In our Matthew text, we find Jesus confronting the chief priests with the Parable of the Tenants. In this stirring story, Jesus tells the priests that while they might be the public face of faith, they have routinely and violently suppressed God’s servants and messengers when their personal power was threatened. For the religious elite in this time, their political and economic power was tied inextricably to their control over religion. When prophets stirred up conflicting beliefs in their people, the chief priests were often caught between following God’s commands and retaining their influence. Time and time again, they chose the to reject, exile, and even kill those who proclaimed the word of the God they claimed to serve.
We see something similar today, with our own class of elites. Christianity is used as a tool to consolidate power under the rich and politically influential in the form of Christian nationalism. Christians place their faith in these powerful people, only to see that power used to strip social safety nets, drive up cost of living, and burn our planet for their own benefit. Those who produce the fruit of God’s kingdom are silenced, the Earth that serves as the foundation for all God’s gifts is pillaged, and the name of Jesus is diluted and warped by ambition and greed.
Where can we find hope in times like these, when the tenants control the vineyard? When we are up against such overwhelming powers, how can we hope to rescue a planet in peril? At the end of the parable, Jesus once again predicts his own death in the form of the son’s death outside the vineyard walls. The religious elite use God’s commands of peace and justice to justify violence and injustice, but in a stunning reversal, Jesus’s death at the hands of empire brings new life to the world. Though we struggle, though the problems of our day might seem insurmountable, through Jesus we see that violence and injustice do not have the final word. Our faith reminds us that no matter what the powerful might do, our cornerstone remains unmoved. Our foundation remains firm and gives us the strength we need to persevere, and to continue to produce the fruits of God’s kingdom.
Deacon Jacob Summerville
Deacon
Eau Claire, WI
Jacob Summerville serves as a deacon at Spirit Lutheran Church in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He has worked in many areas of the church, including youth ministry, chaplaincy, and advocacy work with Lutheran Advocacy – Minnesota. He has deep roots in the ELCA, and is excited to be writing for Green Blades Rising for the second time.
Thank you for this piercing application of the parable of the tenants to "our own class of elites" today, ravaging the vineyard of the earth, robbing those whose voices and needs are being suppressed, doing so in a perversion of the name of Jesus via Christian nationalism. Thank you also for the reminder of "the stunning reversal" of Jesus' death at the hands of empire, and its affirmation that violence and injustice do not have the last word.
Powerful (the good kind of power!) words on this vast parable my friend. Thank you for weaving and relaying this ancient wisdom to our present crises--the 'chief priests' of today. I pray we could be attuned as the Church to where the wrong kind of power goes unchecked and check it!