NOTES for Luk 20:9-18
The parable of the Lord’s vineyard was first told by the prophet Isaiah at the end of the eighth century before the birth of Christ. Returning to it on the eve of His Passion, the Lord draws attention to certain details that make this parable not only an image of Israel’s relationship with God, but also an image of the fall into sin in general. “Let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours”: these words could serve as the grim slogan of all humanity in its opposition to God. Yet first and foremost the Lord is speaking about the chief priests and scribes, the leaders of the people. They regard the people of God as their own allotment, given to them “for their support,” as it was called in ancient Rus’. The absurdity of what is happening also lies in the fact that the tenants in this parable try to pretend that the true Owner does not exist, that God will not see their deeds. But God does not disappear because some people would like to be rid of Him. Therefore, for the chief priests, the Lord whom they rejected becomes the cornerstone without which the whole edifice of the Jewish religion, built over centuries, collapses.