“And He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard and put a wall around it, and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey” (Mark 12:1).
Our Lord is the Creator of all things. He has made all things existing and entrusted all of them to us for our use. How have we done? Look at history and you see over and over those who take and do not share. Contrast this with what the Lord has taught us about sharing with others in need. It is one thing to accumulate for one’s need and quite another to become greedy. There is a moral difference.
Lord, I do not know where the line is. I know that many, perhaps even myself, raise the line to where I do not know when enough is enough. Help me, Lord, to see the line and live within the means You give me. I need Your direction as to what I means to be a good steward of what You have entrusted to me. Teach me the difference between hoarding versus storing up. Guide me in generosity.
Lord Jesus, You lived humbly and simply while walking the earth in Your earthly ministry. All that You needed was provided. Help me to understand that You have provided for my needs with every step I have taken in this life. Guide me to become a steward of all that You entrust to me, knowing that all things are Yours. Lead me to live within the boundaries You have established that I may learn to live faithfully. Amen.
Title: When “Justice” Replaces Christ
This morning’s devotional was excellent—and, perhaps unexpectedly, it helped clarify for me exactly where the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America continues to go theologically off course.
Mark 12 is not about redistributing resources or correcting historical grievances. It is about rebellion against God and the rejection of His Son. The tenants are judged not for failing to achieve economic fairness, but for rejecting the One sent to save them—Christ Himself.
Scripture is clear: everything belongs to God, and we are stewards. Yes, Christians are called to love and serve their neighbor. But the ELCA goes further—binding consciences where God has not. It shifts the focus from repentance for sin to repentance for history, from faith in Christ to atoning for collective guilt.
That is not Lutheran. That is not the Gospel.
We are not saved by correcting the past, redistributing wealth, or aligning with modern ideological frameworks. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
The notion that people today must atone for historical events—colonization or otherwise—is a theological error. Sin is real, but it is personal and universal, not politically inherited. Christ’s atonement on the cross is complete. It does not need to be supplemented by social programs or ideological repentance.
Good works matter—but they flow from faith. They do not replace it.
When the Church trades Christ crucified for moral activism, it stops being the Church and becomes just another voice in the culture.
The answer is not “more justice.”
The answer is Christ.
In Christ
Paul