Wicked Tenants

kThe Parable of The Wicked Tenants starts off with a certain class being oppressed because of their class. The man who farmed the vineyard created all the drama, because he blocked out a certain class and took away something from them that they cherished and thought was given to them by God. The man was so rich, he was able to leave his land fallow for four years. He also was rich because he had enough money to get up one day and randomly go on a vacation. He sends servants to the tenants to collect the food that was produced, because he was lazy and knew that the tenants would be aggressive because of what the farmer was setting up. The problem was the tenants didn't want to give that food up, because they planted it and it was their land originally. The farmer was setting himself up for all of this because he planted a vineyard that doesn't produce grapes for four years, and the tenants didn't want to give up that food because they needed to survive. Once the first act of violence occur ed, they realized "o well we might as well go all out." Jesus is not telling us to resort to violence, but to stick up for ourselves. When the tenants were killing the servants being sent by the farmers, they were digging them selves into a hole, that would cost them and others their lives. Jesus is trying to tell the farmers to not create a system in which you block out a certain class of people, because that only creates violence in this cycle: oppression, revolt, and smash. Ultimately he is telling the poor to become apart of the system and for the elite to not create a system that sets up oppression. Jesus wants there to be a society where everyone is welcomed, the poor and the elites. Jesus is telling the Jews, just because you don't like the structure of society, you can't just start over and destroy everything. Jesus tells them that they can add and try to fix the structure of society. Jesus is telling the Jews they need to work with what they have. Jesus is also giving the elite a role. He tells the them that having all this power comes with responsiblity to make sure those on the bottom are taken care of. The stones that have been rejected by the builders are the tenants. The parable is saying that those stones need to be preserved and made the cornerstone, which is the support stucture. Without the cornerstone there would be no structure. That is similar to the tenants ,the roles they play, and the structure they provide and contribute to.