Whose Vineyard Is It Anyway?
In Matthew 21:33-40, Jesus relates the parable of the wicked husbandman. In short, this man, assigned to the care of the vineyard of another, lost sight of whose vineyard he was tending and began to deceive himself by acting as though the vineyard and it's fruit belonged to him. Hence the question, "Whose Vineyard is it Anyway?"
Sometimes I fear that we, like this wicked vinedresser, forget that we are servants to the master and behave as lords over God's heritage. We forget that the vineyard does not belong to us and that the harvest of the fruit of the vines belongs to Him.
Failure to properly recognize the ownership of the vineyard caused the wicked husbandman to abuse and even kill servants of the master. At one point this wayward pastor over the master's vineyard even slew the master's son. He wanted all the fruit of his labor for himself so he left the bodies of the servants and the sons strewn among the vines to rot along with the un-harvested, over-ripe grapes of the vineyard
Church, when our Lord returns to collect the increase of the fruit of His vineyard, will he find the rotting bodies of the Master's lowly servants and His prodigal sons scattered among the vines over which we were given charge?
