Tend his vineyard

The unrighteousness of my family in broken relationships.

I have been assigned this vineyard to labor for the fruit of right relationships. God chose the right man for the job.

A family network diagram could be helpful to illustrate a the unrighteous network and what a righteous network could be.

Producing Fruit

33 “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. 34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. 35 And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ 39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? 43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” - Matthew 21:33-44

What does fruit-bearing look like? When you hear Jesus say that those who produce much fruit are his disciples, what do you envision?

I’ve though fruit must be primarily about internal factors drawn from the fruits of the Spirit - love, Joy, peace, etc. This has been problematic for me, since I only produce fruit when I’m not stressed, distracted or hungry. In other words, maybe four hours a week. Jesus’ parable about the murderous tenants puts fruit production in a new light.

Notice that the tenants were left to produce fruit for their master. He provided them many useful tools for the task - walls, towers, etc., and it was their responsibility to use what was given to grow grapes.

Somehow the tenants lost sight of the true owner of the land and vineyard and acted as though it belonged to them. Notice how absurd it is that they believed that the land would be theirs by inheritance if they killed the son, as though they were heirs and not tenants only.

This parable is spoken foremost to the leaders of Israel in Jerusalem, and prophesies the removal of their authority. Like the poem from Isaiah from which Jesus draws his imagery, the LORD is going to bring by judgment against leaders who disregard justice and righteousness.

When Jesus talks about branches bearing fruit, the fruit is suspended between the branches. It’s not that each branch only bears individual fruit - the connections between people produce fruit. It takes two for love to grow, or productive labor, or generosity.