Jesus. Post-College. Me.

I’ve decided every time I read something about the Pharisees, I may as well assume I am just like them.  I was reading Luke 12 this morning, where Jesus was telling the parable of the tenants to the Pharisees.

Basically, the story goes that this guy planted a vineyard and dug a well, making a pretty swell farm.  He was going out of the country though, so he leased it to some guys who promised to take care of it for him.  Around the time the grapes were getting ripe, the owner sent a servant to bring him some of the fruit. The guys leasing the land refused to give the servant anything, beat him up, and sent him back  The owner did this with several more servants, and each time the guys he leased the land to beat them worse and sent them back empty-handed. Finally the owner decided to send his son.  He thought, “surely they will respect my son.”  The guys leasing the property decided to kill the man’s son when he got there. The figured if he wasn’t around they could take his inheritance.

Now when the owner comes back, what do you think he will do?  Kill the guys he leased the land to and lease it to someone who will respect him.  That was Jesus’s point in Luke.  I read that and sat there thinking, “How dumb must those tenants be?  They should have just given his servants some grapes, and then they could have enjoyed the rest of the vineyard.”   I caught my thought and remembered that most of the time, I do act like a pharisee. So even though I don’t see how I am anything like these guys, I may as well look for any possible way that I am the same.

Now I know this story is about the Israelites, how they rejected God’s messengers (the prophets), and eventually would kill Jesus, and how God was going to give salvation to the gentiles (us).  But I think perhaps there is also a personal application.

1. I am a steward of everything I own, because God actually owns it all. He created it.  So that puts me in the shoes of the guys the owner leased the vineyard to.

2. When God asks for some of his stuff back, I don’t want to give it up.  I’ve usually forgotten its was his in the first place, so it’s a painful reminder that I don’t actually own anything. The tenants did the same.  The refused to give the servants any fruit.

3. I usually get angry with people who ask me for things or remind me that it’s not really mine.  Not just physical things, but personal things as well. If someone reminds me that I shouldn’t waste my time, because it’s really God’s time; I’m quick to get defensive. The tenants also beat the servants before sending them back.  I don’t often recognize people possible messengers of God.

4.  Not only do I refuse to give God back what is his, I want more.  The tenants decided to kill the owner’s son in the hopes of getting his inheritance. They weren’t satisfied with the vineyard they had.  How often to I lust after more, even when I know God is reminding me what I have isn’t mine in the first place.

5. The tenants actions killed the son.  I am the same way. It is because of my sin, along with the sin of every other human, that Jesus went to the cross.

6. The owner came back to punish the wicked tenants. Me. I am a wicked tenant. I do not give back to him what he already owns, but cling to is as child afraid of losing a favorite toy. However, here is where the my story differs.  When the owner came back to punish me, instead of killing me, his son stepped in my place. His son offered himself to be killed so that I could live.

That is my only hope. Without Jesus’ death and resurrection, I would be as the wicked tenants, as Luke 12:9 says, “What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others.” But Christ washes my sins clean. When the owner looks at me, he sees his beautiful son, not the selfish tenant.

Oh, and by the way, when an owner like that, who loves me even though I hated him, asks me for some grapes,  I will gladly give them to him, amazed that he even bothered to ask.