One of the most piteable, and appalling, characters in J.R.R. Tolkein's classic, "The Lord of the Rings," (as magnificantly filmed by Peter Jackson) is the steward of Gondor. For those of you not familiar with the story, Gondor is a kingdom of humans which had always been ruled by a king. But, sadly, the line of kings dwindled and, apparently, finally ran out, leaving the kingdom to be ruled by a line of stewards-- whose job is to keep the kingdom in good shape until the king returns. Over time, evil forces make inroads on the kingdom and its former glory fades. The stewards do not do their job well. It probably isn't surprising that the steward who is in charge when the events of the books take place has forgotten that he is merely a steward. He talks and acts like the kingdom is his. But he is not the king, and does not have the heart of a king or the love of the people or the land that a king should have. So, having exceeded his role, he turns out to be a terrible steward-- both appalling and piteable. I was reminded of that character when looking at today's Gospel (Mt 21: 33-43, 45-46), which is the story of the landowner who plants a vineyard, leases it to tenants, and goes on a journey. Like the steward of Gondor, the tennants get to thinking that the place should be theirs-- they have done all the work, after all (or so they tell themselves). So, they abuse the servants of the owner who come to collect the rent, and finally kill the owner's son, figuring that they will then have title to what should rightfully have been theirs. Of course, Jesus tells the listeners that the tennants will come to a bad end, which is also what happens to the steward of Gondor. Things seem to end badly for poor stewards. Think of the parable of the talents. Before we get too quick to judge the tennants, and the steward of Gondor, we might remember how easy it is for folks who possess something to think that it is theirs, and that they have the right to do with it what they want, even if what they have doesn't really belong to them. Over time, with possession comes the illusion of ownership. The steward thinks he's the king, because he has "ruled" the kingdom for so long. I point this out because we are all stewards of everything that we have-- not owners, but merely possessors-- and I wonder if we haven't forgotten that fact. We seem to act a lot like the tennants in Jesus' parable when someone comes to remind us that we have obligations that go with what we have been so fortunatae as to possess. We are stewards of the beautiful country we possess, and, more than that, of the earth itself. But there certainly seem to be folks who have forgotten that fact, who think they "own" something to which they have legal title and so can do whatever they want, who resent it when they are reminded that there are social obligations that go with possessing something. When it comes time to pay the rent on all the resources we have been possessing by spending money to reduce carbon emmissions and otherwise address climate change, some people seem a lot like the tennants of the vineyard, throwing rocks (or worse) at people delivering a message they don't want to hear. When it comes time to pay rent on the excess resources most of us have as Americans by giving to the poor-- here and around the world-- we find ourselves thinking that we are entitled to what we have, that we worked hard for it, and that we have no obligation to use our resources as the true owner of those resources, God, intends. We forget we are merely stewards, and often not very good stewards at that. When we hear the message from the true owner of all the we have and are tellin us the rent is due, we might be well-advised to pay attention lest we, like the steward of Gondor and the tennants of the vineyard, come to a bad end.