The land owner rented the vineyard out to the vine-growers.  Then he went on a journey.

We realize that this is a parable that helps us realize the importance God has placed on us.  If the world was a vineyard, then truly God did plant it, and place protection around it, and cultivate it, and even steward it out to us.  This is the lesson of the vineyard parable.  We should see that God entrusts us with this world and then, when God comes to collect the growth - we most often reject Him.

There is one problem with this particular parable's interpretation.  It is not meant to describe God.

This parable tells us that the land owner leaves on a journey.  It tells us that the land owner sends a few slaves and then finally his only son.

When we look into the character of God, we find instead that He never leaves.  We find that His only Son was not a last ditch effort but was prophesied of from the beginning.  Jesus was the first, and only sacrifice God ever sent - and He is enough.

The parable only describes our character - the way we reject what comes to us as a gift.  The way we shirk, sometimes, responsibility if we think shirking will get us a reward. 

Today - give to God what belongs to God and watch as the vineyard grows to produce fruit.