Readings for today: Numbers 2-3, Mark 11:27-12:17, Psalms 47, Proverbs 10:24-25
Yesterday I had the pleasure of worshipping alongside a beautiful little four year old in our church family. She had wandered from her dad and ended up in the seat next to me where she could watch her mom lead us in singing. She was fascinated watching her. She tried to copy her motions. Tried to sing some of the words. Finally, her desire to be with her mom got the best of her and she started shuffling slowly but surely towards the platform. With each step, she looked back waiting to see how I would respond. I simply smiled and waved. She kept going. She got to the first step and turned around. Suddenly she became very aware of the whole congregation. She paused and started to lay down. That’s when dad stepped in.
It’s a precious story. One that teaches us about the power of perspective. The little girl held a limited view of what her mom was actually doing until she got to the platform and her eyes were opened to the hundreds of people in the room following her mom’s lead. In our reading for today, Jesus shares a parable that’s intended to broaden our perspective as well. You and I have such a limited view of the world. We tend to focus on what’s right in front of us and fail to grasp the bigger picture. We are trapped within the time/space continuum and are forced to take life as it comes. We do not have the capacity to grasp the infinite with our finite minds. So Jesus reminds us what God’s been up to all along.
A man planted a vineyard. Protected it with a wall and a tower. Made it productive with a winepress. He entrusted it to some tenants and then departed. Sound familiar? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Light and darkness. Sun, moon, stars, and planets. Water and land. Trees, bushes, and flowers. Animals, fish, birds, and insects. God made them all. Placed them on this earth. And then entrusted it to our care. To the creature He made in His own image. Humanity was given this one charge. Be fruitful. Multiply. Fill the earth. Exercise dominion over all I have made. Sadly, the tenants rebelled. They beat and killed the servants who were sent to check in on them. Finally, the vineyard owner sent his son. Surely they will recognize him when he comes! They do indeed and they murder him in cold blood, thinking if they get rid of the heir, they will inherit the vineyard. Humanity rebelled against God. Went their own way. Chose their own destiny. The result has been thousands of years of pain and suffering, exploitation and abuse, violence and death. God hates what He sees. Hates what’s happening to His world. So He sends prophet after prophet to remind humanity of her high calling. But humanity rejects and beats and even kills the prophets. So God - in the ultimate act of love and mercy and grace - sends His Son. Surely they will listen to Him! It’s not to be. Humanity takes Jesus and hangs Him on a cross, thinking if we get rid of the heir we can establish our reign and rule on the earth. What will happen to those tenants when the owner finally comes? What will happen to humanity when God finally comes? Judgment. Punishment. Eternal death.
How do you make sense of the world around you? Do you look at things from God’s perspective or do you trust only what your eyes can see? What your hands can touch? What your senses can perceive? Friends, it is so easy to lose sight of who truly owns the world. It is easy for us to fall into the trap of believing we are the center of the universe. Yes, God loves us but not in a sentimental, sappy, enabling kind of way. His love is fierce and loyal and jealous. He will brook no rivals. He will not compete with the things of this world for your attention. He will not allow you to persist in sin or call good “evil” or evil “good.” God defines the reality into which we must fit...not the other way around. And He disciplines those He loves, constantly making and remaking us into the image of Christ.
No matter what you may be going through in your life right now - good, bad, or ugly - ask God to help you see your life through His eyes. Ask Him to give you His perspective and rejoice in how He uses even the hardest of trials to make you into the image of His Son.
Readings for tomorrow: Numbers 4-5, Mark 12:18-37, Psalms 48, Proverbs 10:26