes wrong with the tenants: they refuse to give the grapes that are due to the owner. Time and again they beat, stone and kill the owner’s servants (the prophets) who come to remind the tenants of the original agreement. Even the son of the owner, sent to persuade the tenants to be faithful to their covenant, is not spared.
The real motive behind their infidelity is revealed: They want the vineyard for themselves. They do not want to be mere tenants; they desire to be the owner in their pursuit of power and privilege. They do not want to live according to a covenant agreement; they desire to be autonomous, accountable to no one.
The produce at the proper time
THE leaders of the people unwittingly judge themselves when they answer Jesus’s question on what will the owner do to those tenants: a wretched death to those wretched tenants, and the leasing of the vineyard to tenants who will give to the owner the produce at the proper time. At this point Jesus pursued His prediction of His own death as the owner’s son seized by the tenants, thrown out of the vineyard (handed over to Rome) and killed. Quoting Psalm 118:22–23, Jesus identifies Himself as the stone rejected by the builders that becomes the cornerstone of a new building.
This reversal is, indeed, wondrous, and this has been done by the Lord. God’s plans take into account the infidelity of the tenants, and their rejection of the prophets and even of the son. Despite this, the wicked attempts to wrest the vineyard from the owner will not be successful. Just as the vineyard will be taken away from such wretched tenants and given to others who will be faithful and will produce fruits, so, too, the kingdom of God will be taken from unfaithful leaders and entrusted to people with integrity.
Alálaong bagá, we do not slide out of God’s reign by sheer accident; we deliberately step away and withdraw from Him. The psalmist knows this as the reason for Israel’s miserable situation, likened to a ravaged vineyard, and so the people promise to recommit themselves to God’s will so that they can have a new life. Different from the psalmist’s repentant lament is the blind rapacity of the treacherous tenants in the Gospel. A new leadership for the people is needed, in which there will be productivity resulting from the fidelity to the owner and his plans. The vital cornerstone will be provided by the stone rejected earlier. There is always hope of new life in the love of God.
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