For audio version of the sermon, see below:

I visited the Holy Land some months ago and stayed for five days in East Jerusalem at St. Martha’s, a house belonging to my community, the Passionists. East Jerusalem is a crowded, predominantly Muslim part of the city, but once you go through the gates of St. Martha’s you’re in a world that reminds you of Jesus.

In his time the area was called Bethany, where Jesus stayed when he came to Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish feasts. Martha, Mary and their brother Lazarus lived there. Jesus spent his last days there before he was arrested, sentenced to death, crucified under Pontius Pilate, died and was buried. The traditional tomb where Lazarus was raised from the dead is only a short distance away from that house.

St. Martha’s is on a hillside of the Mount of Olives; a grove of olive trees surrounds the house and the trees still produces good oil, the priests who live there say. You can see a cave where the olives were pressed, probably dug at the time of Jesus or before. On the western end of the property are the foundations of small houses that archeologists believe go back to the time of Jesus.

When I hear Jesus using a parable about a vineyard, which he often does, I see the vineyards and olive groves of Bethany. Jesus used the world around him when he wished to teach. He’s in Jerusalem shortly before his death when he speaks this parable, Matthew’s gospel says. The olive trees and vineyards of Bethany were there before him. Likely, some of the vineyards were let out to tenant farmers who were expected to make a return to the owners at the harvest.

So Jesus explains what’s happening to him through a parable, which the Prophet Isaiah also used before him. “There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.

Notice how much the owner of the vineyard did before entrusting it to the tenants. He did everything. The vineyard is a tremendous gift that he put into their hands. Then, at harvest time the tenants seize the owner’s servants who are looking for his share. Those are the prophets who came to Israel before me, Jesus is saying. They were reviled and mistreated and killed.

“Finally, he sent his son.” And they will kill me, Jesus is saying.

The parable is a stark story about the goodness of God and the ingratitude of Israel. It’s about a lack of response to the gift that was given; it’s about the failure to see that God expects a return for his gifts. “No,” the tenants say, “This belongs to us.”

We can look at the parable as Jesus’ words to the chief priests and elders of Jerusalem long ago. But suppose Jesus was here speaking to us. What would he say? Would he look around and say, “You have a beautiful church here and you come from nice homes. This is a good area; you have good roads, good schools, a lot of nice things. Are you using all this the way you should? Are you using these gifts I’ve given you?”

Maybe we would say. “This is all ours. It belongs to us. We can do what we want with it all.”

Sounds a little like the parable then, doesn’t it?