Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost October 5, 2008
Scripture	Matthew 21:33-46 33“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. 34 When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. 35 But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ 39 So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.” 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’? 43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. 44 The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.” 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. 46 They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.
Devotional	What is the point of the parable of the vineyard? The story setting may not relate to our lives but in Galilee these types of vineyards were common. Why did Jesus’ story cause offence to the chief priests and Pharisees? At the first hearing of the story, they could not join themselves with the condemnation of the tenants. “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.” As Jesus explains the parable, they realize he is speaking about them. Isn’t it easy to identify someone else as the villain in the story? If we move along quickly, we avoid seeing ourselves just as the chief priests avoid self-identity. Those within our faith community would be hesitant to go as far as Jesus did to make us see ourselves in these stories. How do we see ourselves in these stories? Two of the ways we can see ourselves as we actually are at times is through scripture and Daily Examen. Scripture. We begin by reading the scripture for formation rather than information. To be transformed by scripture one must let go of all preconceived ideas and let God speak through scripture. Daily Examen The daily examination helps us discover ourselves. To look at ourselves with the purpose of self-discovery is the purpose of the examen. To explore questions like: “What did I learn about God and myself today?” We can hear the stories about someone else and condemn them or we can see ourselves in the story and make changes. This is the process of transformation.