Hi, I'm Matthew Kelly, and welcome to Feed Your Soul. Has anyone ever loaned you something that you didn't give back? How do you feel about that? And do you think they know? And how do you think they feel about that? Or has anyone ever loaned you something and you broke it and then you gave it back broken? Today's reflection is about the wicked tenants. It's a great, great word. Wicked. Wicked tenants. Who are the wicked people? Who are the wicked people in your life? Who are the wicked people in society? Who do you give that characterization to as Jesus does in the parable today?

And Jesus spoke to them another parable. There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and he set a hedge around it and dug a wine press in it and built a tower and let it out to tenants and went into another country. So the householder, the owner, he builds this vineyard. He gets everything right. And then he rents it to these tenants. And I assume they came to an agreement, and they agreed terms. And then he goes to another country. When the season of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned the next. Again, he sent other servants more than the first, and they did the same to them. Afterward, he sent his son to them, saying, "They will respect my son." But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, "This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and have his inheritance." And they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.

When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? Well, if you were the owner of the vineyard, what would you do? You got these tenants. You let them use your vineyard. They beat up your servants, killed your servants, and now they've killed your son. If you were the owner of the vineyard, what would you do? And that's the question Jesus raises. When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death and put out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons." And Jesus said to them, "Have you never read the Scriptures? The very stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it." Who is Jesus talking to? He's talking to a Jewish audience, the chosen people, the nation of Israel, God's beloved people. And what is He saying? He's saying, "You're the wicked tenants. You're the wicked tenants." So, you can understand why they wanted to kill him, right? You've got all this history of Judaism waiting for the Messiah. And now you've got this guy standing there saying, "All right, my Father, God, you, His chosen people, have rejected the cornerstone, me. And as a result of that, He's going to kick you out. And He's going to give the vineyard to new tenants."

And of course, this drove them crazy and understandably so. Understandably so. Question is, did it change their behavior? How did it inspire them? How did it move their hearts? How did it make them rethink about their lives? Now, we're tenants. We're tenants of the earth. God has given us this planet to live our lives on. And we're tenants of the country we live in or are born in. And we're tenants of so many other aspects of our lives. Question is, are we good tenants? Are we good tenants? And again, a few weeks ago, we asked the question, am I good servant? We tend not to think of ourselves as servants. Am I good tenant? We tend not to think of ourselves as tenants. Are we taking care of this earth that God has entrusted us to because the reality is that stewardship of the earth may be a topic that has been kidnapped politically, but the reality is stewardship of the earth is right at the heart of the gospel? The earth and all in creation has been entrusted to us. Question is, are we good tenants.