Sunday Morning
Two days later, on March 21, 1971, a beautiful sunny Sunday, the Steinkraus family joined the Tifalmin
believers to worship together in church. In the service Walt spoke on Mark 12:1-12.
“Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall
around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to
some farmers and moved to another place. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to
collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him and sent him
away empty-handed.
“Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him
shamefully. He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them
they beat, others they killed. He had one left to send, a son whom he loved. He sent him last of
all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir.
Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they took him and killed him, and threw
him out of the vineyard. What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those
tenants and give the vineyard to others.
Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture:
“ ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;
And the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
“Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him
because he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left
him and went away.” (NIV)
They talked awhile afterward and returned home. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon. Many of the villagers
took the opportunity to work in their gardens or gather firewood. It was 1:30 p.m. Walt was reading and
Vonnie was cooking lunch. Kerry was playing near the river with a village friend and Kathryn was
sleeping in her cot.
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