Gospel in Art: The tenants of the vineyard killed the landowner's son

The Passion of The Christ, written & directed by Mel Gibson Movie poster still © The Passion of The Christ, all rights reserve

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 8 October 2023
Matthew 21:33-43

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people, 'Listen to another parable. There was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard; he fenced it round, dug a winepress in it and built a tower; then he leased it to tenants and went abroad. When vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his servants, thrashed one, killed another and stoned a third. Next he sent some more servants, this time a larger number, and they dealt with them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them. "They will respect my son" he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, "This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and take over his inheritance." So they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?' They answered, 'He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will deliver the produce to him when the season arrives.' Jesus said to them, 'Have you never read in the scriptures:

It was the stone rejected by the builders

that became the keystone.

This was the Lord's doing

and it is wonderful to see?

'I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.'

Reflection on the Movie Poster

Today's reading tells us how we have all failed God. In fact, Jesus is telling the Jewish people that they are the tenants of God's vineyard who failed to produce the healthy grapes, who killed prophets and who were no about to kill his son. But we ALL did that, not just the Jewish people! When Mel Gibson filmed his Passion of the Christ, he inserted himself into the crucifixion scene as the Roman soldier who nailed Christ to the cross. By doing so he made exactly the point of today's reading, that we all nailed Christ on the cross. We don't see Mel Gibson's face, but we see his hands holding the hammer and nailing Christ's hands and feet to the cross.

Many of you will have seen the The Passion of the Christ. Its rawness in portraying the horrors suffered by Jesus on Good Friday was very impactful. Just as an aside, the Bulgarian actor Christo Jivkov, who played the apostle Saint John in the 2004 film, died from cancer at the age of 48 early in the morning on April 1 in Los Angeles. Maybe we can all say a prayer for him today.

Our Gospel reading ends powerfully with Jesus saying that the stone rejected by the builders became the keystone. The crucified Jesus rose from the dead and became the keystone of a new community of believers which was open to all, including those who rejected him. The Christian Church was born!

LINKS

Gospel in Art: https://christian.art/
Today's reflection: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/matthew-21-33-43-2023/