The Parable of the Evil Farmers
“Now listen to another story. A certain landowner planted a vineyard, built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased a vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country. At the time of the grape harvest, he sent his servants to collect his share of the crop. But the farmers grabbed his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. So the landowner sent a larger group of his servants to collect for him, but the results were the same. “Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’ But when the tenant farmers saw his son coming, they said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Come on, let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ So they grabbed him, dragged him out of the vineyard, and murdered him. ‘When the owner of the vineyard returns’, Jesus asked, “what do you think he will do to those farmers?”
The religious leaders replied, “He will put the wicked men to a horrible death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him his share of the crop after each harvest.” The Jesus asked them, “Didn’t you ever read this in the scriptures? The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.” I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the proper fruit. Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on.” When the leading priests and Pharisees heard this parable, they realized he was tell the story against them – they were the wicked farmers. – Matthew 21:33-45
Those that do harm to others are only harming themselves. In the end of this parable, Jesus explains that the Kingdom of God can be taken from you to give to another. This is why, we should not take the kingdom of God for granted. The Kingdom of God is a gift given to us through His son Jesus christ, and we should be thankful for this. Pray for those who do not know Christ, so they may have a chance to enter The Kingdom of Heaven. No Christ means No Kingdom.
Do not store up greed or wicked-ness in your heart like the farmers in this parable. Their only focus was to keep the estate, which never belonged to them to begin with. Before we get caught up with having our own, we must remember, nothing in this world is truly ours to begin with. Humans did not create the grass, sky or birds. God did. We do not own land, people or anything else in this world. God does!
So true