“When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them.” – Matthew 21:45

I’ve never owned land. I’ve never had a tenant.
I’ve been the tenant. I’ve been the replacement tenant.
I’ve felt the urge to seize control.
I’ve seen what happened to those who tried.

When Jesus told this story, God, did those
all-powerful people hear the landlord as themselves?
Did they nod with satisfaction as they gave the story’s end:
“He’ll put those wretches to a miserable death.”

I wonder what a shock it must have been to hear
that they were not the owner, but the tenants,
that they did not possess the power or
the ownership they thought they had.

O Heavenly Gardener, may I tend this vineyard
you have given me to cultivate with care,
and neither seek to seize it for my own,
or punish those who take it for themselves.

A poem/prayer based on Matthew 21:33-46, the Revised Common Lectionary Second Reading for Year A, Proper 22 (27).

The image is Le fils de la vigne (The Son of the Vineyard) by James Tissot – Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2007, 00.159.139_PS2.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10957416. Of all Tissot’s paintings of Jesus’ life, death, and teachings, I find this the most chilling.