Louisiana once boasted many plantations. One was owned by an old man from Virginia. His elderly wife inherited the massive operation but was unwilling to return to the malarial swamps of the Deep South. So he and his son leased the property to sharecroppers, men who would plant cotton and sugar cane and turn the harvest over to the owner.
At the end of the first year, the owner (now a “Planter”) sent men to sell the crops, pay the tenant farmers their share, and return the profits to Virginia. But the sharecroppers sent them away empty-handed. Then he sent a second delegation, and the sharecroppers killed them and buried the evidence. When he heard nothing, the old man sent his son, a respected, powerful man. But the sharecroppers found out the heir was coming. This was their chance: they ambushed him, killed him, and set themselves up as owners. So what did the old man do?
He rounded up a posse—an army of his men—and led them to Louisiana where they hung the sharecroppers, chased off their wives and children, and rented the place to men that could be trusted.
So what is the point? Jesus told this parable to illustrate that Israel had squandered its gifts, killed prophets, and then killed (or would soon kill) God’s Son. Mark 12:1-12. And what would God do? He would send His gospel to the Gentiles—not because they were better, but because the Gospel is the message of hope and salvation for ALL PEOPLE, “the Jew first, but also the Greek” Romans 1:16.
We should strive to read the Bible as though reading it for the first time, or as though we had never heard the stories before.
One of the best ways to read the Bible with fresh eyes is to place its stories in a different context. Consider Athens, Georgia, rather than Athens, Greece. That can breathe new life into the reading and create better understanding.
Thank God for grafting us Gentiles onto a branch of the native tree of Israel.
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