“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ Matthew 21:33-37

When I was young we lived in a public housing project in our country. It was an apartment complex. There was no security system or gates. Therefore, anyone could walk in and out freely. Sometimes complete strangers would knock on our door to ask for assistance, be it financial or food. Other times, it was young Protestant evangelists. My parents had a strange policy. They entertained anyone who knocked on their door even when it was inconvenient. My father usually did not like to be disturbed when he was at home. However, he always ensured that no one who came asking for something went away empty handed. There were times he would give something to a stranger and then jokingly turn around and comment to the rest of the family that the stranger was most likely a scam artist with tons of money. Other times my mother would invite the evangelists and make us sit and listen to them while she made tea for everyone. We were practicing Catholics but she wanted these young people to feel welcomed. This extended even to animals. Once a white stray cat entered our apartment and made itself at home. My father refused to chase it out. He was not really a fan of having pets back then. He loved animals but did not want an extra mouth to feed. He strategically left the door wide open everyday so that the cat would leave on his own accord. He never once tried to frighten it away. He even fed it. He said that we needed to be hospitable even to our uninvited guest. Then one day my father explained his reason for his peculiar practice. He believed that God sends His servants to visit with us. They come in all shapes and forms and we must always be ready to receive them. It made sense when he explained it to me. I was just a young lad then. At that age everything my father said made sense. However, later on in life, I begin to wonder why God needed to drop in on us unexpectedly. No doubt He can see all things pretty well from His perspective. However, Jesus seemed to have answered this question in the above parable. God is not checking up on us. We just need to be reminded that we are mere tenants in this world. We are not the Landowner. It is very easy to forget.

Perhaps this is the most violent parable. At the same time, it is also the most realistic. It reveals to us our human nature. In a sense it is actually the story of the Fall retold in a different fashion. It begins with the landowner ensuring that the land was perfectly suitable for the tenants. He was a just proprietor. He did not make unreasonable demands. Even when he sent his servants, there were no signs of violence or threats. He simply wanted to remind the people that they were tenants and they had an obligation to Him. Unfortunately, the whole parable is exposition of our human nature. Its violent nature was necessary because it reveals how we, as humans, assert our will against God. We want something that does not belong to us and we use violence to attain it. However, it will never change the fact that we are not the landowners. As long as we don’t accept this Truth, we will continue to resort to violence. God will continue to send His servants.

The servants are not there to suffocate our freedom. They are here to remind us who we are so that we can be free from the tyranny of self delusion. Instead, humanity choose to use the language of violence to remain in this unfortunate state. Then, the landowner sent his son. Everyone listening to the parable knew the outcome. Despite this, the son was sent and he was killed. When Jesus asked what should be done to these tenants, the response was the same as that of the tenants. The listeners demand a violent response. God refused to act this way. The Son was killed but God did not react with violence. Instead, He responded with grace. The former is only used when someone wants to assert something that does not belong to them. God has no use for violence because He always knows who He is. He continues to send His servants today. They come in many shapes and forms.

Jesus always seems to stress that if we don’t recognize the servants and then we will definitely not recognize the Son. If we mistreat the servants, then we definitely will do the same to the Son. We see an example of this in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. Therefore, my father was right after all. It is safer to assume that anyone that comes to us and asks for something, be it shelter, food or just our time, might be the servant God has sent to us.

We have many crack addicts in the streets here. We live not too far away from the notorious “crackland” in this city. Some people despise them. Most people ignore them. They are broken people and their addiction is a mere symptom. We see them all the time. I used to ignore them just because there was just too many and it was overwhelming. It was more a question of learning to live in such environment than any personal disdain for them. We used to work in this area a long time ago. Then there is also the moral dilemma. If I help them, maybe I am enabling them in their downward spiral to self destruction. However, whenever one comes up to me and talks to me, I am gently reminded of my father’s words. This person could be God’s servant. After all, I am mere tenant of the things I own. God is the one who provided everything I have and now He is sending His forsaken child to collect what is due to Him. I am sure that he will use drugs but he still needs to know that he is loved. Receiving God’s servants is not easy. There is no one answer that works for all situations. No matter what we do, our response should be a payment for being God’s tenants. However, this is not about earning our salvation. It is more about understanding our salvation. The biblical notion of salvation is to be healed. Therefore, those who appreciate their own healing show it by being an instrument of healing in the lives of others. This is how we pay our rent. Violence is the opposite of healing. Ignoring or pretending someone doesn’t exist is the worst form of violence.

As usual, I talked to the children about these verses. I asked them what they thought when someone ignores or refuses to help them. They don’t have much to say about these people. Actually they simply forget about them. However, they remember when someone goes out of their way to help them. One of them told us an interesting story about a couple. The husband wanted to give some money to the boys begging outside a bakery but the wife was very much against it. She had her arguments and the boys saw a spousal dispute unfold before their eyes. Then the couple walked away and a few minutes later the husband appeared again. He made a quick escape from his wife so that he could give the boys some money. It wasn’t much but enough for them to see God’s love manifest itself in this man. They said that they will never forget the kindness of this man. It made them happy to know that there are people like him in this world. This happened a few years ago. The man’s money did not change their lives but it gave them hope. These kind gestures of people who have genuine love in their hearts reveal to these abandoned servants of God that there are still tenants who are willing to pay their dues of love to the Heavenly Father.