A Direct Hit

Text: Luke 20:9-19

The relationship between Jesus and the Judaic leadership was reaching a critical point. Any hope, humanly speaking, of coming to a meeting of the minds gave way after the story Jesus told to the gathered crowd. The tale of the tenants of a certain vineyard incited the sense of justice in everyone in the crowd. No one should behave so poorly as those tenants and get away with it. The punch line was the last straw, as Jesus quoted Scripture to clearly indicate that the leaders before him and those for whom they spoke constituted the tenants of his story--the ones whose actions brought outrage to the listeners.

Stewardship of the things of God, and particularly of the mysteries of God, is always a high and awesome calling. They must always be held as trusts for someone else, even while He sometimes lavishly allows us to enjoy their benefits. The landowner of the parable never asked for the entire harvest; he only sent emissaries to collect what had been already stipulated as his share. God seldom exacts the return of His gifts; but He does look for a return, as this and other parables indicate.

No one enjoys being "called on the carpet." When it happens to us we usually react defensively, as did the teachers who heard the story. Far better it is to deliver as promised in the first place. But we do become lax, we become possessive of the things we've been given, resentful of reminders that they are ours only for another. And as each progressive rejection of the owner's requests follows another, the character of our lives slowly changes. The evil we would never consider or even think possible grows to the point where the unthinkable becomes the inevitable. The teacher-tenants became murderers.

Individuals, congregations, denominations all are capable of following the same pattern. We are here, entrusted with divine mysteries that have to do with participating with God in the overcoming of evil through His redemptive love; yet it is all of grace that we hold these gifts, grace without which we are prone to practice evil rather than oppose it. Let us give the Lord His due portion of our waking hours, thoughts, and strength; and may we receive the grace to repent when we act otherwise.