First Fruits

When it comes time to pay up, some just won't do it.

“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.' So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time." Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures: 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is amazing in our eyes'? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls." When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet. - Matt. 21:33-46

Not only did the tenants refuse to pay, but they committed murder to avoid paying.

Because this sounds extreme, we might think it has nothing to do with us, right?

We know Jesus is talking about the prophets God sent and then himself, so we read, we listen, and we pat ourselves on the back for being good compared to these people.

But think about it.  What do we owe to God that we have not yet paid?

Like these tenants who feel they deserve to inherit the land they have worked, we think of our riches as earned by us, not given by God.

And so we look at people who struggle and tell them to work harder and they will succeed like we have.

But anything can happen.  We can easily become like them.

So, why not take the first fruits of our labors and give them in glory to God to those in need?

More to come...