When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.
But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned.
Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way.
Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, 'They will respect my son.'
But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.'
They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?"
They answered him, "He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times."
Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the scriptures: 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes'?
Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them.
And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.
Gospel commented,
Bearing fruit in the One who bore it in the fulness of time
« My bridegroom to me is a cluster of grapes from Cyprus, in the vineyard of Engedi » (Sg 1,14)… This divine cluster is covered with flowers before the Passion and pours out its wine in the Passion… He is like a cluster of grapes hanging on a vine, which does not always look the same but changes its appearance with the season as blossom turns to fully formed fruit and then to the ripe fruit which eventually is made into wine. Its fruit gives promise to the vine even before that fruit is ripe enough for wine, and while still awaiting harvest time it does not lack the capacity to please. Its scent gives pleasure if its taste does not, for scent holds the expectation of future enjoyment. The breath of hope delights the senses of the soul, since the certainty of enjoying what is hoped for gives pleasure! those who patiently await that enjoyment. This then is what the grapes of Cyprus stand for, which even before becoming wine hold the promise of wine, and by their blossom, since blossom is hope, give assurance of future enjoyment…
Anyone whose will is in harmony with the law of God and who “meditates on it day and night is like an tree planted by running water, which yields its fruit in due season and whose leaves will never wither” (Ps 1,1-3). So it was that the vine of the bridegroom in Engedi, rooted in fertile ground, that is to say, in profound meditation nourished by the divine teachings, produced this flowering and ripening bunch of grapes in which it beholds its own vinedresser. Blessed that husbandry whose fruit takes on the appearance of the bridegroom! Since he… is true light, true life, true righteousness and every similar perfection, when anyone by his deeds becomes what he is, that person, beholding the cluster of grapes which is his own conscience sees therein the bridegroom himself, for in his own radiantly pure life he sees as in a mirror the light of truth. Hence this fruitful vine says: “My vines are in bloom, the buds have opened” (cf. Sg 7,13). The bridegroom is this true cluster of grapes in person, showing himself attached to the wood and whose blood becomes a saving drink for those who rejoice in their salvation.
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