CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE BRANCHESTER
This parable, which some church writers call the parable of “the husbandmen called to work at different times of the day,” we find in the Gospel of Matthew:
“For the kingdom of heaven is like an owner of a house, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard, and having agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard; going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idly in the marketplace, and said to them, “Go you too into my vineyard, and whatever is proper I will give you.” They went. Coming out again around the sixth and ninth hours, he did the same. Finally, going out about the eleventh hour, he found others standing idly, and said to them: Why have you been standing here all day idly? They tell him: no one hired us. He says to them: You also go into my vineyard, and you will receive what follows. When evening came, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward, Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning from the last to the first. And those who came about the eleventh hour received a denarius. Those who came first thought that they would receive more, but they also received a denarius; And having received it, they began to murmur against the owner of the house and said: these last worked for one hour, and you made them equal to us, who endured the burden of the day and the heat. He answered and said to one of them: friend! I don't offend you; Did you not agree with me for a denarius? take yours and go; I want to give this last one the same as I gave you; Don't I have the power to do what I want? Or is your eye envious because I am kind? So the last will be first, and the first last, for many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 20: 1-16).
At the dawn of the history of the Church, the Word of God calling for the Kingdom of Heaven sounded primarily among the Jewish people. Ancient Israel, through the mouths of the Old Testament prophets, up to St. John the Baptist, and at the end of centuries - through the mouth of the God-Man Himself, was the first to be called to work in the vineyard of the Lord God.
Then the Good News spread through the labors of Sts. apostles and other preachers around the world. The Gospel constantly calls individuals and entire nations to work in the field of Christ, calls to God’s work all those “standing idly in the marketplace,” that is, the spiritually unemployed.
The “hours” - the third, sixth, ninth, eleventh - can mean either different eras in the history of the Church, when certain peoples are first called to participate in the construction of the Kingdom of God, or different moments in a person’s individual life (early youth, adulthood, old age), when the heart first hears and accepts the call of the Word of God.
“Evening” is the end of the working day, that is, symbolically, the end of the earthly history of the Church or the end of a person’s individual life, his hour of death.
Just as the owner of the vineyard himself went out to look for workers for himself, so Christ Himself calls workers to Himself: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (John 15:16), he says to His apostles. Every good thought, a good impulse to work for the Lord, for the salvation of one’s soul, comes from the Lord: the Lord calls everyone to salvation, calls everyone to work in His vineyard, in His Church; and it depends on the person whether to listen or not to listen to this Divine call, to accept the gracious suggestion to the heart or to resist it. This is human freedom.
“Denarius” is the reward of eternal bliss in heaven. Those who arrived “early in the morning” and those who arrived late received the same reward. This greatly upset those who came early and they began to grumble at the owner. Here human, formal justice wants to contrast itself with Divine generosity and love.
The vinedressers would not have grumbled against the owner if he had given the “last” less than one denarius, that is, an amount insufficient for daily food; They didn’t care about those who came “last”; their souls showed envy, unfriendliness, condemnation of the owner’s supposedly unfair generosity, which came at the expense of their pride - how could he compare them, called “first”, with those who came “ the last ones."
The elder brother spoke in a similar way in the parable of the prodigal son: “I have served you for so many years and have never violated your command; but you never gave me even a kid so that I could have fun with my friends; and when this son of yours, who had wasted his wealth with harlots, came, you killed the fatted calf for him” (Luke 15:29-30).
This whole range of morally insignificant feelings that overwhelmed the “first” (and the eldest son from the parable of the prodigal son) has already, in essence, undermined the quality of their work in the field of the Lord. After all, in a bad mood you can work all day and still not do anything good; but you can do more and better in “one hour” if the work is done with full diligence, love for the work and trust in the owner.
The winegrowers' assessment turned out to be formal, but the owner's was spiritual and moral. And according to this assessment, the “last” became “first”, and the “first” became “last”, and, perhaps, completely lost their participation in the Kingdom of Heaven. “For,” Christ added, “many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 20:16).
With this parable, the Lord teaches us that the grace of God, like eternal life, is given to a person not as a result of an arithmetic calculation of the number of his deeds or according to the time of his stay in the Church, but by the grace of God. The Jews thought that they, as the first members of the Kingdom of the Messiah, were entitled to a greater reward than the non-Jewish Christians who joined this Kingdom later. But God has a completely different measure of righteousness. On his scales, sincerity, zeal, pure love, humility are more valuable than the external and formal side of human affairs. The prudent thief, who repented so late and sincerely on the cross and believed with all his heart in the rejected and tormented Savior, was awarded the Kingdom of Heaven along with other righteous people who served God from early childhood.
An excellent application of this parable of the Lord is made by St. John Chrysostom in his inimitable Easter word: “Whoever is pious and God-loving, let him enjoy this beautiful and bright celebration. Let him who is a prudent servant enter rejoicing into the joy of his Lord. Whoever has labored while fasting will now receive a denarius. If anyone has worked from the first hour, let him accept fair wages. If anyone comes after the third hour, let him celebrate with thanks. If anyone has arrived at the sixth hour, let him not doubt at all - for he will in no way be rejected. Whoever is late for the ninth hour, let him proceed, without any doubt, without fear of anything. Whoever has reached the eleventh hour, let him not be afraid of delay: the Lord is loving - and accepts the latter as the first: he puts to rest the one who came at the eleventh, just as he did from the first hour. And he has mercy on the last, and pleases the first, and gives to this, and presents to this, and accepts deeds, and kisses intentions, and honors deeds and praises reasoning. Therefore, enter, all of you, into the joy of your Lord: both one and the other, accept the reward; rich and poor, rejoice one with another. Abstainers and lazy people, honor this day. You who have fasted and those who have not fasted, rejoice today. The meal is full, everyone enjoy the feast of faith: accept all the riches of goodness!..”
©V.Potapov
Interpretation of the Gospel for every day of the year. Wednesday of the 9th week after Pentecost
Matthew, 80 credits, 20, 1–16
The Lord spoke the following parable: The Kingdom of Heaven is like the owner of a house, who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard, and having agreed with the workers on a denarius per day, he sent them into his vineyard; going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idly in the marketplace, and he said to them, “Go you too into my vineyard, and whatever comes next I will give you.” They went. Coming out again around the sixth and ninth hours, he did the same. Finally, going out about the eleventh hour, he found others standing idly, and said to them: Why have you been standing here all day idly? They tell him: no one hired us. He says to them: You also go into my vineyard, and you will receive what follows. When evening came, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward, Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning from the last to the first. And those who came about the eleventh hour received a denarius. Those who came first thought that they would receive more, but they also received a denarius; and, having received it, they began to murmur against the owner of the house and said: these last worked for one hour, and you made them equal to us, who endured the burden of the day and the heat. He answered and said to one of them: friend! I don't offend you; Did you not agree with me for a denarius? take yours and go; I want to give this last one the same as I gave you; Don't I have the power to do what I want? Or is your eye envious because I am kind? So the last will be first, and the first last, for many are called, but few are chosen.
The parable of the workers of the last hour is completely incomprehensible from the point of view of modern man, in terms of economics or social justice. Any normal entrepreneur will tell you that such management cannot but lead to complete ruin. Any normal worker will demand that payment be made according to the work done and will be indignant at the arbitrariness of the owner. But all such judgments are too superficial to be true. We must find the central meaning of the parable, and then all the details will fall into place.
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.” From the very beginning we are warned that this is not a teaching on a social topic, but a revelation of the Kingdom of Heaven. In the parable, the workers who worked in the vineyard from the third, sixth and ninth hours entered into a certain agreement with the owner, but, seeing what the workers of the eleventh hour received, they unexpectedly demanded additional payment. But a demand that is fair from a social point of view can sometimes be called differently - as defending one’s own and lack of love for one’s neighbor as for oneself. After all, it wasn't the eleventh-hour workers who asked for their longer-working comrades to get more!
By moving the parable from the realm of labor agreements to the spiritual realm, we can see that this is exactly the kind of relationship we often have with God. Can someone who turns to God on his deathbed after a dissolutely lived godless life end up next to me in heaven, or even be elevated incomparably higher? Or did our fasts and long church services mean nothing, while he hurried past the temple with mad crowds to his spectacles? It is difficult for us to imagine him in a blessed eternity, even if he returned to God as the prodigal son. We are like that older brother, filled with righteous, as it seems to us, indignation at what is happening. We don't like this incomprehensible generosity of God. We would prefer that God act according to our laws. We could allow Him to love the unloved on our terms, in our own order.
This Gospel proclaims one of the main truths of our faith, which the Apostle Paul constantly repeats: “All have sinned, all fall short of the glory of God, but are justified by the gift of His grace” (Rom. 3:23-24). These eternally dissatisfied murmurers in the parable during the Savior’s earthly life were the scribes and Pharisees, who never ceased to be indignant at Christ because He gathered tax collectors, sinners and harlots around Him. Pagans who did not previously know the true God entered the Church on an equal basis with the Jews who accepted Christ. God has no privileges for anyone. “Or is your eye envious because I am kind?” - says Christ.
Let us also pay attention to the fact that the temptation by the idea of justice does not only apply to the Jews. Humanity continually demands justice. Indeed, life should be fairer in every way. However, it is not difficult to see that programs based on the idea of justice often lead to the most severe injustice. The experience of past centuries and especially of our time shows that justice alone is not enough if it interferes with the action of a deeper life force, which is Christ's love. Without this power, which is stronger than sin and death, without it being the foundation of everything, the structure of human life is impossible. But the word of Christ addressed to the faithful is immutable: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36).
This parable could give great hope to many. And, perhaps, first of all, to parents whose children have left the Church. Nothing is lost forever to God. He will call until the last minute. As long as a person is alive, it is never too late. And we know how the Lord showed the fulfillment of this parable at the last moment of the life of the prudent thief, crucified with Him. And we must always remember the final words of the parable: “So the last will be first, and the first last, for many are called, but few are chosen.” No matter how zealous our Christian life may be, no matter how active our Christian activity may be, we must always consider ourselves slaves, good for nothing. But worthless does not mean worthless. In the eyes of God, each of us is worth dying for. And this is not a theory at all. Christ died for us. And our dignity lies in our participation in His death and resurrection, and not in what we do. Whatever we do is nothing, but we must become like Christ through humility and complete lack of selfishness. Through many labors and sorrows we can acquire this gift, and only with it will we be given the incomparable joy of knowing that Divine self-giving love is addressed to us. Because in the Kingdom of Divine Justice, the eleventh hour workers are us.
The parable of the evil vinedressers... (Matthew 21:33–46)
To tell the proud Pharisees and scribes in the presence of many people that tax collectors and sinners would enter the Kingdom of God before them meant to strike them like thunder. Now Jesus had only to say one more word to the people, to say directly that He is the promised Messiah, that their leaders are not worthy of trust, and the fate of these blind leaders would be decided: the people would be forced to cede power to Jesus Christ. But the Lord was content to force them to listen to another parable, bitter for them, in which he revealed the whole story of God’s providence for the people of Judah and God’s long-suffering towards the leaders of this people. LISTEN TO ANOTHER PARABLE
, - He said:
THERE WAS A CERTAIN OWNER OF A HOUSE
, who loved to do housework,
WHO
himself, with his own hands
PLANTED A VINEYARD
,
WARRANTED IT WITH A FENCE
, either of stone, or of hedges: thorny plants, like thorns or aloe, which protect the vineyards from foxes and boars better than any stone wall.
I DIGGED A GRINDER IN IT
, hollowed it out in stone or dug a hole in the ground, lining it with stone so that juice could be squeezed out of grapes,
BUILT A TOWER
, a light, high tower for watchmen and for storing the collected grapes.
So the caring owner did everything to improve the vineyard, and
, since business required his presence in another place,
GIVING HIM
, his vineyard,
to the VINEGARDERS
, having concluded an agreement with them on the timely receipt of a certain part of the wine and fruits from them for this,
he went away
for a long time .
WHEN THE TIME
TO Gather
FRUITS
, and this time, according to the law of the Levites, did not come before five years,
HE SENT HIS SERVANTS
, one after another,
TO THE VINEGARDERS TO TAKE THEIR FRUITS
, i.e.
his share of the fruit, whatever it may be; THE VINEGARDERS
,
HAVING SEIZED HIS SERVANTS
,
KILLED OTHER
(they beat him a lot and drove him back with dishonor, with nothing),
and completely
KILLED
OTHER ,
STONED
OTHER
with brutal anger .
Despite such outrageous injustice and malice,
(the long-suffering owner of the vineyard)
AGAIN SENT OTHER SERVANTS
,
MORE THAN THE FIRST;
AND THEY DID THE SAME WITH THEM .
And no matter how many times the owner sent his servants, the evil winegrowers did not want to know him and committed savage reprisals against the sent ones. It seemed that it was time to pronounce righteous judgment on the evil winegrowers, but the landlord was extremely kind. "What should I do?" - he thought. And he came to the following thought: although evil people abused the slaves, they would still show respect to his son. FINALLY
,
HE SENT TO THEM HIS BELOVED SON
, THE ONLY BEGOTTEN,
SAYING:
PERHAPS THEY WILL BE
SHAMED OF MY SON
.
It cannot be that their anger will reach the point that they will not even listen to my son. The son went. BUT THE VINEGARDERS
,
THE SON from afar
,
SAID TO EACH OTHER: THIS IS
THE ONLY
HEIR
, THE FUTURE OWNER OF THE vineyard,
LET'S GO
,
KILL HIM AND TAKE HIS INHERITANCE.
AND HAVING SEIZED HIM ,
THEY TOOK HIM OUT OF THE VINEYARD AND KILLED HIM
... But the owner of the vineyard will not always be absent;
he, of course, will return: SO
,
WHEN THE OWNER OF THE VINEYARD COME
,
WHAT WILL HE DO WITH THESE VINEGARDERS?
What do you think he will do with them? - Jesus Christ concluded His parable. It was impossible not to understand this parable: the meaning was too clear. Even the ancient prophet Isaiah portrayed the chosen people under the guise of a vineyard and addressed them on behalf of God with the following question: “What else should be done for My vineyard that I have not done to it?” (Isa. 5:1-7). Other prophets likened it to a vineyard, a grapevine: Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea. This similarity is found even in the Law of Moses and the Psalmist. The grapevine, this most modest and at the same time the most noble plant, requires constant, vigilant care and care from the winegrower at all times of the year; so God, having chosen the Jewish people from all the nations of the earth, showed His wondrous care for them at all times. “But the Jews,” says St. Chrysostom, “with all their care for them, allowed harlots and tax collectors to get ahead of them and, moreover, so many of them. And consider how great God’s care was for them, how exorbitant their carelessness was. For what the farmers had to do, He did Himself: he planted a vineyard, surrounded it with a fence, and so on. For when the Jews came out of Egypt, God gave them the Law, gave them a civil existence, built an altar (which meant “press”, because the blood of animals was shed on it, representing the Blood of Christ) and erected a temple (which, of course, in the parable under the name “ pillar"). Through the fencing through the Law, the Jews became a separate people, so that the Law, becoming a “wall of fire,” clearly protected them from pagan tribes, from the infection of idolatry, and served as a guarantee of God’s protection.”
Their country itself, Palestine, was fenced and protected on all sides: from the east it was separated by the Jordan River and two lakes, from the south by the desert and mountainous Idumea, from the west by the sea and from the north by Anti-Lebanon. In the miracles during the exodus from Egypt, at Sinai, during the conquest of the Promised Land, God Himself appeared as the leader of the people in constant obvious miracles and signs; but then, having arranged everything, the Lord entrusted His people to their spiritual leaders, high priests, priests and Levites, to whom he gave the right to sit in the seat of Moses, and from it to teach the people and interpret the Law, “and he went away,” i.e. He endured for a long time, and did not always punish the crime immediately. By departure we mean God’s great patience” (St. John Chrysostom). “And He sent His servants,” i.e. prophets, these great chosen ones of God, who proclaimed the will of God to the Jews, called them to repentance, revealed the future, pointing to the coming Savior of the world - the Only Begotten Son of God. These messengers of God demanded fruits from the Jews, i.e. fulfilling the will of God, “obedience proven by works. But the Jews not only did not bear fruit after such care, but they were even indignant at those who came, and not only were they indignant, but they also stained their hands with blood; deserving execution themselves, they put those sent to death” (St. John Chrysostom). Thus, Jeremiah and Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, were stoned (Jer. 37:15), Isaiah was sawn apart with a saw; others experienced reproach, and others experienced beatings, as well as chains and prison; those whom the whole world was not worthy of were stoned, sawn apart, tortured, and died by the sword. “I sent to you,” says God in the prophet Jeremiah, “I sent all my servants, the prophets, early in the morning, to say: “Do not do this vile thing, which I hate” (Jer. 44:4-6). But the Jews remained stubborn. “But why didn’t God immediately send the Son? - St. Chrysostom asks and answers. - So that they would feel how unfairly they treated the sent slaves and, putting aside anger, would be ashamed of His coming. The words: “They will be ashamed of My Son” do not show ignorance of God, but only the intention to reveal the greatness of sin and the complete inexcusability of the Jews. For God knew that they would kill the Son, but He sent it. If they were unappreciative of the slaves, then at least they should have respected the dignity of the Son.” In this message of His Son, the Heavenly Father represents the last, already final effort of God’s mercy. “But what did they do? - says Saint Chrysostom. “They should have come and asked for mercy, but they behave as before, even conceiving new atrocities, more terrible than the previous ones.” What do they say when they see the Son? "Let's go kill Him." For what and for what? Could they accuse Him of anything, great or small? Is it because He honored you?
Being God, he became Man for you and performed countless miracles? Or that he called into the Kingdom? Look how, despite their wickedness, they are extremely insane, and how reckless their impulse to murder is: “Let us kill Him,” they say, “and take possession of His inheritance!” So Joseph’s brothers once conferred, plotting against him: when they saw him from afar, they said to each other: “Behold, the dreamer is coming; let us go now and kill him... and see what will happen from his dreams” (Gen. 37:19-20). Just as Joseph’s brothers, thinking of destroying God’s intentions regarding their younger brother, contributed to their fulfillment, so the Jewish lawyers, rebelling against Christ, became instruments for the implementation of God’s intentions. “This is the heir,” say the evil winegrowers. Jesus Christ is the Heir of all things, not as God, but as Man, for as God He is the Creator of all things. What an amazing prophecy are the words of the parable: “Let us go, kill... and take possession of His inheritance”... for the Jewish leaders, who a few days later heard from Caiaphas at a secret meeting of the Sanhedrin: “What should we do? This Man does many miracles. If we leave Him like this, then everyone will believe in Him... it’s better for us that one person dies...” (John 11:47–50). And they took him out of the vineyard and killed him.” “Do you see,” says Saint Chrysostom, “how Jesus Christ predicts about the very place where he will be killed?” It is known that He “suffered without the gate” (Heb. 13:12). In His parable, the Lord speaks as Omniscient. He depicts to the Jews their future crime exactly as it was committed by them a few days later. He reads their evil intentions and in a parable shows them, as in a mirror, all the horror of these intentions, in order, if possible, to frighten them. He puts all their behavior before the court of their conscience and directly proposes a question that decides their own fate: “when the owner of the vineyard comes,” - when God’s great patience is exhausted, and He appears as a formidable punisher of unrighteousness, “what will He do with these vinedressers?” What about the scribes and Pharisees after all this? They understood the parable, they understood where this final question was leading; the question was posed in the presence of the people, so it was impossible not to answer it, and they answered... With apparent calm, but in fact with amazing shamelessness, they another time pronounce a verdict against themselves. THEY SAY TO HIM: OF COURSE, THESE VILLAINS WILL BE BROUGHT TO AN EVIL DEATH
AND
THE VINEYARD WILL GIVE TO OTHER VINEGARDERS
WHO
WILL GIVE HIM THE FRUITS IN THEIR TIME
. Apparently, their burned conscience allowed them to show here, as if they did not recognize themselves in their own image, did not at all relate to this parable and reasoned impartially.
And the Lord, according to the legend of the holy Evangelist Luke, confirmed their decision: so, He said, He will come and put to death the unprofitable winegrowers, and will give the vineyard to others. But the stern tone of his voice and His gaze showed that these menacing words applied directly to the members of the Sanhedrin. This struck one of the listeners so much that he exclaimed: “God forbid!” It is clear that not only the Pharisees understood the parable, but also the people; This exclamation involuntarily escaped from one of the Pharisees’ disciples: the Pharisees themselves were too careful and would not give themselves away. The Lord looked once again at His interlocutors with a gaze that penetrates the hearts... JESUS SAYS TO THEM:
Do you consider it impossible for your advantages to be taken away from you?
but HAVE YOU NEVER READ IN THE SCRIPTURE: THE STONE
THAT
THE BUILDERS REJECTED
IS
THE ONE THAT BECAME THE HEAD OF THE CORNER?
You must know what Stone the Psalmist is talking about here; you yourself attribute these words to the Messiah.
You were entrusted with the building of a spiritual temple - the Church of God, but you rejected Me, the cornerstone of this temple. Despite this rejection, this Stone will form the basis of the corner connecting the two walls: in My Church I unite believers from Jews and Gentiles. So it pleases God Himself, My Father: THIS IS FROM THE LORD
,
AND IS IT WONDERFUL IN OUR SIGHTS?
And you, for your bitterness, for your unbelief, will be rejected:
BECAUSE
I TELL YOU THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD WILL BE TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU
, which you so desire, but what it is, you do not want to understand,
AND
WILL BE GIVEN TO THE PEOPLE BEARING THE FRUIT OF IT
. So, finally, the pretense and deceit of the Pharisees forced the Lord to say with all clarity that they would be rejected, that the Kingdom of God would be taken away from the people of Judah and pass to other nations. After such an open statement, it was no longer possible for the envoys of the Sanhedrin to pretend not to understand; the mask of their hypocrisy fell away by itself. Saint Chrysostom notes that even now the Lord did not directly name the pagans as heirs of the Kingdom of God, “so as not to irritate the Jews against Himself, but only hinted, saying: “It will be given to the people who bear its fruits.” Without a doubt, this is why he told the parable, so that the Jews themselves would pronounce the sentence, just as David pronounced his judgment, having understood the parable of Nathan. Judge by this how just the sentence is when those being punished accuse themselves! Then, so that they can see that not only justice itself requires this, but that the grace of the Holy Spirit predicted this long ago and God determined it so, Jesus Christ gives a prophecy. He calls himself a stone, and the teachers of the Jews as builders; the same thing was said by the prophet Ezekiel: “When he builds a wall, they cover it with mud” (Ezek. 13:10).
How was it “rejected”? When they said: “This Man is not from God” (John 9:16); “You are a Samaritan and... you have a demon” (John 8:48). Finally, so that they know that they are threatened with more than one rejection, he points to the executions themselves.” THAT
WHO
FALLS ON THIS STONE
WILL BREAK
; AND ON WHOM IT (THIS STONE)
FALLS
,
IT WILL CRUSH HIM
.
“Here,” says Saint Chrysostom, “Jesus Christ represents a double death: one – from stumbling and temptation, which is what the words mean: “the one who falls on this stone”; and the other, when he is subjected to captivity, disasters and final destruction, which is clearly expressed in the words: “He will crush him,” and by this He indicated His resurrection.” Those who stumbled over the Stone were those who were tempted by the humility of Christ and perished spiritually. And those on whom the Stone fell were unrepentant enemies of Christ, who knew who He was, however, stubbornly armed themselves against Him to the end. The one who stumbles can, although not without harm, get up; the tempted one can still come to his senses, come to his senses, repent, but on whomever a stone falls, as if from heaven, he will be broken, crushed to death, “like dust on the summer threshing floors” (Dan. 2:35), i.e. will perish forever. The enemies of Christ themselves pronounced a sentence against themselves, “and this was clear proof that it was not the Punisher, but the punished themselves, who were the culprits of the execution sent down on them” (St. Chrysostom). One can imagine what shame, what confusion seized the envoys of the Sanhedrin, what anger boiled in their hardened hearts at these menacing words of the Lord. AND HAVING HEARD
, says Saint Matthew,
HIS PARABLES
,
THE HIGH PRIESTS AND PHARISEES REALIZED
WHAT
HE SPEAK ABOUT THEM
.
They were ready to use force to seize the accuser, and they tried to seize him
,
but they were afraid of the people, because they considered him to be a prophet
. And they withdrew from the Lord with such an appearance as could only be assumed by people who were publicly disgraced, and, however, did not want everyone to treat them with contempt. And the Lord, now, as always, acted with love towards His enemies. What would have happened if He had now decisively and directly declared Himself to be the Messiah, as the scribes and Pharisees desired? They wanted, of course, in such an announcement to find a base pretext for accusing Him before the Romans; but what danger did they expose Jerusalem and themselves to? The people, having heard from His lips that He was the Messiah, would have immediately rebelled against foreign rule, and in this indignation all the high priests and scribes could easily have perished. The Lord foresaw everything, and His enemies will hear these decisive words: “I am the Son of God,” but they will hear it only when these words do not lead to any national excitement, but only accelerate His own cross.
Meanwhile, everything that the Sanhedrin needed to know, it now found out. From the Lord’s parables it naturally followed that He is the Messiah; not only does He know everything that is in their hearts, He knows what they are preparing for Him, and that He voluntarily goes to death. If they wanted to listen to the voice of their conscience, it would tell them that Jesus is none other than the Son of the Living God - the true Messiah Christ. But they did not want to know this and went to obvious death. And the stone fell on them with all its weight: forty years after the Ascension of Christ, Jerusalem was destroyed, terrible disasters befell Judea, hundreds of thousands of Jews died and a million were taken into captivity. The Kingdom of Judah ceased to exist. Truly, then the words of Christ’s parable came true: “He will put these evildoers to an evil death, and give the vineyard to other winegrowers,” to His apostles. Thus, the Kingdom of God was taken away from the Jews and given to “a people who bear its fruits.” “What kind of people is this, chosen by God to replace the ungrateful and treacherous Israel?” This people are we, Christians; we are a new vineyard, planted by the Lord Himself according to His word: “I am the Vine, and you are the branches.” We are the sons of the new Israel; We have now learned all the virtues and advantages of ancient Israel, and even greater advantages. We, in the words of the apostle, are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood... a people taken for his own possession”; we are “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ”; we are “the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells” in us (1 Pet. 2:9; Rom. 8:17; 1 Cor. 3:16). We have been given all the means so that we can bear good fruit: the Holy Church, “the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15), is our fence; The life-giving Blood of Jesus Christ and the grace of the Holy Spirit, like from a winepress, are served in the Church for souls who hunger and thirst for righteousness. To bear the good fruits of faith, good works, the Lord entrusted us with workers - shepherds and teachers, called “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of ministry” (Eph. 4:12). Thus, everything has been given to us so that we can live holy and chastely, rejecting ungodliness and worldly lusts, as is characteristic of the sons of the new blessed Kingdom. But all these virtues and advantages belong only to those of us who live worthy of their high title. If we differ in name only from the stiff-necked Jews, if we confess Christ with only our lips, but in our hearts and deeds we reject Him, if, having been redeemed by the death of the Savior on the cross, we crucify Him a second time with our sins and ingratitude, then not only all condemnations and oaths, spoken by God against the hardened Jews will fall on us, but an even more bitter fate will befall us...
HOUSELORD
As the true Master of the House, Whose all time and all space, He cares for all people until the last days, until His second Coming.
Saint Nicholas of Serbia
Jesus Christ (Savior)
The servants of the Householder said to Him: Did you not sow good seed in your field?
The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while the people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and left when the greenery sprang up and the fruit appeared, then the tares also appeared. Having arrived, the servants of the Householder said to him: “Master! did you not sow good seed in your field? where does the tares come from?” He told them: “The enemy man has done this.” And the slaves said to him: “Do you want us to go and choose them?”
But he said: “No - so that when you choose the tares, you do not pull up the wheat along with them, leave both to grow together until the harvest, and during the harvest I will say to the reapers: gather up the tares first and bind them in sheaves to burn them, and put the wheat into my barn” (Matthew 13:24-30).
Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
For the Kingdom of Heaven is like an owner of a house who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard, and having agreed with the workers on a denarius per day, he sent them into his vineyard; going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idly in the marketplace, and he said to them, “Go you too into my vineyard, and whatever comes next I will give you.” They went. Coming out again around the sixth and ninth hours, he did the same. Finally, going out about the eleventh hour, he found others standing idly, and said to them: Why have you been standing here all day idly? They tell him: no one hired us. He says to them: You also go into my vineyard, and you will receive what follows.
When evening came, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward, Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning from the last to the first. And those who came about the eleventh hour received a denarius. Those who came first thought that they would receive more, but they also received a denarius, and, having received it, they began to murmur against the owner of the house and said: these last worked for one hour, and you made them equal to us, who endured the burden of the day and the heat. He answered and said to one of them: friend! I don't offend you; Did you not agree with me for a denarius? take what you have and go, I want to give this last thing the same as you, don’t I have the power to do what I want in my own way? Or is your eye envious because I am kind? So the last will be first, and the first last, for many are called, but few are chosen (Matt. 20:1-16).
Venerable Isaac the Syrian
Here let the seekers stop: for the Lord of the House has come
Glory to Him who poured out His gifts abundantly on people! He made the flesh serve Him in the rank of incorporeal natures, and He made earthly natures worthy to speak about such mysteries, especially sinful people like us, unworthy to hear such verbs. But He, by His grace, revealed to us the blindness of our hearts to the understanding of them, from consideration of Scripture and the teachings of the great fathers. For, as a result of my own feat, I was not vouchsafed to learn by experience even a thousandth part of what I wrote with my own hands, especially in this work, which I offer to excite and enlighten the souls of yours and all who read it, in the hope that perhaps they will perk up and Having desired this, they will begin to do it.
Prayerful pleasure is another matter, and prayerful contemplation is another. The latter is superior to the former to the same extent that a perfect man is superior to an imperfect youth. Sometimes verses become sweet in the mouth, and the versification of one verse in prayer continues innumerably, not allowing one to move on to another verse, and the one praying does not know satiety. Sometimes a certain contemplation is born from prayer, and it interrupts the prayer of the lips, and the one praying in contemplation becomes a lifeless body, having come to ecstasy. We call this state prayerful contemplation, and not the sight of something or an image, or a dreamy ghost, as the foolish say. And again in this prayerful contemplation there is a measure and difference of gifts, and this is still prayer, because thought has not yet crossed over to a state where there is no longer prayer, to a state that is higher than prayer. For the movement of the tongue and heart to prayer are the keys, and what comes after this is already the entrance to the hidden chambers. Here, let every mouth, every tongue, be silent, and let the heart be silent - this guardian of thoughts, and the mind - this pilot of feelings, and thought - this fast-flying and shameless bird, and let all their tricks cease. Let the seekers stop here: because the Master of the House has come.
Saint Basil the Great
And then the Master of the House will come and count out your payment.
Ascetic, wait for the One who beautifully exalts, and do not be cowardly for the sake of the present. For you are a fighter and a worker of Christ, having agreed to spend the whole day fighting and to endure the heat of the whole day (Matthew 20:12). Why, without having yet fulfilled the measures of the day, do you seek peace? Wait until evening, the end of life here, and then the Householder will come and count out your payment.
Saint Cyril of Alexandria
The Lord of the great house is the Lord God
“Likewise... there is the kingdom of heaven for a home-made man, who went out in the morning to hire laborers for his grapes” (Matthew 20:1). You have heard, beloved, the Gospel parable of the Lord; listen to our best explanation. The Lord of the great house is the Lord God, for the house is the world, and the Lord who created it is God. His vineyard is human nature, the workers of the vineyard are saints working for the salvation of people. The first hour signifies the time of the pious under Abel, Enoch and Noah, for they were the first worshipers of God, that is, the first workers of the vineyard. So Noah—mean this in a spiritual sense, for words are spiritual (mysterious)—planted a vineyard. They worked until the 3rd hour. The time after the 3rd hour is the period of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for they too are the workers of our salvation, three in number, which is why they worked until the 6th hour. From the 6th hour - the middle of the day, when the sun illuminates the universe brighter - this is the time of the law, because now the true light - our God - has illuminated humanity with the commandments of the law. So, indeed, “the commandment of the Lord is bright, enlightening the eyes” (Ps. 18:9), and also: “Thy commandments are light” (Is. 26:9). From the 6th hour - noon. Indeed, when the times were over, from the beginning of the world until the end of time, then Moses and Aaron were sent as the noon ray, and here is the cult of the law until the 8th hour. The ninth hour is the time of the spirit-bearing prophets, for they too, as wonderful workers, were sent by the Master of the House to cultivate the vineyard of our soul until the 10th hour. The tenth hour is the coming of the Only Begotten, for at the end of time, after the fulfillment of centuries, the Son of God, the Word of God, descended to us, and just as from the 11th hour to the 12th there remains one last hour (time), so from the coming of Christ to execution (centuries) - one hour (time). Listen to what John says: “Children, this is the last hour” (1 John 2:18).
You see that the Lord of the vineyard, coming out at the 11th hour and finding idle people, hired them. Who are these idle people? We are of tongues, for we were idle from the knowledge of God, idle from good deeds. And he says to them: “Why are you standing here idle all day” (Matthew 20:6)? He called the time from the beginning of the creation of the world until the coming of Him (the Savior) a whole day, for hitherto the pagans were idle, not knowing God, for no one hired us, they answer. The pagans are prudent: indeed, no one hired them - neither the law nor the prophets, the latter were sent to Israel, and not to the pagans. Therefore, they answer very sensibly that no one hired us. But the good Householder says: “You too go and work in my grapes, and if there is righteousness, I will give it to you” (Matthew 20:4). And so the idle became workers, for this Church, which was once idle, is now working: “the face of the apostles, martyrs, ascetics, monastics, holy virgins, virgins and those living in honest marriages is working.” And this Church deservedly took one denarius. A person who works so quickly can do in one hour the same thing as someone who has been working since early morning. So in one hour the thief heard: “Today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). But listen to what they say: “we have suffered hardship by day and by day” (Matthew 20:12). They say the truth: “during the period of the law, the pagans did not bear the yoke of the law and, however, were equal to the first in work.” Friend, he says, I don’t offend you. The righteous Judge does not offend. And so that the words: “I want to give this, as I do to you,” you do not consider partiality, and not a matter of grace, think like this: no matter how much we do, no matter how much we work, we do nothing worthy of the price: “all the truth of man is like a port.” unclean” (Isa. 64:6). Everything is a work of grace, as Paul says: “we will be justified through His grace” (Rom. 3:24): and “not because of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:9). The gift of God is not because we do not work, but because we cannot do anything worthy of a reward. For it is said: when you have done all that is commanded to you, say, for we are unimpeachable servants, as we must do them, and do them. In fact, you give bread to the poor, but you receive the Kingdom of Heaven as an inheritance - you see what it means: I want to give...
And further: “even if your eye is evil, for I am good” (Matthew 20:15). Didn’t he say that the saints are wicked, on the contrary: “Are you not wicked, since I am good”? For truly He is good in goodness. Therefore, the pay is not according to work: the work is insignificant, but the reward is great (Isa. 64:4). You gave a cup of water to a thirsty person, but what you receive is “whose eye has not seen and ear has not heard” (1 Cor. 2:9). You see how good He is. And he begins from the last to the first because the first will be last: and I will call not My people My people (Hos. 2:23) and then: “until the fullness of the tongues has come, then all Israel will be saved” ( Rom. 11:25,26) in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Venerable Neil of Sinai
Everyone received the same honor from the Householder
And the parable about the vineyard, to which at different hours of the day those who had to cultivate it came, one after another, hiring themselves from morning to evening, as time allowed, seems to agree with what has been said so far. For everyone received the same payment, everyone was awarded the same honor from the Householder, or better yet, the last were preferred to the first, having taken an equal amount of silver with those who worked in the morning, and even before them, and in this, as others might think , taking advantage of the generosity of the giver, in reality accepting due honor.
If they, being called along with those who grumbled, did not listen, and then, having repented, were the last to begin the work, then they would deserve payment only for the time in which they did it. If, as soon as they were hired, they showed zeal, why blame them for involuntary idleness? From the subsequent diligence one can see that which they would have had before if they had been in business. Expressing this, the Householder, in his justification, said to those who reproached them and did not rejoice in their own honor, but were tormented by the honor bestowed on others on an equal basis with them: Friend, I will not offend you: did you not consult with me out of a penalty? take what is yours and go: I want to give to this last one, as I did to you: or should I not create the death that I want in my own? Even if your eye is evil, because I am good? (Matt. 20:13–15).
Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria
Interpretation of the Gospel of Luke
And he spoke this parable: A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it, and found none;
and he said to the vinedresser, “Behold, I have come for the third year to look for fruit on this fig tree, and I do not find it; cut it down; why does it take up the land?” But he answered him: Master! leave it this year too, while I dig it up and cover it with manure, to see if it bears fruit, but if not, then next year you will cut it down.” The ruler of the house came and looked (in the Jews) for the fruit of faith and good deeds.
In accordance with the flow of speech, he gives this parable. Before this, He said: if you do not repent, you will perish. Now, by the way, he adds this parable. The fig tree is a Jewish people that produces only bitter leaves and bears no fruit. He stood in the vineyard of God, that is, in the Jewish church. The Lord of the House - Christ - came and looked (in the Jews) for the fruit of faith and good deeds, but did not find it. He came in three periods: once through Moses, another time through the prophets, and the third time Himself. Finally, since, despite all this, the Jews did not repent, Christ cut them off from the love of God. For they are no longer called the people of the Lord and holy people, but instead of them the Gentiles have been brought in, able to bear fruit (Matthew 21:43). — By the fig tree we can understand all of humanity: by the Householder - God the Father, by the vinedresser - the Son of God, who appeared in the flesh in order to take care of and cleanse our vineyard.
Saint Nicholas of Serbia
Householder
Do you know, Theodulus, what causes the greatest troubles of people? If you don’t know, I’ll tell you: because people have lost the spirit of the Householder. They have lost the spirit of the Householder, and revel in the mercenary spirit. But a mercenary does not know how to manage his own house, nor does he want to manage someone else’s. The Savior of the world appeared with the spirit of the Householder, all-embracing and abundant, which only God could manifest and which only could help the wasted house of mankind to acquire an economy again. First of all, He fulfills the injunctions of the law, which are of little importance, for the sake of higher purposes. He avoids bickering and conflict over these regulations. He accepts circumcision, it means nothing: He will establish a new circumcision, which will mean circumcision of the heart from evil. He does not appear as a teacher until he is thirty years old, although in His twelve years He was able to surprise all the elders and wise men of Jerusalem. Christ is baptized in water on the Jordan, like other people, with the baptism of John, until He complements this baptism with the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire. He pays taxes when He is asked to do so, even though He was not supposed to pay (Matthew 17:25-27). He is exposed to satanic temptations for forty days, fasting and praying, in order, as the Master of the House, to set an example for His household how to fight temptations and overcome Satan. Ah, Theodulus, I started off on the wrong foot. Christ is born in a stone cave, and not in the royal chambers, to show how highly He values the simplest place on earth: after all, He created this place. He calls humble fishermen to be the great apostles and evangelists of His saving teaching to show that even the most humble people are dear to Him: after all, He created them. He is friends with the last sinners and tax collectors, whom the pompous world despises, and this is imputed to Him. But He, as a zealous Householder, sees that the sieve in which the world sifts its values is full of holes, and that through this perforated sieve a lot of clean grain is sifted along with the rubbish. He collects and saves these discarded grains in a masterly manner.
Christ does not reject the old, but chooses something from it and connects it with the new. “I came not to destroy the law or the prophets,” He says, “but to fulfill.” Both the old and the new belong to Him, and He, like the wise Master of the House, brings out of His treasury “new and old” (Matthew 13:52). On Tabor, when He was transfigured, the apostles stood before Him, and next to Him were Moses and Elijah, that is, the evangelists of the new and the bearers of the old, and all in His Divine light of the Household. As a Householder, He is an example of hard work and diligence. He is in a hurry: He knows that He has a short time allotted for earthly labors. And who is not assigned a short one? He quickly goes around all of Galilee, Samaria and Judea, several times over the course of three years, and visits the borders of the sea, where the pagans lived, and the Gadarenes on the opposite side of the lake. “And Jesus went through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people” (Matthew 9:35).
As the Master of the Household, He does not spare Himself, if only it would be good for all His household. Often He is hungry and thirsty, tired and sweating because of the long journey, and spends the night wherever He has to: in the open air, on the bare ground, under a tree, on a stone instead of a pillow. In grief for His people, He spends many nights without sleep or rest, in prayer to His Father, in vigil and meditation. The best Householder, He is also the best Physician. In Him the prediction of the glorious prophet Isaiah is fully fulfilled: “He took upon Himself our infirmities and bore our sicknesses” (Isaiah 53:4). He gives sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb. He puts the paralyzed on their feet, cleanses the lepers, calms the demoniac, heals the epileptic, straightens the bowed, restores reason to the mad, frees the possessed from evil spirits, raises the dead, pleases the inconsolable, encourages the faint-hearted, forgives the repentant. He becomes everything to everyone in order to save everything, like the father of the family, like the Lord of the House. All those who did not dare to open their mouths before people confess to Him, believing that He will understand them and help them. All who in vain sought healing from doctors flock to Him and receive what they were looking for.
The most skillful Physician, He is at the same time the most skillful Shepherd of the human flock. What a happy thought it is to call people sheep! Truly, it has been a long time: man is a wolf to man. For a long time people saw him as an ideal. The Romans boasted of their origin from the wolf. The Roman Caesars competed with each other in imitating wolf morals. In Egypt they deified bloodthirsty crocodiles, in India - monkeys, on the island of Java and in many other countries - poisonous snakes, in some places wild bulls, in others giant eagles. The whole earth seemed like a continuous menagerie, and the menagerie as a pantheon and the menagerie as human society. But nowhere in the world was the sheep deified, nowhere was it elevated to the ideal. Sheep meekness was considered weakness and even a vice.
Christ did something unheard of and unprecedented - he turned the menagerie into a sheep pen. The prophets called Him the Lamb of God, and He called Himself the Shepherd of God's sheep. The animal pantheon had to be freed from beasts, cleansed, censed and the Lamb of God infused into it, and the animal society of people had to be tamed and turned into a flock of harmless sheep of God. The people understood this and enthusiastically accepted it. The sheep recognized the voice of the Good Shepherd and ran after Him. For three years the people did not give Him rest, day or night. They ran after Him in thousands, crowded around Him, huddled close to Him, like sheep that had not been salted for a long time to the salty hand of a shepherd. And He “felt sorry for the people, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34). He takes pity on the hundredth lost sheep and, worried like the owner, leaves the ninety-nine sheep and goes and looks for this hundredth until he finds it. He washes His sheep from all uncleanness, and diligently heals the scabby ones from illness. Not like mercenaries who shear and milk until the sheep bleed, until the sheep die. He “lays down His life for His sheep” (John 10:15).
He feeds human souls with words of truth, and by His personal example and miracles He confirms the words of truth. And the people in crowds, wave after wave, flow to Him. He calls to Himself all for whom earthly life, although short, has become a burden. “Come to Me,” says the Master of the Household to His household, “all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” But He knows - He knows everything - He also knows that carnal people also need bodily food. He feels sorry for the people who have been with Him for three days, listening to Him, and have nothing to eat. That is why He multiplies the loaves: He Himself takes them into His hands, blesses them and gives them to the people to eat. He pities the people who find themselves in mortal danger during a storm at sea, and He calms the storm and saves them from death. He feels sorry for the fishermen who worked all night and caught nothing. And, as the Master of the House, He directs them to a deep place, where their nets are immediately filled with fish. He feels sorry for the widow from Nain, weeping as she follows the coffin of her dead only child. And He tells her: “don’t cry.” And resurrects her son. He feels sorry for both Martha and Mary, the sisters of the deceased Lazarus, His devoted friend. And when the sisters wept over their dead brother, He also wept and raised Lazarus from the dead. He did not come as a judge (he will come in due time and as such), but came first not to judge, but to save and offer salvation to all people. He came first as a Sower, and in due time He will come as a Winnower. Therefore, He forgives the sinner wife, who in repentance washes His feet with tears, while the Pharisees, those damned mercenaries, condemn her, although no one made them judges. He forgives her, consoles her and encourages her. When the Pharisees wanted to stone the adulterous wife taken in sin, He reveals Himself as the defender of this unfortunate woman and says to those holding stones in their hands: “He who is without sin among you, be the first to throw a stone at her.” He forgives her, warning her: “Go and sin no more.”
He saves people from demons and people from people, wherever He comes and wherever He stops: these people are His household; He is the Householder. The Gadarenes regretted their pigs, but the fate of the one tormented by demons was indifferent to them. But He values a man more than a herd of pigs, and, saving him alone, He causes two thousand pigs to drown in the sea. Criminals can kill a person over one pig. And He calmly destroys two thousand - he would destroy two million - pigs for the sake of one single person. He more than once consoled those whose relatives were dead or sick: “Do not be afraid!” And here again, on another occasion, he says: “don’t be afraid, just believe.” Without the Householder, this life is horror and nightmare, darkness and despair. But He appears like an unbreakable wall, like the sun, like an all-powerful protector of people and turns everything into joy.
He encourages the small group of His devoted followers, saying: “Fear not, little flock!”, and explains to them that His Father’s will, which is also His will, is to give them the immortal Kingdom of Heaven. And when he tells them the signs of the last time before the very end of the world, he again encourages them so that their hearts will not be afraid when this time comes, and says: “And a hair of your head will not perish” (Luke 21:18). After all, what perishes and falls will fall into the hands of God Almighty, and God will resurrect and raise it up in even greater glory and beauty.
As the true Master of the House, Whose all time and all space, He cares for all people until the last days, until His second Coming. Therefore he warns: “Watch therefore, for you do not know when the owner of the house will come” (read: the Master of the House, and this is He): “in the evening, or at midnight, or at rooster crow, or in the morning; lest he come suddenly and find you sleeping.” And he ends with a warning that also applies to us: “But what I say to you, I say to all: watch” (Mark 13:35-37), that is, be prepared and determined to meet Me when I come a second time in power and glory to judge each according to his works. Ah, beware lest, “when the owner of the house gets up and closes the doors,” you remain behind the doors and hear the terrible words from within: “I don’t know you, where you come from; Depart from me, all workers of iniquity” (Luke 13:25, 27). As the Householder, He is not indifferent to anyone or anything. When someone drove children away from Him so that they would not disturb Him, He decisively said: “Let the children come and do not hinder them from coming to Me”; and warned: “If you do not convert and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” He loves and blesses children. You say: “Who doesn’t like children?” But He also loves those whom no one loves and whom no one notices, just as they do not notice an inexpressive gray stone. He turns his attention to the poor fellow, who lies paralyzed for no less than thirty-eight years in the pool of Bethesda and despairs, abandoned and long forgotten by everyone. And so the Householder comes to him and sees in him not something, but a person: “Do you want to be healthy?” Amazed and delighted that someone paid attention to him, he answered: “Yes, Lord, but I do not have a person who would lower me into the pool.” And here in front of him was a Man, a Man of the House, who said to him: “Get up, take up your bed and go.” And the sufferer stood up, for he became well.
He is consumed by zeal for His Father's house: He does not tolerate the desecration of the temple of God, where people buy, sell, bargain and shout, as in a market. He took a scourge and drove the cattle and those who traded them out of the temple with the words: “Take this from here, and do not make My Father’s house a house of trade” (John 2:16). He is least of all indifferent to the oppressors and seducers of God’s people. He protects His flock from the unworthy elders of the people - hypocrites, deceivers and drunkards from wolves in sheep's clothing, who have no love for the people, have nothing but contempt for them, and are burning with only one desire - to tear at least a tuft of wool from them. Although they were ashamed of His answers in every dispute with Him, they nevertheless continued to shamelessly weave a network for Him to the end, resorting to lies, bribery and violence. Finally they kill Him, bringing damnation upon themselves and their descendants forever. But He knows that He will conquer death and will live and give life forever. Before His death, He bequeaths His Body and Blood to His faithful as an eternal seal of indestructible love, promising to be with them until the end of time, that is, after His departure from this world, He will abide in it as the only, perfect and omnipotent Master of the world. All who want to live like people, and not like animals, must fix their eyes on Him, the Lord of the House, follow Him and be drunk and inspired by His Spirit of the House.
Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlahos)
The heart is the seat of the true Master of the House
When we act according to carnal lust, the grace of God, located after baptism in the depths of the spiritual heart, is obscured by passions. Therefore, a person’s task is to reveal this grace with the help of an ascetic life in grace, that is, to drive away the cloud that covers the heart. Since the devil, according to the words of the blessed Diadochos, is expelled from the heart in holy baptism, then “how can, after such shame, this cast out one again enter inside and remain there together with the true Master of the House, resting in His house, as it pleases Him?”
Chapter 4. Parables on the road to Jerusalem / Workers in the vineyard
In the Gospel of Matthew, the parable is preceded by an episode in which Peter asks Jesus: Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what will happen to us? Jesus responds with a promise: in the future life, the twelve apostles will sit next to the Son of Man on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. As Jesus says, whoever forsakes anything for His name’s sake will receive it a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life (Matthew 19:27–30). In the Gospel of Luke, this episode is placed shortly after the parable of the publican and the Pharisee (Luke 18:28–30). In both Matthew, Luke, and Mark (Mark 10:28–30), the action takes place before Jesus enters Jerusalem.
In the Matthew and Mark versions, the episode ends with the words: But many who are first will be last and those who are last will be first (Matthew 19:30; Mark 10:31). These words in Matthew connect Jesus' answer to Peter's question with the parable of the workers in the vineyard. The connection is emphasized by the conjunction “for” (γάρ), as well as by the repetition of a similar formula at the end of the parable:
For the Kingdom of Heaven is like an owner of a house who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard, and having agreed with the workers on a denarius per day, he sent them into his vineyard; going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idly in the marketplace, and he said to them, “Go you too into my vineyard, and whatever is proper I will give you.” They went. Going out again around the sixth and ninth hours, he did the same. Finally, going out about the eleventh hour, he found others standing idly, and said to them: Why have you been standing here all day idly? They tell him: no one hired us. He says to them: You also go into my vineyard, and whatever comes next, you will receive. When evening came, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward, Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning from the last to the first. And those who came about the eleventh hour received a denarius. Those who came first thought that they would receive more, but they also received a denarius; and, having received it, they began to murmur against the owner of the house and said: these last worked for one hour, and you made them equal to us, who endured the burden of the day and the heat. He answered and said to one of them: friend! I don't offend you; Did you not agree with me for a denarius? take yours and go; I want to give this last one the same as I give you; Don't I have the power to do what I want? Or is your eye envious because I am kind? So the last will be first, and the first last (Matthew 20:1-16).
To these words in some manuscripts (and in the Russian Synodal translation) the ending is added: for many are called, but few are chosen. In the most authoritative manuscripts, however, this ending is absent.139Novum Testamentum graece. P. 53.. Obviously, it was borrowed from another parable - about those invited to a wedding feast, where it forms the semantic completion of the parable (Matthew 22:14)140 Nevertheless, already in the 4th century. these words were perceived as part of the canonical text. See: John Chrysostom. Interpretation of Saint Matthew the Evangelist. 64, 3 (PG 58, 612). Rus. trans.: P. 654.. In this case, the semantic conclusion is the words that the last will be first, and the first will be last, forming a thematic arch with similar words placed before the beginning of the parable. We also find these words in two other Synoptic Gospels (Mark 10:31; Luke 13:30).
The main character of the parable in the original Greek text is called a “man of the house.” The term οἰκοδεσπότης ("lord of the house") indicates a person who owns an estate with a vineyard. Winemaking was one of the most important branches of agriculture, since wine (light and usually diluted with water) served as the main drink served at the table. Day laborers were hired to care for the vineyard and harvest grapes. The denarius, a Roman silver coin, was the standard daily wage for a full day's work, which lasted all daylight hours, from dawn to dusk.
The picture described in the parable reflects a very real situation for Palestine at that time. Unemployment was high, and many who wanted to earn their denarius stood idly for hours in the sun, hoping that someone would hire them (a pattern that is still familiar today in many countries around the world, including the Middle East). On the other hand, many farmers who lacked labor had to go to the market several times during the day in search of additional workers. The demand for such workers especially increased in the fall, during the harvest season141Keener CS Th e Gospel of Matthew. P. 481–482..
The first time the owner of the vineyard goes out to look for workers is early in the morning, that is, about 6 o’clock according to modern standards. Then he comes out four more times - around 9, 12, 15 and 17 hours. Scientists have made various attempts to explain the host's behavior by natural causes. It was pointed out, for example, that the work was urgent because it had to be completed before the start of the rainy season. P. 136., or the fact that the owner came out later to bargain with the workers for a reasonable price143Herzog W. Parables as Subversive Speech. P. 85–85.. However, the end of the parable refutes the last assumption.
The behavior of the owner of the vineyard cannot be explained by natural causes, and this is one of the main content elements of the parable. If hiring workers at 9 am or even around noon can still be explained by an acute shortage of labor, then the further, the less the actions of the “house owner” fit into the norms of common sense and economic feasibility. By the time he talks to the last group of workers, it becomes obvious to the listener that we are not talking about an ordinary vineyard owner, but about a person whose actions are motivated by other, not selfish, considerations.
Only in relation to the first group of workers is it said that a specific amount was agreed upon with them. Those hired later were only promised that they would receive what would follow: they could count on a smaller amount. Dialogue with workers who have stood idly all day because no one hired them looks almost like an act of philanthropy, since these workers will no longer have time to bring real benefit. Obviously, the owner simply took pity on them. He does not promise them anything, saying only: Go you too into my vineyard (the words and what will follow, I will give you, are missing in most ancient manuscripts144Novum Testamentum graece. P. 52.; they were probably added by analogy with what the owner said , hiring workers around the third hour).
As in other parables, the most interesting thing happens at the moment of denouement. The owner calls the manager and orders him to pay the workers, starting with the last. To their surprise, after working one hour, they receive pay for a full day's work. But everyone else, including those who endured the hardship of a full day of work and the heat, receive the same pay. Surprise gives way to disappointment and indignation for those who have been working since early morning, who cannot understand why they did not receive more than others.
The workers' reaction is described quite realistically, but the landlord's behavior goes beyond any realism. Not only does he pay everyone the same amount, but he also makes excuses for those who reproach him for this. His explanation is addressed to one of the workers - probably the one who grumbled loudest. The owner calls him the word ἑταῖρος, which in Greek has a connotation of affection, affection: depending on the context, it can be translated as “comrade”, “friend”, “companion” or even “beloved”.
At the center of the parable is a figure symbolizing God. This is recognized by most interpreters - both ancient and modern. The main meaning of the parable is that God does not act towards people the way people act towards each other. The laws of fair, by earthly standards, proportional reward for work and merit do not apply to God. The way God builds His relationships with people does not fit into the framework of ordinary human logic. Market principles are possible in human society, but impossible between God and man. God cannot be bargained with, and His reward is not proportional to human labor.
The situation in which Jesus delivered His parables and teachings was characterized by constant and increasing tension between him and the Pharisees. They could easily recognize themselves in the image of workers who had been working since the early morning. And they sincerely did not understand why Jesus preferred to them, who worked day and night to achieve righteousness and gain favor in the eyes of God, tax collectors and harlots, who, coming to Jesus without any merit, immediately gained His favor. The reaction of Simon the Pharisee to the attitude of Jesus towards the sinful woman who anointed His feet with precious ointment is reminiscent of the murmur of the workers described in the parable, and the words of Jesus, addressed to the Pharisee as if to justify His behavior, are even similar in intonation to those words that the owner He turned to one of the workers in the vineyard (Luke 7:37–47).
The fact that the parable is related to the Pharisees is evidenced by its use of the image of a vineyard. This image already served as a symbol of the Israeli people in the Old Testament (Isa. 5:1–7; Jer. 12:10). This symbolism will be continued by Jesus in the parable of the evil husbandmen (Matthew 21:33–46; Mark 12:1–12; Luke 20:9–19). In the parable of the workers in the vineyard, the same symbolism serves as a reminder that the parable is directly relevant to the listeners. In the general context of the history of the people of Israel, it may indicate that this people, called to faith in one God from the very beginning, will receive their reward if they keep the faith; however, those who are called much later, in the Kingdom of Heaven (which is the main plot of the parable) will receive a reward no less than the representatives of God’s chosen people. In this sense, Cyril of Alexandria understands the parable, believing that those called from the first to the ninth hour symbolize various eras in the history of Ancient Israel, and those who came at the eleventh hour are those whom Christ Himself called to salvation. Fragments. 226 (TU 61, 229–230)..
A very common interpretation is that those called at different times of the day symbolize those who came to faith at different ages. John Chrysostom writes:
Why is this parable depicted in this way and what is its purpose? Such as to make people more zealous who, in old age, change their way of life and become better, and to free them from the opinion that they are inferior to others... But why didn’t He hire everyone at once? As far as he could, everyone, and that not everyone obeyed Him at once, it depended on the will of those called. Therefore, He calls some in the morning, others at the third, others at the sixth, others at the ninth hour, and some even at the eleventh, depending on when someone was ready to obey Him... So He called the thief (Luke 23:40-43) . Could have called him before; but then he would not have listened to Him... So, from everything it is clear that this parable is told both for those who are in the first age of their life, and for those who in old age and later began to live virtuously: for the first - so that they do not become arrogant and they did not rebuke those who came at the eleventh hour; for the latter - so that they know that in a short time they can acquire everything. Since the Lord previously spoke about great zeal, about leaving possessions and neglecting everything that is on earth, and this requires great courage and youthful zeal, then in order to ignite the flame of love in the listeners and make the will firm, He shows that those who come after can receive a reward for the whole day146John Chrysostom. Interpretation of Saint Matthew the Evangelist. 64, 3–4 (PG 58, 613–614). Rus. trans.: pp. 655–656..
The name of John Chrysostom is inscribed with the “Catechetical Word”, which is read in all Orthodox churches in the world on Easter night. It is woven from allusions to individual gospel parables, while the main part is built on the parable of the workers in the vineyard:
Let those who are pious and God-loving enjoy this beautiful and bright celebration. Let him who is a prudent servant enter joyfully into the joy of his Lord (Matthew 25:21). Whoever has labored while fasting, let him now receive a denarius (Matthew 20:13). Whoever worked from the first hour, let him receive his due payment today. Whoever comes after the third hour, let him celebrate with gratitude. Those who managed to arrive after the sixth hour should not worry at all, for they will not lose anything. Whoever has delayed until the ninth hour, let him begin without any doubt. Whoever managed to arrive only at the eleventh hour, let him not fear for his delay. For the generous Master accepts the last as the first; calms the one who came at the eleventh hour in the same way as the one who worked from the first hour; He has mercy on the last and takes care of the first; and to this he gives, and to this he bestows; and accepts deeds and welcomes intentions; and honors activity, and praises disposition (Matthew 20:1-10). So, all of you, enter into the joy of our Lord; both the first and the second will receive a reward; rich and poor, rejoice one with another; you who are abstinent and careless, honor this day; those who fasted and those who did not fast, rejoice now147John Chrysostom. Catechetical Sermon for Holy Pascha (PG 59.721–722). Rus. trans.: pp. 923–924.7..
Thus, small efforts and even simple intentions are equated to long and continuous work. The Easter celebration in this text is presented as participation in the feast of faith that God has prepared for all people. Everyone is invited to recline at this feast, regardless of whether they observed the fast preceding Easter or not. “The meal is plentiful; be satisfied, all of you; the calf is great, let no one go hungry; everyone enjoy the feast of faith; everyone, enjoy the wealth of goodness.
Let no one complain about poverty; for the common kingdom has been opened. Let no one cry for sins; for forgiveness has shone from the tomb.”148John Chrysostom. Catechetical Sermon for Holy Pascha (PG 59.721–722). Rus. trans.: pp. 923–924..
The Easter holiday on earth becomes a prototype of the common Kingdom - the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus spoke about in His parables. The laws of earthly justice do not apply in this Kingdom. There is only one law in effect - Divine love. With His love, God embraces every person who comes to Him, regardless of at what stage of his life he believed and how much good he managed to do in life.
Maxim the Confessor in the section “What does the Gospel parable about the workers hired to work in the vineyard mean, and what is imaginary inequality?” of his treatise “Questions and Perplexities” interprets the parable in relation to different lengths of stay in monasticism:
One man lived the monastic life for seventy years, and another for one day. The purpose of the vow is for a person to turn his entire soul to God, renouncing it from addiction to the sensual and connections with it. If someone who has lived the monastic life for seventy years has died without caring at all about such dispassion, and the one who has lived one day has accomplished this by renouncing all biased thoughts about material things and bringing his soul into the bosom of God, then when the distribution of rewards is completed at the Judgment, the second one receives reward according to his deserts. , for he fully realized the purpose of the promise, and the first - by grace and only because he endured the work of asceticism149Maximus the Confessor. Questions and confusion. 127 (CCSG 10.93–94). Rus. trans.: P. 156..
The equal reward that workers received does not mean that everyone will be equal in the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus spoke more than once about the fact that in this Kingdom there will be many mansions (John 14:2), that there are smaller and greater ones in it (Matthew 11:11). In the Eastern Christian patristic tradition, on the basis of these words, the teaching developed that those who entered the Kingdom of Heaven will be at different degrees of closeness to God in accordance with the ability of each to accommodate the light of the Divine. However, the different degrees will not imply hierarchical inequality among the saved; for everyone, his own measure of communion with God will be the highest:
[The Savior] calls many abodes of the Father the different measures of understanding of the inhabitants of that country, that is, the differences in talents and spiritual degrees that are enjoyed according to the measure of understanding, and the diversity in the ranks of [spiritual] gifts. For it was not the difference of places, but the degrees of talents that He called many abodes. Just as everyone enjoys the sensual sun according to the purity and acceptability of the power of vision... so in the next century all the righteous will inseparably settle in one country, but each in his own measure is illuminated by one mental sun and according to his dignity attracts joy and joy... And no one sees the measure his friend, both higher and lower, so that if he sees the superior grace of his friend and his own deprivation, this will not be a cause of sadness and sorrow for him. Let this not happen where there is neither sorrow nor sighing! On the contrary, everyone, according to the measure given to him, rejoices internally in his own measure150Isaac the Syrian. Ascetic words. 6 (De perfectione religiosa. P. 86–87). Rus. transl.: P. 311 (Word 58)..
This interpretation indicates that in the Kingdom of Heaven not only earthly ideas about God as a fair Judge who rewards everyone in proportion to their merits or vices will be overcome. Those feelings that darken relationships between people will also disappear, including envy, the manifestation of which is vividly described in the parable in question. In the parable of the prodigal son, the eldest son turns out to be the worker of the first hour, who does not understand the actions of the father, who forgave the younger son and organized a feast in his honor. And just as in the parable of the workers in the vineyard the owner explained his behavior to those who complained about him, the father justified himself to his eldest son for his kindness and mercy (Luke 15:25-32).
From one parable to another, from one teaching to another, Jesus conveys the idea of the inexpressible love of God for man - a love that does not fit into the framework of human ideas about justice, reward, retribution. The modern interpreter sees in the parable of the workers in the vineyard “a stunning picture of Divine generosity, which gives without regard to the measures of strict justice.”151Dodd CH Th e Parables of Jesus. P. 94–95.. Thirteen centuries before him, another interpreter said that God’s actions in relation to people generally cannot be included in the terminology of justice, justice and retribution. This idea, according to him, is completely refuted by the parables of the workers in the vineyard and the prodigal son, and most of all by the very redemptive feat of Jesus Christ, Who, instead of repaying people for their sins, died for them on the cross152 Isaac the Syrian. Ascetic words. 50 (De perfectione religiosa. P. 357). Rus. transl.: pp. 431–432 (Word 90)..
The contrast between Divine and human logic is emphasized by the words with which the landlord ends his conversation with the worker who grumbled at him.
Literally translated, they sound like this: “Or is your eye evil (πονηρός - “evil”) because I am good (ἀγαθός - “good”)?” Here, evil, the source and main exponent of which in the world is the evil one (the devil), is contrasted with good, the source of which is God. The man, as in many other parables, finds himself at a crossroads between two poles. Jesus invites his listeners to reflect on the goodness of God and, inspired by these thoughts, to imitate God in His mercy and love. He persistently warns his listeners against the same manifestations of human envy, the source of which is the devil.
It should also be noted that immediately following the parable of the workers in the vineyard in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus predicts His death and resurrection (Matthew 20:17-19), and then the story of how the mother of the sons of Zebedee asked Him for her sons - so that in His Kingdom He would seat one of them on the right hand and the other on the left. Hearing this, the other disciples were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus said to them: You know that the princes of the nations lord it over them, and the great rulers rule over them; but let it not be so among you: but whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant; and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave (Matthew 20:20-27).
The consonance between this episode and the parable of the workers in the vineyard is quite obvious. Both here and here human envy is described: there the workers grumbled at the master for his generosity, here the disciples were indignant at the brothers for their insolence. Both here and here Jesus speaks of the first: there the last become first, but here the first becomes the one who will be a slave for everyone. We see how what is said in the parable is almost immediately projected onto the real situation in which Jesus' disciples find themselves.
The lesson they received ends with the words that the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). These words become the semantic anchor between four stories that follow one after another: the dialogue with Peter, the parable of the workers in the vineyard, Jesus’ prediction of His death, and the story of the request of the mother of the sons of Zebedee (Matthew 19:27–20:28). In the first story, Jesus promises the disciples that when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, they will sit on twelve thrones; in the latter, two brothers want to guarantee themselves the two places closest to Jesus in this twelve-seat “presidium.” The answer to the request is the words of Jesus about the cup that He will drink and the baptism with which He will be baptized. It is obvious that Jesus and His disciples are still speaking in different languages: they are thinking about primacy, glory, honor - He sees before His eyes the cup of suffering and the coming death for the ransom of many.
The parable of the workers in the vineyard acutely raises the question of what a person needs to be saved: his own efforts or God’s mercy. Christian theology since apostolic times has tried to find a balance between these two components. The Apostle Paul argued that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but only by faith in Jesus Christ, and we believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law; For by the works of the law no flesh will be justified (Gal. 2:16). The Apostle James, on the contrary, emphasized that faith cannot save a person unless it is accompanied by works:
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? can this faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and does not have daily food, and one of you says to them: “Go in peace, be warmed and fed,” but does not give them what they need for the body, what is the benefit? Likewise, faith, if it does not have works, is dead in itself... You believe that there is one God: you do well; and the demons believe and tremble. But do you want to know, unfounded person, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith contributed to his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the word of Scripture was fulfilled: “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.” Do you see that a person is justified by works, and not by faith alone? Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, receiving the spies and sending them away another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead (James 2:14-17, 19-26).
In the time of the apostles, the controversy concerned mainly the relationship between salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and the fulfillment of the “works of the law,” that is, the provisions of the Mosaic legislation that retained significance for some members of the community and lost significance for others. It was on this basis that Paul accused Peter and the other disciples of hypocrisy and of not acting directly on the truth of the Gospel when they first eat with the pagans, and then begin to hide and withdraw from the Jews (Gal. 2:11-15). In the same context, Paul’s famous statement was born that a person is justified only by faith in Jesus Christ, and not by observing Old Testament rites and customs.
Many centuries later, in the polemic between Catholicism and Protestantism, the problematic of the dispute was significantly expanded: it went beyond the relationship between faith in Jesus Christ and the Old Testament moral precepts and began to consider in general the relationship between human righteousness and the redemptive feat of Jesus. In the most general terms, the essence of the dispute can be stated as follows.
The Catholic Church in the Middle Ages developed the doctrine that, in addition to faith, a person needs to perform a certain number of good deeds in order to be saved, which would be credited to him. The concept of merit was often of a formal legal nature. So, for example, it was believed that the saints exceeded the “norm” necessary for them and therefore could share their merits with other people who did not have such merits. The total amount of merit of all the saints, including the Blessed Virgin, constituted that “treasury of merit” (thresaurus meritorum), the disposal of which was in the hands of the pope: those who do not have enough of their own merits can use this treasury in order to close their duty to God's justice. The practice of trading indulgences was based precisely on this idea.
Protestantism, in the person of Luther and other reformers, opposed this ugly distortion of Christian doctrine with the idea that no personal merit of a person can seek justification from God, since justification and redemption were accomplished once and for all by Jesus Christ. As proof, Lutherans referred to the words of the Apostle Paul that salvation is achieved only by faith in Jesus, and not by one or another number of good deeds. As a result, Protestantism opposed the legalism of the Catholic idea of salvation with a teaching that belittled a person’s own spiritual efforts as one of the means to achieve salvation.
The Orthodox tradition, represented by the fathers of the Eastern Church, was far from both extremes. She always emphasized that without faith in Jesus Christ and without the Church, human salvation is impossible. At the same time, the participation of the person himself in his own salvation is by no means reduced only to the passive assimilation of the fruits of the redemptive feat of Jesus Christ. People are co-workers with God (1 Cor. 3:9), and this co-working (synergy) between God and man is necessary for man to draw closer to God and be worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven.
The parable of the workers in the vineyard may seem to belittle the importance of man's own labors, their severity and duration, placing emphasis solely on the good will of God, His mercy and willingness to reward everyone equally, regardless of their labors. But such a literal reading of the parable can easily mislead as to the true purposes of its utterance.
Of course, God, not being bound by any obligations to people, can reward everyone not according to merit and not according to justice, but according to His own mercy and love. At the same time, the people in the parable are by no means represented as passive receptors (learners) of God’s gift. They all work: some more, some less. And they are all co-workers with God. Each of those who have worked receives a reward for their work, and not for idleness and idleness. In the parable of the talents, which we will consider below, the reward is given to those who put the money they received into circulation and made a profit; Only the one who buried the received talent in the ground remains condemned (Matthew 25:14-30). This means that God expects active work and active good deeds from every person. If this were not so, Jesus would not have said to His disciples: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).
At the same time, a person should not rely only on his own strengths, talents, virtues or merits. Having fulfilled what God commanded, people should humbly say: We are worthless servants, because we did what we had to do (Luke 17:10). No good deeds or merits can, by themselves, due to some legal necessity, obtain a person’s redemption, justification and salvation. The decision about a person’s fate in eternity, about his place in the Kingdom of Heaven is made by God Himself. And He is absolutely free in this decision: this is what the parable of the workers in the vineyard is ultimately about.
Publican and Pharisee
Table of contents
Two sons
