Whose vineyard is it, anyway?

This passage continues Jesus’ responses to the question, “By what authority do you do these things?”  This week’s parable speaks to the difference between ownership and stewardship, whether of our lives or our ‘vineyards’ (our vineyards include those places where we are called to bear fruit:: home, church, world).

The Old Testament lesson (Isaiah 5:1-7), commonly referred to as Isaiah’s “Song of the Vineyard,” appears to be the original story on which Jesus offers commentary. This story works as an allegory; i.e., the owner of the vineyard is God; the vineyard itself is the House of Israel; the wicked tenants are the religious leaders; the servants sent to collect the owner’s fruit are the prophets who were slain for their prophesies, and the owner’s son is Jesus who will, in short order, be killed as well.

As the story progresses, we hope against hope as we read, “They will respect my son,” but they did not! During their ongoing tenancy, the tenants (religious establishment) developed a proprietary interest in the vineyard, confusing tenancy with ownership; they enjoyed the fruits of their labors instead of stewarding the harvest for the real owner. What kind of tenants are we?  Do we know for whom we labor? Are we producing the fruits that God requires? Or have we settled in and decided that, instead of stewards, we are the owners, entitled to the vineyard and able to run it however we want? Furthermore, any servants (prophets, pastors, parents, friends) who dare to say differently will be dealt with appropriately! This all-too-common behavior has been called “functional atheism,” the idea that we are actually in charge of things and are answerable to no one beyond ourselves!  The “old saw” “If you want to hear God laugh, start making plans” applies here!

While the political noise continues about whether there is global warming or any climate change at all (not to mention whether humans have any responsibility for it!), the Judeo-Christian tradition has never let us off the hook for tending this earth, our “island home.” It is not ours to pillage and plunder. It is the “Garden of Eden defiled,” groaning like a woman in childbirth awaiting redemption (Romans 8:22)!

We have all borne witness to a national test case on ownership vs. stewardship in the destruction of parts of the White House, commonly referred to as “the People’s House.” It is symbolic of how we as a nation view ourselves and our leadership. What do we own? What must we steward and how can we do both responsibly and from our faith perspective?

As writer Enuma Okoro puts it, “Like the tenants in Matthew 21, we can turn from receiving God’s gifts with gratitude and obedience toward having a false and foolish sense of entitlement. The sad and desperate truth is that when we feel entitled to something, we can justify going to any lengths to have it.” The Pharisees had a variety of motives for wanting Jesus dead… chief among them was their jealousy of the favor he was garnering from the people, as well as the threat he was to their very livelihood and religious stature. It appears they feared the crowds much more than they feared the Lord.

God does not easily give up on the tenants in this story; nor does he give up on us, but there is an accountability factor to being a tenant in God’s vineyard. God expects a harvest of righteousness from each of us. And we cannot produce fruit if we cut ourselves off from the vine (Christ), as though a branch off by itself will do anything other than die!  See John 15 for an elegant description of Christ as vine and we as branches.

When we feel ourselves “withering” spiritually, we can ask God to restore us to the Vine and help us to heed the words of the prophets God has placed for us along the way. As Dietrich

Bonhoeffer wrote in The Cost of Discipleship, “If you dismiss the word of God’s command, you will not receive the word of God’s grace.”

The question for each of us is, “Whose vineyard is it, anyway?” Our heavenly “landowner” will return. Will he find a harvest of righteousness, tended by his faithful tenants?