Friday Thought -- January 25, 2013

Good Morning Friends,

“He then began to speak to them in parables:  ‘A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower.  Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey.  At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.  But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed.  Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully.  He sent still another, and that one they killed.  He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.  He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved.  He sent him last of all, saying, “They will respect my son.”  But the tenants said to one another, “This is the heir.  Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.”  So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.’” (Mark 12:1-8)

The world doesn’t always treat people like it should.  That’s one of the points of this parable Jesus told.

The owner of the vineyard had every reason to expect those to whom he had rented his vineyard to treat his representatives well.  After all, he owned the vineyard.  There is no indication that the owner did anything except treat those who rented from him fairly and appropriately.  The owner had a right to a portion of the fruit of the vineyard and he sent his representatives only to collect what was rightfully his.  But the renters abused and treated poorly every servant that the owner sent and even killed some of them.

Finally, the owner sends his own son.  Surely the renters will treat with the respect that is due to him.  At least, that is the expectation of the owner.  But that is not what happened.  Instead, the renters seized the opportunity to do away with the heir in the hope of gaining ownership of the vineyard.  It was a foolish plan that was doomed to failure because the owner had all the legal rights and all the moral right to avenge the loss of his son and to take the vineyard away from the renters.

The servants of the owner were not treated like they should have been.  The owner’s son wasn’t either.  They were innocent servants and an innocent son sent to do what was right.  The world turned against them and struck out at them.

There may well be situations in which you find yourself on the wrong end of bad treatment.  Remember, that’s not something new.  It’s been happening since Jesus’ time – and thousands of years before.  It will happen until the end of time.  But in the end, the Owner will cause justice to prevail.  That is the promise and the plan of God.

And remember, even the Owner’s Son experienced the same thing!

His, by Grace,

Steve