Read Matthew 21:33-46 with your family.
Jesus tells a story about people who are trusted to care for a vineyard. But after a while, they start acting as if the vineyard belongs only to them. When the owner sends people to them, they refuse to listen. They become so determined to keep control that they hurt the people who come to them – even the owner’s son.
Sometimes we can do that too. We can get so used to something being ours – our church, our family, our group, our things, even our way of doing something – that we forget we are supposed to take care of it, not just control it. Being trusted with something doesn’t mean we get to decide that nobody else belongs there.
Jesus also reminds us that people can be very sure they know who matters and still get it wrong. He talks about a stone that builders thought was useless, but God made it one of the most important stones in the whole building. Someone we overlook, ignore, or think doesn’t belong might be exactly the person God sees differently.
So perhaps this story asks us to pay attention. What has God trusted us to care for? Who are we forgetting to listen to? Who have we decided doesn’t belong? Following Jesus means remembering that God’s world isn’t ours to guard from everyone else. We get to help care for it – and make room for the people God brings into it.
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