October 5 - Parable or Allegory
of the Tenants
One afternoon a shopper at a mall felt the
need for a coffee break. She bought a
cup of coffee, a little bag of cookies, and put them in her pocketbook, as
she paid the cashier. She found a table,
took out her magazine and sipped her coffee.
Across the table sat a man, reading a newspaper and drinking his coffee.
She reached out and took a cookie out of the bag. As she did, the man reached out and took
one too. This put her off, but she
didn’t say anything.
A few minutes later she took another
cookie. Once again, the man did so
too. Now she was a bit upset, especially since there was only one cookie
left. Apparently the man also
realized that only one cookie was left. He took it, broke it in half, offered half to
her and proceeded to eat the other half.
Then he smiled at her, arose, put his paper
under his arm and walked off.
She was steamed, and she was already
thinking of how she’d tell her friends about the rude stranger who ate half her
cookies. She folded her magazine, opened her pocketbook - and there discovered her own unopened bag of
cookies.
All that time she had unknowingly been
helping herself to that stranger’s cookies.
That man at the table had every right to be offended at her, for she had
taken what belonged to him without
asking, or even acknowledging it with a word of thanks.
The
same mistake - but with a vengeance - was made by those tenants in the
parable that Jesus told.
The owner
the vineyard had cleared the ground and planted the grape vines - built the
fence and the wine press - had gotten it ready so that it would produce grapes
that could be made into wine.
Then the owner leased the vineyard - the whole operation - to some tenants. They
were to care for it, tend the grape vines, and harvest the grapes. Their
payment to the owner was a share of the crop.
But when the grape harvest came - when the rent was due - and the
owner sent his agents to collect his share of the harvest from the tenants - they decided not to pay.
They had worked all year carrying for the
vineyard, and they did all the work of harvesting - they felt it was all theirs now - and so they said: “Let us make the vineyard our own.”
Then they proceeded not only to deny the
owner his fair share - his rent - but to mistreat, beat up, and finally even kill the
son he sent to collect what he was owed.
Like the weary shopper on a coffee break in the mall, the vineyard
tenants, took to be their own, what
belonged to someone else.
Now of
course Jesus was not talking about the obligations of tenants to their
landlords, but about the
In the Old Testament, as in our 1st lesson
from Isaiah, the owner, the landlord, represents the Lord God.
The tenants are us, the people of God.
The vineyard represents all that the Lord God has given us to sustain our lives - Not
just our possessions, but the talents and abilities that God has blessed us
with so that we can enjoy life.
We
are tenants, stewards, of what God has entrusted to us. But perhaps, without thinking about
it, like that woman on the coffee
break in the mall, we’ve been helping ourselves to someone else’s bag of
cookies - taking from the Lord’s bag of cookies, without acknowledging him or offering him
thanks.
That
parable Jesus told makes an unpopular point: we owe something to God in return
for all he has given us. That the
Lord has some expectations of those
who say they are his followers.
Jesus
concluded the parable with a warning:
The
The vineyard, the kingdom, will be given to a people
who produce the fruits of the kingdom.
The Lord does expect something back from us. He expects to see the results of his teaching
reflected in our daily lives. He wants
to see us bearing fruit.
Paul gives us an example of that fruit:
The fruits of the Spirit are love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Galatians 5:22
Our goal is to reflect something of Christ’s love and
kindness to others - and to faithfully press on. It should be evident to those around us that
we are followers of Jesus - citizens of His kingdom.
You’ve heard that message before, so I’m just
reminding you that God has expectations of you and does hold you
accountable. You and I need to be
reminded because we’re not there yet – not quite living the lives God intends
for us. Even Paul, the great Christian
saint says,
Not that I have already reached that
goal or already have been made mature. Philippians 3:12
The Christian life is a continual process of growth –
and Paul didn’t feel he had completely matured in the faith. If Paul hadn’t, than you and I probably
haven’t either. We all need to reform.
So Martin
Luther said the Christian life is one of daily repentance – daily turning away
from self and turning toward God. Each
morning, Luther said, you should remember your baptism. Christ has claimed you and wants you to be a new
person – one more like Him. We were not
just born again at our baptism, but each new day is another opportunity for new
birth. We are not yet what we shall
become.
How do we do that?
How do we keep turning toward God?
Listen again to Paul.
After he says he has not reached Christian maturity, he tells us what we
can do:
Beloved,
I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do:
forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press
on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:13,14
He describes the Christian life as being future
orientated – looking forward rather than back.
Forgetting what lies behind—forgetting and not dwelling on the
past.
Sure we made mistakes in the past, but they don’t
have to hold us back. If we are all
still growing toward Christian maturity, then we can admit we still have some
changes to make. In humility, we can
admit that we do fall short. We receive
God’s forgiveness so that we can make a new start and keep working on doing
better. That allows us to forget what
lies behind, and strain forward to what lies ahead.
I’m sure you know people who like to hang on to past
mistakes. Not their mistakes, of course,
but those of others. They remember
slights and angry words. They even hold
grudges.
And who is
brought down by those negative thoughts.
Not the person who perpetrated them – they’ve probably forgotten
them. It’s the person who bears the
grudge – or simply can’t get over the hurt – they’re the one who is brought
low.
So remember Paul’s advice – Forget what lies behind
and close the door on the past. Let go
of old hurts, and turn toward the future.
Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead...
In other words, I don’t give up – I keep fighting,
knowing that the Lord is with me in my struggles.
That orientation toward the future means in spite of
set-backs, I don’t have to accept the way things are.
Sometimes when tragedy strikes we’re tempted to say
‘This must somehow be a part of God’s plan.
I’ll just have to accept it.’
To which I’d reply – Don’t think so. Many things happen that are contrary to God’s
will, which is why Jesus taught us to pray: Thy will be done on earth, as it
is in heaven. We pray that because
God’s will isn’t being done on earth.
Instead of acceptance, lean into the future and press
on – looking for something new and different.
I’ll try new things and go off in a new direction.
Keep up the good fight.
Straining forward to what lies
ahead, I press on to the goal…
I’ll keep trying – try something new, but my vision
for the future is far from perfect. And
God’s guidance is clouded by my own ideas.
What I want gets in the way of what God wants for me. So maybe some of those
new ventures will fail to accomplish what I want – miss the objective. But one of them might work, so I just keep
trying. Doing nothing will get us
nowhere.
Forgetting
what lies behind, and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on to the goal...
Not looking back on mistakes and failures,
not dragging
ourselves down -
but putting the past behind us and
focusing on the future with hope.
I press on because
Christ has made me his own - and
there is nothing I can’t face with His help
Keep trusting God.
Be faithful to God.
for God is faithful to you.