I know that I've said it before, but it continues to confuse me -- as society moves away from church and Christian-based ethics, where will we get our clarity of right and wrong from? It society decides that there isn't a Creator and we're all here by random chance, then there's no grounding or uniting sense of right and wrong. If we're random accidents in a random universe, then how can there be a sense of right and wrong?
However, Jesus knew otherwise -- he told this story knowing that the listeners would be outraged, because the tenants disrespect the landowner. They've made an agreement, and yet they violate it brazenly, thinking they can seize for themselves what doesn't belong to them. All the hearers would have been outraged, because it is so very wrong. It goes against who we are as a society and how we live together, and punishment would've been demanded in such a case.
Jesus is drawing the parallel -- humans, who have been created in the image of God and live in God's good creation, have seized for themselves what rightfully belongs to God. There is punishment owed.
And yet, God steps in. God receives the punishment and we receive the glory due to God's perfect Son in Jesus Christ. It's a free gift. This is the Gospel. This is how we live, and this is what rules our life and guides our days and hearts -- that we have received much as a free gift from God, and as a result, we then live differently, as a people whose hearts are defined by gratitude.
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