Sharon’s Segment
Who Owns the Vineyard?
Mark 12 v 1 “Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: ‘A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.’”
Jesus goes on in this parable to describe how the owner of the vineyard sent servants to the tenants to collect some fruit from his vineyard. But one by one the tenants mistreated, abused and even killed the servants that had been sent. Finally he sent his son. “Surely they will respect my son…”, he thought.
But the tenants saw this as an opportunity to gain the inheritance of the vineyard, so they killed his son.
I’ve been contemplating this parable from a personal perspective. It’s been extremely eye opening.
I thought of myself – my life – as the vineyard. A crop has been planted, and fruit is expected. God has put a wall and watchtower in place to protect the produce. He has put a winepress in to extract wine from the fruit. It has everything in place to be a fruitful and productive life.
So if God is the owner and planter of this ‘vineyard’, I am merely a tenant. I’ve been asking myself, am I acting as a responsible tenant, or am I acting as the owner? Am I the one trying to control my life? Am I making decisions based on what I want? Am I disregarding the rightful owner, and pushing aside His Son because I’m taking control?
Am I acting as tenant of my life, or the owner?
The uncomfortable conclusion I came to, is that far too often I am acting as the owner. I want control. I want to make choices based on what is comfortable for me, rather than what is going to produce the most fruit.
Having had a glimpse at how easy it is to take ownership rather than being a mere tenant, I now pray that I can have the courage to relinquish the control that should never have been mine. It’s exhausting maintaining that sort of control anyway!
I encourage you to think about your own life too. Are you a tenant or owner?
Let’s all make a concerted effort to step back into the role of a responsible tenant, and let God be the rightful owner. He is the one who has the right to our ‘vineyard’s’ fruit.
Trying daily to release my right to control,
Love Sharon.
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Exodus 37
ON THE WAY TO PERMANENCE
The tabernacle was a tent. When the tabernacle was constructed there was no digging, no concrete was poured, and nor did they use foundation stones. Instead, the tabernacle was made from poles, curtains and tent pegs.
Since the furniture in the tabernacle was also made to be moved, a similar theme comes across. On the ark, Bezalel “cast four gold rings for it and fastened them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. Then he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. And he inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it.” (Exodus 37 v 3 – 5). The same went for the table. “The rings were put close to the rim to hold the poles used in carrying the table.” (v 14). And also for the altar of incense: “They made two gold rings below the moulding – two on each of the opposite sides – to hold the poles used to carry it.” (v 27).
The point is that the tabernacle and its furniture were designed to be moved around. The children of Israel were walking toward the promised land and they were not there yet. Neither are we. We are on our way to the kingdom of God and therefore we cannot afford to get too attached to where we are and what we have in this life. This is not going to be our permanent dwelling place. When Jesus returns, then we will be able to settle into our permanent dwelling in the kingdom of God.
May we see what is really permanent through the eyes of faith this weekend.
With love in our Lord,
Robert
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Robert Prins and Sharon Prins
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