gospel of Thomas 65

He said, "There was a good man who owned a vineyard. He leased it to tenant farmers so that they might work it and he might collect the produce from them. He sent his servant so that the tenants might give him the produce of the vineyard. They seized his servant and beat him, all but killing him. The servant went back and told his master. The master said, 'Perhaps he did not recognise them.' He sent another servant. The tenants beat this one as well. Then the owner sent his son and said, 'Perhaps they will show respect to my son.' Because the tenants knew that it was he who was the heir to the vineyard, they seized him and killed him. Let him who has ears hear."

I smile a little at this parable. The first thought that comes to me is that it is a warning against capitalism. The owner of the farm is a capitalist. He is not doing the work himself, but because he has capital, because he owns the land, he can sit back and reap the benefits of the work of others, the tenants. And of course, the tenants are a little bit annoyed by this. And so they beat up the servants of the landlord. And then, with even greater anger, they kill his son. This was the first interpretation that popped into my head upon reading this parable.

But of course, it's not the interpretation that Jesus meant us to come to. My feeling is that what Jesus was trying to point to here, is that we human beings are rather like tenant farmers. We find ourselves on this beautiful planet, with space, resources, all the beauties of the world. And if we remember that we are just temporary visitors, and this life is a gift, then all is well.

But we tend to forget that. And we begin to think that we own things here; that we possess land, material things, wealth. And this is all an illusion. In reality, nothing can be possessed. And we cannot possess anything. And a spiritual teacher will repeatedly remind us of this. If we are open to hear it, all well and good.

But of course, many are not open to hear this. This is one of the great difficulties with the spiritual world – is that most human beings are not ready for it; they're not interested. And they don't want to be reminded of the simple truths which are obvious to any on the spiritual path. And this is one of them: that we don't own anything. And in fact, to realise this, in the end is a liberation.

But if we have spent our life accumulating things – if we have carved out an identity for ourself, through our possessions, our wealth – then of course, the thought that we might not really own any of it is alarming. And we would rather kill the messenger that says such a thing, than accept the truth of it.

So in this parable, Jesus is effectively foretelling his own crucifixion, at the hands of people who would rather live in illusion than hear the simple truth. And it is not just Jesus who has been crucified. This story has been repeated over and over again, throughout history: great spiritual teachers being ostracised – and even killed – by people who want to live in illusion.

So to me, this parable is reminding us of two things. Firstly, that we don't actually own anything here on Earth. We are just visitors passing through, for that short blink of an eye that is a human lifetime. And secondly, that there are many people who are not ready to hear such truths. And spiritual teachers will not be welcomed by them.