The Owner Is Coming Back

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the parable of a vineyard. A landowner plants it, cares for it, leases it to tenants, and goes away. When harvest time comes, he sends servants to collect what belongs to him. But the tenants act as if the vineyard is theirs. They beat the servants, reject the owner’s authority, and eventually kill the son.

At first glance, it seems obvious who the villains are. We hear the story and think “How could they forget that the vineyard was never theirs?”

But then the Gospel now also becomes about us. The vineyard is a symbol of everything God has entrusted to us – our life, our family, our gifts, our time, our faith, even our future. None of it ultimately belongs to us. It is all gift. It is all entrusted to our care. Yet how easily we begin acting like the tenants. We start treating our lives as if we are the owners instead of the stewards. “My plans.” “My career.” “My money.” “My time.” “My future.” Without realizing it, we push God further and further away. We want the blessings of the vineyard, but not the authority of the owner.

The servants in the parable represent the prophets whom God continually sent to call His people back. And finally, the owner sends his beloved son. Jesus is speaking about Himself. The tragedy is that the tenants would rather kill the son than surrender control. That is still the great struggle of discipleship today. Jesus can be welcomed as a helper, a teacher, even an inspiration. But when He comes asking for surrender, when He asks for authority over our lives, we often resist. Because ownership feels safer than trust. But it isn’t.

The truth is that we were never meant to carry the burden of ownership. We were created to live in relationship with the Owner, the One who gave us life in the first place.

Today we also celebrate St. Justin Martyr. Justin lived in a world that rejected Christ. He could have compromised. He could have kept his faith private. Instead, he gave everything to the Lord, even his own life. Justin understood something profound: his life was not his possession. It belonged to Christ. And because he knew who the Owner was, he was free.

Maybe the question for us today is simple: What part of my life am I treating as if it belongs to me alone? What part of the vineyard am I refusing to hand back to God?

Because sooner or later, the Owner comes looking for fruit. Not perfection. Not success. But Fruit. And when we finally stop clinging to ownership, we discover something beautiful: the Owner is not coming to take life away from us. He is coming to give us life in abundance.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, So often I hold tightly to what was never mine in the first place. Teach me to remember that my life is Your gift. Help me to trust You with the parts of my heart that I still try to control. Give me the courage of St. Justin to belong completely to You. May my life bear the fruit You desire, and may I never forget that You are the Lord of the vineyard. Amen.

– Homily by Rev Fr Patrick Agbeko