Matthew 21:37-8 - "Finally the landlord sent his son, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But when the farmers saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him and take his inheritance.'"
Even more shocking behavior from the farmers. Somehow, they convinced themselves that they'd be able to take the inheritance by killing the heir; as if they are next in line. Or, more likely, they thought they'd be able to defend the vineyard against the might of the landlord and (possibly) the Roman troops. This behavior makes no sense, which is by design. It's meant to be a mirror for the behavior of the chief priests and elders. Everyone has probably figured out by now that the point of the parable, except the final twist here. The son.
If the landlord represents God; the farmers, the chief priests and elders; and the slaves, the prophets, then who does the son represent? We know it's Jesus, but do the chief priests and elders know? Probably; Jesus has simultaneously told them that he knows they want to kill him and that he's the son of God. They receive the message, but only a few verses further on.
I want to focus, though on the farmers' behavior here. They seem to have lost all sense of their relationship to the landlord and their duties under their agreement with him. They're now in it for themselves and damn the consequences. There's no indication in the story that they have been mistreated in any way. In fact, they have been given several chances to do the right thing. This landlord has a lot of patience with them. They are the equivalent of our current Republican "leaders," who, in the name of their God - money - have forsaken their duty to take care of those who need help. They never really felt they had such a duty. Their behavior isn't new - it's just out in the open. Just like the farmers, they think they can do what they want with our money without having to pay any consequences. So far, they are correct - they have had very few consequences.
Their latest is to try to drastically cut programs that serve their fellow Americans experiencing hard times in order to pay for their $1.5 trillion tax cut to rich people and corporations. They propose to cut Medicare - a program that all workers, including undocumented workers, pay into. Therefore, any cuts are in actuality theft. They are ignoring their duties to their fellow citizens in favor of screwing over Americans experiencing hard times. This is unconstitutional; the preamble to the constitution talks about "establish[ing] justice." This is not justice.
In addition, they have begun calling DACA recipients "criminals," even though they are law abiding people; brought here as children by their parents. Until 45 killed the program they were here legally. This is important to remember when Republicans say they want to help. They don't - there wasn't a peep from them when the program was cancelled. Let's not let them get away with such duplicitous reframing.
Martin Niemoller wrote a famous poem which begins, "First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a socialist." Most of us know how the poem ends. The sooner we begin to speak out and keep it up, the easier it will be to stop the rapacious behavior of the Republican "leaders." The time has come - if not past - to choose sides: will you stand with the landlord? or with the rebellious farmers?
I choose to side with mercy and love; I choose to side with Jesus.
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