Stewards not Kings

Jesus 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 moved to another place. 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.

“What then will the owner of the vineyard do?
     - Mark 12:1-9

In the Bible, the image of a vineyard represents Israel (see Isaiah 5). This parable of Jesus, then, is not difficult to grasp—it’s a direct and scathing indictment of Israel’s leaders. They are not the righteous shepherds of God’s people but stand in line with those before them who rejected God’s prophets, treating Israel as their own personal domain (recall Jesus’ actions in the Temple). As one commentator puts it: Jesus has already told his disciples that he will be killed by Israel’s leaders. Now, he tells Israel’s leaders that they are going to kill him.

But a parable like this should never be kept at arm’s length. I’ve heard it said that parables often behave like boomerangs—launch them high, fast, and far away, and before you know it, they’ve turned back towards you.

The vineyard represents Israel, but it also evokes another garden and another set of tenants. "The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it" (Genesis 2:15). Adam and Eve failed in this task, distracted and tempted away from this calling.

And so the boomerang heads towards us. Each of us has something - our lives, if nothing more. These things are given to us by God, not for our satisfaction but for the glory of God. So what are you stewarding? How's that going?