Homily One for the Thirteenth Sunday of Matthew
(13th Sunday of Pentecost)
By St. John of Kronstadt
(13th Sunday of Pentecost)
By St. John of Kronstadt
Today during the Divine Liturgy, beloved brothers and sisters, there was read from the Gospel the parable of Christ the Savior concerning the master of a house who planted a vineyard, surrounded it with a fence, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, and, having entrusted it to vinedressers, went away. When the time of the fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers to receive his fruits. But the vinedressers seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than before, and they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, saying, “They will surely be ashamed before my son.” But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said to one another, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and take possession of his inheritance.” And having seized him, they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the master of the vineyard comes, what will he do with those vinedressers? The chief priests and elders, to whom this parable was spoken, said to Him, “He will bring those wicked men to a wicked end, and will give the vineyard to other vinedressers, who will render him the fruits in their seasons.” Jesus said to them: “Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner? This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes (Ps. 117:22–23). Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation producing its fruits” (Matt. 21:33–43).
This concludes today's Gospel reading. What, then, does this parable mean? And first of all, whom does the master of the house who planted the vineyard represent? The master of the house is God, the Heavenly Father; the vineyard is the Jewish Church, that is, all the Jews who lived before Christ and during the time of Christ; the fence around the vineyard is the law of God given to the Jews; the winepress, or the trough in which grapes are trodden to extract their juice, signifies the altar beside which the animals brought for sacrifice were slaughtered, and upon which their blood was poured out, as a sign of the redeeming Blood of the Son of God, shed for the salvation of the world; the tower in the vineyard signifies the Jerusalem Temple; the vinedressers are the Jewish chief priests and elders; the fruits of the vineyard are the fruits of good works, which the Lord expected both from the chief priests and scribes themselves and from the common people, who had been entrusted by God to their guidance; the servants whom the master of the vineyard sent to the vinedressers for the fruits are the prophets of God, whose rebukes the Jews so disliked, and whom they beat, killed, and stoned; the son of the master is the Only-Begotten Son of the Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, whom the chief priests, elders, and scribes, having delivered Him into the hands of lawless Gentiles, the Romans, and having had Him nailed to the Cross, killed.
The cornerstone, or the principal stone in the foundation of a building, rejected by the builders, is Jesus Christ, who became the Head of the Church of God and the true Shepherd, Redeemer, Savior, and Visitor of our souls. The taking away of the Kingdom of God from the Jews means the deprivation of the blessings of the true faith—the deprivation of their temple, priesthood, true worship, their homeland, and all the fruits of grace—which all came upon them and remains so to this day.
Yet this parable, in some of its parts or words, can and must also be applied to us; for the Gospel was given for all times and all peoples. And it must be applied, first of all, to us priests—I do not speak here of the other rulers and teachers of the people—and to the flock entrusted to us by God, for its guidance toward a virtuous life and toward salvation and the Kingdom of Heaven.
Christ's parable teaches that pastors, just as they themselves must offer to the Lord and to the Chief Shepherd the fruits of good teaching and every virtue, and must be for those entrusted to their care an example of faith, an image of meekness, temperance, mercy, freedom from attachment to possessions, sincere goodwill toward all, and concern for pleasing God and saving the soul, so also must they continually teach those whom God has entrusted to their guidance in faith and virtuous life the law of God and the Christian virtues, so that they too may bring to God the fruits of virtue and live in a manner pleasing to God, working out their salvation with fear, and awaiting the fulfillment of Christ's promise concerning His second coming, the resurrection of the dead, the fearful judgment, and eternal life or eternal torment.
It is well known that very much depends upon the pastor's way of life, upon his zeal or lack of zeal in fulfilling his high and holy pastoral duties: the faith or the lack of faith, and even the unbelief, of those entrusted to his care, as well as their life and conduct. As the popular saying goes, “As the priest is, so is the parish.” If the pastor is instructive and pious, then those entrusted to his care also become pious and God-fearing.
Therefore, beloved brothers and sisters, if we do not wish the fearful word of the Savior, spoken to the Jewish chief priests and elders and to the Jewish people, to be fulfilled also upon us; if we do not wish the Kingdom of God to be taken away from us, that is, the gracious help of God that assists us in everything; if we do not wish to fall into the abyss of ignorance and corruption and every kind of vice, and to be deprived of the blessings of communal life and of every abundance and sufficiency, of earthly and heavenly blessings, and to fall into bodily and spiritual poverty and destitution, in which multitudes of people languish, then let us hasten to bring to God the fruits of true repentance, amendment of life, and continual concern for the one thing needful, that is, for the salvation of our immortal souls, redeemed by the Blood of Christ, and every virtue according to the measure of our strength. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
