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Steward is an old English word for Servant. Stewardship signifies the duties of servants to their Masters. God is our Master, the Landowner who has entrusted responsibilities to us his servants. He has made adequate provisions for us in his VINEYARD and with confidence travelled out of town, reposing total trust in us human beings to turn out the results to him in due season. The question therefore is: what is the result of our stewardship in God’s VINEYARD?
Every era has had its historical way of responding to God’s call to work in his VINEYARD. For the people in ancient Israel, the men of Judah, the very people he first chose as his own: “he expected justice but found bloodshed, integrity, but only a cry of distress” (Isaiah 5: 7). To the people in Jesus time, it was a sheer bridge of contact. Rather than work in the vineyard and produce results, “the stewards took the messengers and beat one, killed another and stone another. Even when he sent his own son expecting they will respect him”, the scriptures say “But when they saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘this is the heir, come let us kill him and have his inheritance’ and they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him” (Matt 21: 38ff).
This is the story of our lives. This is the history of our relationship with God who has been so good to us, the God who has been so loving and providential to us, who has been so patient with us, refusing to judge us according to our deeds. Him we have totally treated with reckless abandon as we say in popular language. How is our own age responding to God’s call to work in his VINEYARD? How has our stewardship been? We are talking about the sense responsibility here, the recognition that every privilege we enjoy comes with a price tag. How can we continue to act to God and to our fellow human beings like those farm managers in the gospel story of Matt 21: 33-43?
We enjoy the benefit that accrue to us but withdraw the benefits that accrue to the land owner. We cheat, we ignore, we loot and we kill and life goes on. No! this cannot be right! Listen to the advice of Paul to the Philippians 4: 8-9: Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things …and the God of peace will be with you.”
