IT IS HARD TO DEFEND

The parable of the Wrecked Tenants (Matthew 21:33-46) is a difficult case to defend, God being the defendant. His motive is to kill his own son to save the world. His action is to provoke the Jews, who were smart enough to make the Romans do the dirty job for them, to kill his own son. In the end, who is/are guilty for the death of his own son? Of course, in the end, He raised his own son from death. Nobody is guilty of killing the Son of God. Only Satan was fooled into believing that it had captured the Son of Man, whom it had suspected all along to be somebody holy and great. So, God is merciful to mankind. He and mankind cooperated to defeat Satan. If so, how do we explain, "He (the owner of the vineyard) will put those wretches to a miserable death, and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons" (21:41)?

God is merciful. God has been patient with the rebelliousness of the Jews and kept sending prophets to remind them of the covenant, knowing all along that the Jews would reject them. Though God is all-knowing. He knows every possible outcome and respect the freedom of will of mankind. A handful of Jews might not follow the crowd. Indeed there were Jesus' disciples. But God has a bigger plan. His salvation is for all mankind, not just for the Jews. But this outcome depends on the rebelliousness of the Jews to spread His salvation for all. Had the Jews been obedient in the first place, they would have become a nation of priests, a sacred people. The chance of killing Jesus would have been extremely slim. Once again, we can only marvel at God's wisdom and power to make use of evil to do good. Since everybody is simply playing their parts, the Jews as Judas and the Gentiles as beneficiary, we cannot blame the Jews for killing Jesus and thus, they did not deserve a miserable death.

God is just. Spilled blood should be repaid. "His blood be on us and on our children" (27:25). I am not sure. Perhaps Matthew put these words into their mouths. Since the justice of God goes hand in hand with His mercy, where lies God's mercy to the Jews? We have to be patient because the curtain has not been drawn. This salvation drama has yet to play out in full.

Dear God, this reflection has not been satisfactory. Enlighten me please. Amen.