Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Then he began to speak to them in parables.”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, March 15, 2020
by Dr. Kimberly Leetch, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: We are stewards of God’s creation. How we steward is up to us.
It may seem obvious, when Jesus tells a parable like this one, that the tenants were wicked. (It was obvious even to the Pharisees against whom Jesus spoke.) Not only did they squat on the owner’s land, but they killed any slave sent to retrieve the owner’s share of the produce. They even killed the owner’s son. Who wouldn’t acknowledge that these tenants were wrong and deserved punishment?
It’s a little harder to acknowledge when we, as tenants and stewards of God’s world, treat it with the same disrespect as the tenants in the parable. We have the responsibility to care for the earth and for its inhabitants.
How are we doing? Global warming. Wars and global conflict. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (a floating trash heap twice the size of Texas and three times the size of France). Human trafficking. Modern day slavery.
Admittedly, part of the problem is the systemic nature of the events that lead to these atrocities, and the sheer size of the problems. How can I, as one person, make a dent in these calamities? Even if I manage to create for myself a zero carbon footprint, will it make a difference? Would it have made a difference to Jesus if just one of the wicked tenants was slightly less wicked than the rest?
When the Pharisees figured out Jesus was talking to them, their response was immediate—they would entrap him to silence him. Their wickedness continued when they decided not to act for the betterment of God’s creation.
Send me forth to make a difference today, O God. Amen.
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