Friday, March 21st
Keith Obert
33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
All of us who proclaim to be Christians are children of the Kingdom of God. We live our busy lives each day and we find our way to The Chapel on Sunday and pray for the church, the people, the sick, those who have died, leaders of our country, leaders of the Episcopal Church, those in the military, and for all such others. When we do this, I wonder whether we should consider whether we are producing or bearing fruit. I often look at going to Eucharist as my time to share in the Lord’s Supper and have bread and wine, representing the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. I look at this as my way of filling my own cup.
But, I ask myself, is this enough, or is being involved in the church enough, or is supporting those with family members who are sick, or deceased, or digging a grave, or smoking meats in the Ministry of Smoke and giving proceeds to philanthropic projects, or by opening our Chapel doors to the community at Day in the Country and Christmas in the Country and on and on…is all of this enough? Are we truly producing or bearing fruit?
Perhaps there are other ways that we can produce or bear fruit, by helping someone get to church where they may be handicapped, taking communion to those homebound, or being kind to someone in Kroger who seems to be having a bad day, or by not getting mad at that person who cut you off in the Kroger parking lot, or by not racing down I-55, jockeying for position to get to our jobs wherever they may be. In these instances, are we truly bearing fruit? Is there more that we can do each day to bear fruit? I challenge myself and each of us to find a way each day to be kind to those whom we encounter on our daily journeys, and by doing so, is that bearing the fruit which Jesus is requesting of us such that, the fruit that we bear in others, ultimately bears fruit in the folks that they encounter each day, and so on and so on. I truly believe that we have opportunities each day to stop, breathe, take in the situation, and bear fruit, instead of acting in a worldly, usual manner. Perhaps by doing so, our bearing fruit in others, will begin a wagon train of others bearing fruit, a trove of benevolent deeds, in those that we encounter each day.
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for each day, and we thank you for the blessings that you have bestowed upon us; but, may we find a little way each day to bear fruit and begin that domino reaction of others bearing fruit, just as we are told to do in this parable from Matthew. May we be more like Jesus and find simple ways each day to bear fruit in others and through that bearing of fruit, we spread the love that Jesus intended for us to share eac h day. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
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