Then he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watchtower; then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard. But they seized him, and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. And again he sent another slave to them; this one they beat over the head and insulted. Then he sent another, and that one they killed. And so it was with many others; some they beat, and others they killed. He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this scripture: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’?” When they realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowd. So they left him and went away. (Mark 12:1-12, NRSV)
When they realized that He was speaking of them as the ones who were the tenants they wanted to kill Him. But because the crowd loved Him, they were afraid of them.
So wouldn’t you think that maybe your reaction needed some changing?
God created the world and put everything in it it needed to exist. Then we came along, and mucked it up. He sent prophets to tell us we were wrong, and then the Son came. And did we think that if we killed the Son we could have it all?
God gives us all many chances but do we see the vineyard for the grapes?
We need to be listening and watching for where God is leading us and know that this is not our home.
We are merey managers passing through.
