During the season of Lent our devotions have been written by members of Faith Lutheran Church. Today’s writer is Elaine Gabriel.
He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, and leased it to tenants, and went to another country for a long time. When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants in order that they might give him his share of the produce of the vineyard; but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Next he sent another slave; that one also they beat and insulted and sent away empty-handed. And he sent still a third; this one also they wounded and threw out.
Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the tenants saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours.’ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Heaven forbid!” But he looked at them and said, “What then does this text mean: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”
When the scribes and chief priests realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to lay hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people. Luke 20:9-19
I really struggled with understanding Jesus’ Parable of the Tenants and finally I called my mom. Then I consulted Goggle, which suggests that there is a key to Jesus’ Parable of the Tenants.
Each piece signifies a different aspect of our role in the kingdom of God. So what does this mean to me today?
The vineyards represent the work of the church in God’s world and we are His servants. As God’s servants living in the United States at this time, we have it pretty cushy. We don’t have to fight a government or an oppressive society to be His servant. We should be eager to do God’s work. We also need to keep those His servants in the world who don’t have it so easy in our prayers.
Then there is that corner stone. One could build their world on God’s corner stone or trip all over it. God has a way of creating situations for us to learn important lessons. That lesson also seems to reoccur over and over until His learning objective is met.
I try to learn the first time so that I don’t have to trip on that corner stone over and over.
Be mindful to respect the stone since it can even come flying to crush anything in its way.
Let us pray: Lord, help us to be your servants, to be eager to do the work of the Kingdom. Amen.
Daily Devotions 
Leave a Reply