The Merciless Vinedressers
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Commentary on today’s Gospel reading:
(Refer: Matthew 21: 33-42)
The message from today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 21: 33-42) most directly refers to the vinedressers of today, i.e. to the New Testament priesthood: first of all, to the Bishops, and then to the Presbyters; as well as to the spiritual vineyard – the New Testament people of God, the Church. The interpretation of this Gospel reading from the ascetic-hesychastic point of view reveals the reasons why the servants that have been sent by the Landlord – the Prophets, and the Son – the God-Man Jesus Christ were killed.
Two questions arise from this Gospel reading: firstly, who or what sort of fruit were the vinedressers (priesthood) supposed to bring (offer) to God? And secondly, what sort of fruit are some of them trying to produce, since it can be clearly seen that they want to keep it for themselves, since they already think they have appropriated the vineyard?
According to the Holy Apostle Paul, the fruits of the Spirit that the vinedressers (priesthood) were supposed to bring to God from His vineyard (the faithful people of God) are the virtues: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, mercy, faith, meekness, self-control (Galatians 5, 22-23).
In order to achieve this goal, the priest of God (the Bishop, the Presbyter) must first purify himself from the passions of the heart, enlighten his mind, and if he can, to attain deification – and then lead the entrusted to him people of God on that path of purification from passions to enlightenment and deification. He needs humbly to incorporate himself into the unity of the Church, and then to build up that unity with his spiritual children.
The passions, as well as the demons associated with them, are the main reasons as to why the inner peace and spiritual development of the members of the Church themselves, are disturbed, and then also, the love and peace between them, i.e. the Church unity. Here is how the Apostle James describes the struggle that arises in us and among us due of our passions: “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your passions (desires for pleasures), that wage war amongst your members? You desire and you do not have; you murder and covet, and cannot obtain; you fight and wage war. Yet you do not have, because you do not ask. You ask, and do not receive, because you seek evil, that you may spend it in your pleasures” (James 4: 1-3).
Thus, those vinedressers (priests) who are seized by the passion of self-love, do not find it suitable that the vineyard (the people of God) offer fruits that are pleasing to God, but mainly fruits that will feed their passions. And it is very obvious that everything starts from the passions of vainglory, covetousness, and love-for-pleasures of the vinedressers: “This is the Heir! Let us kill Him, and the inheritance will be ours.” (Matthew 21: 38). Nowadays, in actual practice, we notice the same three subgroups of the main passion – self-love, which appear in the vinedressers, i.e. to some of the priesthood: We are witnesses that instead of love and Church unity, there is a struggle within the clergy, for ecclesiastical supremacy and human glory, from the local level right up to the level of the entire Orthodox Ecumene. Instead of bearing witness of Christ, some of them bear witness and promote themselves as well as their personal and national interests. For example: one Church administration does not recognize another because it does not want a Church solution to the problem, but a political one.
They satisfy the passion of covetousness by giving preference to those positions and services in the Church from which they can become rich, and the positions or services that do not satisfy them financially are neglected. Thanks be to God that for the Holy Eucharist – Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ, as well as the Sacrament of Repentance – confession of sins and spiritual guidance, there is still no one who dares to charge. That would be pure heresy.
The passion of love-for-pleasures compels people to satisfy their carnal passions, whether it is the pleasure of food or the pleasure of fornication. This passion is manifested, for example, in the claim of some of the clergy that they can always receive Communion even without the necessity to fast, while at the same time the faithful are conditioned and forced to fast even more than what the Holy Church – led by the Holy Spirit, has determined.
“And when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers? (…) He will destroy those wicked men, and he will give the vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons (Matthew 21, 40-41).”
Metropolitan of Strumica, Mr. Nahum
29 / 09 / 2024
33 “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.
34 Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit.
35 And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.
36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.
37 Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
38 But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’
39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”
41 They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who willrender to him the fruits in their seasons.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
‘The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
This was the Lord’s doing,
And it is marvellous in our eyes’?
