We are only tenants of God’s blessings

27th Sunday A
Mt.21:33-43

"Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit” (Mt 21:43).

I have been to many churches but I have never seen one without doing any fund raiser for their projects. I have seen a lot of generous people and I admire them for supporting the church. I am annoyed though to hear people saying, “I will help build the church if I win in the lottery.” Or “I will donate to the church when good fortune comes to me.” If churches depended on these kinds of people, I wonder how they would survive. Churches would be closed. Sometimes I ask, “Why is it that when it comes to the church we are cheap when in fact whatever we have comes from the Lord?”

In the parable of the tenants, the landowner leased the vineyard to the tenants. When vintage time came, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants, and one they beat, another they killed and a third they stoned. The landowner never gave up, he sent more servants but they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son thinking that they will respect him. But when the tenants saw the son they killed him also to acquire his inheritance. The vineyard in this parable stood for the people of Israel. The owner was God. The farmers were the rulers and priests who supervised the country. The servants were the prophets sent throughout the centuries and the son was clearly Jesus. The chief priests and elders had been placed in charge of the law, the prophecies, the sacrifices and all the riches, which God bestowed upon the Chosen People. But sad to say they were more concerned with themselves than with the work of God’s kingdom.

God has also entrusted us with time, talents and treasures, which we can use to promote God’s kingdom. At the day of reckoning, we are all accountable to the Lord to return its produce. Whatever we have is not actually ours because we are only God’s stewards, and we have to share our time, talents and treasure for the good of the community to promote God’s kingdom. But are we like the tenants whose greedy purpose is to keep God’s blessing for themselves? Why is it so hard for us to be generous to church? Why are we apathetic to the poverty around us? I think the problem here boils down to the fact that many of us opted to be avaricious.

Aesop has this fable about the dog and the shadow. A dog, crossing a bridge over a stream with a piece of flesh in his mouth, saw his own shadow in the water, and took it for that of another dog, with a piece of meat double his own in size. He therefore let go his own, and fiercely attacked the other dog, to get his larger piece from him. He thus lost both: that which he grasped at in the water, because it was a shadow; and his own, because the stream swept it away.

Even though people who are greedy are dissatisfied with what they have, they still cannot share it to others. Let us not forget that whatever we have is God’s blessing to us. We are only tenants of His blessing and not the owners. We are responsible and accountable to Him for the way we use or abuse our endowments.

Are we using our gifts to promote God’s kingdom or are we using it to advance our personal interests?

Rev. Fr. Nony S. Villaluz. CRM