The tenants said, “This is the heir;
come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.”
—Matthew 21.38
Jesus tells a story about wicked tenants
who want to take over a vineyard.
A vineyard would have been repossessed land
taken from farmers, turned to an export crop,
where they are now sharecroppers.
The story is a commentary on economic systems
that use people.
And also a hit at leaders
who are doing a lousy job.
But what if it’s also about us,
about our urge to take over religion
and make it ours?
God, I confess
sometimes I want to possess your vineyard,
to make my religion work out for me,
not merely to receive it but to control it,
to manage your grace,
to center it on me.
I repent of my mutiny.
I will let this be yours,
and I will work your fields.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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