Indebted

Whom shall we trust?

He began to tell the people this parable: 'A man planted a vineyard, and leased it to tenants, and went to another country for a long time. When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants in order that they might give him his share of the produce of the vineyard; but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Next he sent another slave; that one also they beat and insulted and sent away empty-handed. And he sent still a third; this one also they wounded and threw out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, "What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him." But when the tenants saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, "This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours." So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.' When they heard this, they said, 'Heaven forbid!' - Luke 20:9-16

Chances are you have heard this parable before and you may have interpreted it to mean that God sent his son to the world after the people failed to listen to the prophets.

Now put yourself in the position of the vineyard owner for a moment.  Shouldn't he have done a better job vetting these tenants?

Of course the whole story falls apart if we blame him for having used poor judgment, and that may be the source of the problem.

God has put his trust in us, and for the greater part of our history, we have failed to be trustworthy.  In the parable, the man keeps trying to gain the respect he is due, and he assumes sending his son will accomplish that.  But it also means he has chosen to forgive the prior actions of the tenants.

This is how God is.  He lets us hurt him and yet he comes back again to try to win us over.  Why?

The parable uses an example of a leased vineyard, and that makes us think this is all about getting payment for what is leased.  But what God gives us is given freely, without charge, and that is all the more reason for us to want to offer up to God what we produce in thanksgiving for his generosity.

But like the tenants, we soon forget how indebted we are to God for all we have. 

The final message in the parable is what Jesus says the landlord will do to the tenants who killed his son.  What it tells us is this was the last straw.  There will be no more forgiveness after this.

Is that what Jesus wants us to know? 

And if so, are we being good tenants, or are we assuming God will let us do whatever we want and ignore Him?

Maybe it's a good time to take stock of our lives and see if we have been setting God aside.

What do you think?  Are we trustworthy in God's eyes?

More to come...