Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” vs. 40
Matthew 21:33-41
The chief priests and the scribes were able to answer the question that Jesus asked at the end of his parable about the vineyard. It was easy, like the questions a pastor asks during a children’s conversation. The problem is that the question wasn’t the point of the story–it was a trap. Their answer was an indictment of themselves. It had never dawned on them that they were the tenants who had usurped the owner’s vineyard. In our day, we who are the stewards of creation would do well to pay attention to this parable. Our global village has been intricately knit together in a most spectacular fashion and given into the hands of caretakers who have come to see themselves as owners. If someone were to ask, “What should be done about the ravaging of the environment and the exploitation of resources by those who were given charge of it?” we would likely have a ready answer. “Those rascally caretakers should be punished!” And our answer would be an indictment of ourselves. The problem is that we’ve been lulled into thinking that our standard operating procedure, progress at all costs, is the best stewardship style, and it isn’t! If we continue doing things as we always have, this earth is going to suffer. Somewhere along the line something has to change!
Thought for the Day: What are the limits of progress?
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