Do we get it?

Jesus spoke to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a tower. Then he rented it to tenant farmers and took a trip. When it was time, he sent a servant to collect from the tenants his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But they grabbed the servant, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Again the landowner sent another servant to them, but they struck him on the head and treated him disgracefully. He sent another one; that one they killed. The landlord sent many other servants, but the tenants beat some and killed others. Now the landowner had one son whom he loved dearly. He sent him last, thinking, They will respect my son. But those tenant farmers said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ They grabbed him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. “So what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others. Haven’t you read this scripture, The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Lord has done this, and it’s amazing in our eyes?” They wanted to arrest Jesus because they knew that he had told the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away. (Mark 12:1-12, CEB)

Would you have gotten this story if you were there when Jesus told it?

The man is God, and the vineyard is all creation and it was given over to us to tend. When we needed to give back we didn’t. So the Judges came and they were mistreated. And then the prophets, and then other speaking for God and we didn’t listen to any of them. We beat them and killed them, and when God finally sent the son we did the same to him. Not listening, beating, and killing. When all they wanted to show us was God’s love.

Would we have been any different?

Do we get the story now?

Love. It’s about love.

Loving People. Loving God.