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Twenty First Sunday After Pentecost
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Gospel:
Matthew 21: 33-46
Babysitters
Highlighted
Verses: Matthew 21:33-46
“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. 34When the harvest time
had come, he sent his slaves to the
tenants to collect his produce. 35But the tenants seized
his slaves
and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36Again he sent
other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same
way. 37Finally
he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38But
when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the
heir; come,
let us kill him and get his inheritance.” 39So they seized him,
threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40Now when the owner
of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41They
said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and
lease the
vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest
time.” 42Jesus
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 amazing in our eyes’? 43Therefore I tell you,
the kingdom of God
will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the
fruits of
the kingdom. 44The one who falls on
this stone will be broken to
pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.” 45When the chief
priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was
speaking about them. 46They wanted to arrest
him, but they feared
the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.
Have
you ever had a babysitter? Maybe you've never thought about it - but
being a babysitter is a very important
job. Why do you think I might say so? What's so important about being a
babysitter? (Solicit children's responses. If necessary, you may wish
to prompt further by asking what
babysitters take care of.)
That's right! When your parents pick a babysitter they are trusting
that person to take care of their
most important things in the world: YOU. And that's a big responsibility.
Do you think they expect your babysitters to take good care of you? (Of
course!) When you put your trust
in someone to protect something that special, you expect an awful lot.
The same thing might be true if you lent your favorite toy to a friend,
right? You wouldn't expect it to come back broken - or that your friend
would just decide to keep it, would you? No - you'd expect that friend
to take extra special care of
it.
In today's Gospel lesson Jesus tells a story about a man who owns a
vineyard (which is a kind of farm where grapes are grown). Instead of
working there himself, he lets some people live there and help take
care of it for him. But when it comes time for the harvest they treat
the man very poorly - and try to keep
the food without giving any back! Isn't that awful?
Jesus tells us this story to help us to understand that - like the man
in the story - God has trusted us
with something special...his kingdom here on Earth. Of course God
doesn't expect us to give him grapes (like the people in the story).
Instead he is looking for us to "give back" to him the important things
we do with our lives...our loving, our sharing and helping.
Did you know that you were one of God's babysitters?! It's an important
job - so let's make sure we do it right.
Will you join me in prayer?
Dear God,
Thank you for the gift of your love. Help us to be good stewards - or
"babysitters" - of your kingdom and to live lives that might be
pleasing to you.
Amen.
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