“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet. Matthew 21:33-46
“Mature materiality will invite fresh reflection on food consumption. Our current consumerism defines individual persons in our society as “consumers,” as those who have both a right and an obligation to consume, to eat, to devour, to own, to occupy, to accumulate, to store up. Consumerism takes the world as an object that is available for full use and exploitation by human “masters.” It is, moreover, taken to be an inexhaustible resource, so that we as “masters” are free to use and eat without restraint or limitation. This is most evident in our consumption of fossil fuel for the sake of indulgence and “national defense” that, according to dominant national capitalism, must not be limited in any way. Indeed, we have arrived at a tacit agreement that consideration of the environment that in any way limits economic growth is illicit. An outcome of that passionate commitment to uncurbed consumption is that we get industrial food that is beset with chemicals that do damage to consumers as industrial production does damage to the soil. Such an ideology of consumption causes us to reperform endlessly the tale of Lazarus and the rich man. There can be no curb on consumption for those who have leverage and resources.”
Walter Brueggemann in Materiality As Resistance: Five Elements for Moral Action in the Real World (Louisville: WJKP, 2020), 35-36.
Jesus spoke pointedly to those in authority. So do I. This week I have had the privilege of speaking with and uniting in historic meetings the influential Christians in the four main networks of Nepal. They “never” work together everyone says. In the meetings God has opened their eyes to a new way of functioning as stewards following standards.
When we don’t serve as stewards, we act like Masters who do nothing but consume. Brueggemann raises our awareness to the arrogance of such behavior and how it functions with no curbs and does nothing but destroy the environment and leave poor people in a wake of damage. I raise awareness to these issues because most people just consume in ignorance.
Christians do well to look in the mirror and ask hard questions about their own consumption. Those in positions of influence have the opportunity to point communities of people in the direction of stewardship and standards rather than serving as masters and consumers. Ask God to guide you to mature materiality with regard to consumption.
And notice the cryptic ending. Brueggemann states, “There can be no curb on consumption for those who have leverage and resources.” So what if we deploy our leverage and resources rather than hold on to it? Perhaps the way of obedience and generosity frees us from this dangerous cycle. Thanks God.