I Bessech You, Don't Be Bad Tenants

The Parable of the Tenants

33 “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyardand put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower andleased it to tenants, and went into another country. 34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants[c] to the tenants to get his fruit. 35 And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;[d]
this was the Lord's doing,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”[e]

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. 46 And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.

Jesus is speaking about the people of the Earth as being only "tenants" here. God owns it all. He has graciously allowed us to share in the bounty that is the Earth, yet we take it and act like it's ours to do with as we please. Never is ingratitude more apparent then when we act like a gift from our heavenly father is ours to be used outside of His guidelines for it. We can see this also in the way we respond to our spouses, our children and our money. God has allowed us to be managers of His resources. 

10 For every beast of the forest is mine,
    the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds of the hills,

    and all that moves in the field is mine. (Psalm 50:10-11)

He owns the cattle, He also owns the hills. Lets us be known for our gratitude. Let us be known as good stewards (oikonomos: the manager of a household) 

As our LORD has allowed us to live on such a wondrous place, let us show gratitude to Him by following His guidelines as to HOW to live here.