Why Stewarding our Talents Starts with Gratitude
Whenever I talk about parables, I include the same reminder: a parable is a snapshot, like a photo, that conveys a core meaning. It isn’t an allegory where every detail has symbolic value. The parable in yesterday's lectionary passage (Matt 21:33-46) comes out of Jesus’ time when the majority were tenant farmers on the lands of powerful people, and when elites tended to have slaves. The story takes these realities as a given; it doesn’t mean Jesus approved of tenant farming or slavery. The image or snapshot is making one key point.
That point is about stewardship. In this story, the owner of the land has made many investments in his vineyard. He has “planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower.” The vineyard belongs to the owner. While the tenants live and work on the farm, they are not the owners. They are meant to take care of the owner’s land as stewards. Yet when the owner sends representatives to the land to collect the harvest, the tenants act like they own the produce; they even kill the representatives. Eventually, the owner sends his son, but the tenants kill him too…. {Read remainder of article on Patheos HERE.}