The context of this story still exists today. It starts
with a person owning land and they lease that land to someone else. The second
person farms it and, when the crop comes it, the owner gets a cut of the profit
– either in the form of crops or cash. It is a standard business relationship.
Jesus takes the scenario a step farther, however. The
landowner in his parable not only owns land, but he built the facilities to
process the crops. This means that the owner would get an even larger share
because he was far more deeply invested.
I once asked an executive what he would do if he had tenants
who refused to pay him. He laughed darkly. “They would be gone,” he said.
Of course, the parable in the scenario is worse than a
refusal to pay. The tenants were physically abusive, violent, and murderous –
even killing the landowner’s son. The original listeners were scandalized by
what the tenants in the parable did. They recognized how horrible their action
was.
That is when Jesus’ meaning begins to come plain. He is
not really talking about a landowner and tenants. He is talking about God and
humanity, and, more specifically, God and Israel. God who created, provided,
saved, protected, loved, shepherded, forgave, and claimed them as his own
wanted fruit from his investment.
What fruit? Faith. Charity. Mercy. These kinds of things
flow from being touched by God’s grace. We begin to see how all the things of
life are from God and we are but tenants in his creation. What is more, God
desires to be more than a landowner with tenants. He seeks to be reconciled
with us; to bring us into his family in which each does what is good and right
to the other as we live in his love and mercy.
By rejecting Jesus, the religious leaders of his day
rejected God. They knew what Jesus was driving at. They perceived that Jesus
had told this parable against them. Then they doubled down and made the parable
come true. The heir was before them, and they killed him. They had no idea,
however, that God would use this ruinous moment to open salvation to all
people.
Are there areas of our lives that we, like the tenants of
the parable, do not return fruit to God? How can we see our position as tenants
as more than obligation to God, but to recognize God’s gracious provision in
the many aspects of our lives?
Lord Jesus, you
told this parable to condemn the religious leaders before you were crucified.
Thank you for all that you have provided for us for our body and soul; our
entire lives and selves. Forgive us for not bearing fruit as the Father desires
from us. This is, of course, why you gave your life on the cross: to save us
from our sins. Fill us with your Holy Spirit so that we would be people who are
full of faith, love, mercy, and all the fruit you desire from us. Amen.
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