The Wicked Tenants
Do you see yourself as a tenant in God’s vineyard? What kind of tenant are you? Are you a good tenant? Are you a faithful tenant? Does God get his due?
In the Parable of The Wicked Tenants in the Vineyard, Jesus tells a story of a man who planted a vineyard and leased it out to tenants with the expectation they would cultivate the vineyard and pay him some of the fruit at harvest time.
The wicked tenants in the vineyard refused to give the owner of the vineyard his fruit and killed his servants whom he sent to collect payment, not once, but several times.
Matthew’s gospel account tells us, “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 have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.” (Matthew 21:37-39, ESV).
There are good tenants who give the owner his due, and there are bad tenants who only care about themselves and their own benefit and wealth. These bad tenants do not care about the vineyard owner; they do not care about being faithful; they only care about themselves.
We are called to be faithful tenants of the vineyard owner. We are called to give God his due. We must look past our own desire and benefit and look to be faithful stewards.
May we be good and fruitful tenants in God’s vineyard, being faithful to bear good fruit and to give God the fruit that is due to him.
A Collect for the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, (Proper 22): “Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in continual godliness, that through your protection it may be free from all adversities, and devoutly serve you in good works, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).
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