“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. Not long after, a group of immigrants arrived seeking sanctuary and a place where they could practice their religion in peace. Seeing that the original tenants lived and worshipped in a different way, the immigrants took it upon themselves to instruct the tenants on how to live and worship in a proper manner and introduced the tenants to their religion. After much labor and misunderstanding and lack of perceived progress, the immigrants decided it would be easier to go on without the tenants. They seized the tenants and killed some, left others to disease and death, and moved others to the margins of the vineyard. The immigrants then took over the management of the vineyard, making decisions, driving work flow, extending the fences, depleting resources, and building more watchtowers, all under the mantra “All men are created equal.” The original tenants, and many groups of “other” immigrants, were left out of the decision making process and left to scratch a living off of what was left. The original immigrants struggled with their original goal of practicing their religion in peace because the management of the vineyard became their number one priority. Their religion stated that the two greatest tasks of people were to love God and love God’s people. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do with the immigrants?”
We’ve had a number of parables thrown our way in recent weeks as the lectionary cycle works its way through another year. In light of Columbus Day, the parable about the tenants in Matthew 21:33-44 from a few weeks ago resurfaced when I was running at the gym. If you have a facebook account or other form of social media, or maybe if you opened a paper today, you know that Columbus day catches a certain amount of attention. I am not going to go into the argument of who or what Christopher Columbus is and how he has been treated in the collective minds of American, and more specifically, United States history, but I do want to take a moment to pause and look at how we are living now, and I think that the parable of the tenants, has something to say to how we are living our lives. I took the liberty to update the parable. Some of the words come from Matthew’s Gospel, the others come from me, but they come together and lift up a few questions. How are we walking through this world? What does a day like Columbus Day do in our lives? Does it move us to empty words, or does it ignite something deeper?
My friend Vance Blackfox, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, wrote an inspiring piece about building right relationships with native peoples. It’s this kind of inspiration that our world needs now more than ever.
Today presents us with a great opportunity to reflect on the past and present, and take steps into a future grounded in love. How are we building relationships as we walk through this world? Or better yet, how are we building relationships as we work in the vineyard?
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