two things make people crazy - greed and love

Our gospel today is full of crazy people. It is a parable full of crazy people. We have a crazy landlord, sending crazy servants to deal with crazy tenants. And it came to the point when this crazy landlord sent his crazy son to deal one last time with the crazy tenants. And these crazy tenants, crazy as they are, killed the crazy son of the crazy landlord. That’s the crazy story we hear today.
Permit me to justify my contention that this parable read to us this morning is full of crazy people.
First, the landlord who sent his servants to get his part of the produce. These servants were beaten up. So again he sent another batch of servants to insist on his part of the produce on these tenants. Again they beat them up - some they even killed. Crazy landlord. After the first batch he could have sent the police. But what did he send instead - a second delegation of unarmed servants. And as if this is not crazy enough, he sent his son, immediately after the second batch were beaten blue, thinking that they would respect him - again, a crazy move by a crazy landlord. What made him conclude that his son would be respected when all his servants were beaten up? But instead of dealing with them as they deserve, he dealt with his tenants just like a parent, a desperate parent, willing to do or say or try anything to reach out to a beloved and wayward child. Crazy landlord.


Second, the tenants. They beat the first batch of servants and then the landlord sent another whom they beat the same. And when the son of the landlord came they did not just beat him but put him to death thinking that they will be made to inherit the land. Is this logic of the tenants possible? What made them think that they can get away with what they did? What made them think that they would be handed the land they coveted like free lunch? Crazy tenants.
Third, the son. Two batches of servants beaten and killed and as if nothing happened he went to face the tenants - no policemen, no bodyguards, he was not even armed. He was indeed crazy enough to obey the wishes of his crazy father even after seeing all those delegations of servants coming home beaten, bruised and dead. The son went to face the tenants with nothing but his identity as the son, expecting that he will be liked or at least respected, or at the very least feared. None of this happened. He only further provoked the tenants to think crazy ideas that if they kill the son they will inherit the land.
Fourth, the servants - crazy servants. The first batch can be exempted from the label but the second could not. It does not need a really high IQ for one to know that roaming in the dark has its dangers. We call that bias, a pre-judgment. But these second batch of servants did not just have a bias but an actual firsthand experience of how their fellow servants had been manhandled and they have seen with their own two eyes the effects. But still the same they went to the tenants as the crazy landlord told them to.
Just as I said - a parable full of crazy people.
So what can we make out of this? There are two things that make people crazy - greed and love. Greed can make us crazy and I believe there are enough of that in our society. And love can make one crazy too, like the landlord, like the servants, like the son. Just imagine what greed and love can do and make of us. The question is what makes us crazy? What makes you do the crazy things you do?