Renters Contract II

Already – to be continued is now being continued…

The renters basically refused to pay their rent and even went so far as to hurt and kill the servants and son of the land owner.  Now, the land owner was on his way and the renters were about to come face to face with consequences.

The question I left with though was, what does that have to do with Easter.  Well, here comes the answer.

Let’s define the groups in the story just a little differently.  The tenants were the leaders of the people.  The son of the landowner was Jesus.  The landowner was God.  So, let’s take a short recap of that story again…

The people basically refused to obey and even went so far as to hurt and kill the servants and Son of God.  Now, God was on his way and the people were about to come face to face with consequences.

“Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The cornerstone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”  “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.  He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed,” (Matthew 21: 42-44).

The consequences were about to come as Jesus told the tenants (the leaders) what was occurring and their part in it.  “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them.  They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.” (Matthew 21:45-46). 

There was however not only foretelling of the actions, but of the consequences.  The removal of the tenants from the land.  We also can make choices as tenants.  What kind of choices do I make?  Am I a good tenant?

Renters Contract I

Think about the contracts involved when renting a house.  Issues such as caretaking, building care, upkeep – they must all be addressed in the contract between the owner and the renter.  What happens in the owner comes by and the renter has trashed his or her property?  They have a contract to fall back on that states this behavior is unacceptable.  It also states that in return for this care, that rent is paid.  If the rent is not paid the tenants must again face the consequences.

“There was a landowner who planted a vineyard.  He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower.  Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey.  When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit,” (Matthew 21:33-34).

So basically, you have a renter and the land owner.  In return for the land, they would be turning over part of his fruit as payment.  It seems like a pretty simple arrangement.  But, that wasn’t how it turned out…

“The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third,” (Matthew 21:35).  Beat, killed, and stoned?  WOW!  That is pretty darn harsh for fruit.  Why would they behave this way?  A terribly misguided sense of entitlement, greed, perhaps not addressing issues in the short term; I can think of several things.  But, what a reaction.

Then what happened?

“Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way,” (Matthew 21:36).  No offense to the land owner, but I think I would have opted for call the police long before this point.  Instead, the land owner tried again to have the agreement honored.  But, again the tenants did not abide by their agreement.

Surely this time he will go to the authorities – right?

“Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.  But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir.  Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’  So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him,” (Matthew 21:36-39).

Oh my goodness, they have killed servants, and now – they have killed the son!  Surely the land owner is going to do something now!

“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” The question is raised – what should the land owner do?  What is punishment enough for these terrible acts by a grieving father and a grieved land owner?

“He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

He is going to react, he will bring consequences.

What in the world does this have to do with Easter?

That is something you have to keep reading to figure out…. Until tomorrow