Enjoy Life, Enjoy God
TENANTS
June 29, 2011
A tenant lives or works in the place of another; that other is the owner. The owner owns the property. It's helpful if the tenant remembers who's who.
"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.'"
-- Mark 12:6,7 TNIV
Jesus tells the disturbing Parable of the Tenants. The owner leaves a vineyard to his tenants, and sends his agent to collect the rent. But the tenants forget the agreement, and kill the many agents he sends. So he sends his son, then they kill him. We surely "get it." But the people who first heard this story, had a greater challenge.
Owner = God. Tenants = humanity/people of faith. Vineyard = the earth, our place. Son = Jesus. Not only a prediction of his own death, but the story of a sorry truth. It's always occurred to me, the tenants forgot who they were, not owners, just tenants. A prayer for us to pray may well be for us us to remember who we are. We're not the owner, just the blessed tenants.
Joyfully,
Dale Patterson