Would he join yours?

A man built a winery and established a vine-yard. He hired staff to run it then went overseas. The man sent an assistant to collect his profit, but the staff beat him up and sent him away. The man sent an accountant, but the winery hired security to keep him out. Finally the man sent his son to the winery.

The staff at the winery said to each other, “Let’s kill the heir,then we will be able to keep the winery!” So they did. Just imagine what the owner of the winery did when he found out!

This is a story Jesus told to explain God’s attitude to dodgy religion. (You can read the original ‘vineyard and servants’ version in full in Luke 20 in the Bible.) When religion is used to manipulate, deceive or control people God gets angry. The problem with this is that we all have our own personal religion – a set of beliefs and assumptions about the meaning of life – that we live by. And we all deceive ourselves. What if God joined?