The Main Thing

Dear friends on the journey,

Speaker and author Stephen Covey coined the phrase, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
While his motivational message of keeping focus and efforts to accomplish important goals was for personal
growth and leadership development, I think it applies to today’s message and ultimately our path of discipleship.

Today’s gospel is Jesus’ using a parable to convey a message to the ever-questioning chief priests and elders. In
this parable of the tenants, the owner of the vineyard is God, the vineyard is the house of Israel, where God’s
people are, and the tenants of the vineyard are the people of God. Presumably, the tenants are people desiring to
work the land thus producing a harvest that in turn provides for their families’ livelihood. One would think
focusing on their labor and its fruit would be their “main thing.” Sadly, as the parable tells us, the tenants are
distracted. Whatever their motivation, perhaps greed or jealousy, they are more focused on the landowner’s
servants, never mind breaking the fifth commandment. Jesus does not sugar coat the reality of not producing fruit.
Distraction will cause the kingdom of God to be taken away and given to a people that will produce its fruit.

God’s demand of the tenants in the vineyard applies today. As twenty-first century Christian disciples, the people
of God, our “main thing” is to produce good fruit, good works, that build up and advance God’s kingdom in our
individual and communal vineyards. Fruit comes when we use our time, talent and treasure focused on our own
growth and improvement, the betterment of the lives of those entrusted to us, and living the Beatitudes, the
Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, and the teachings (words and actions) of Jesus. When we keep this kind of
life the “main thing,” there is no room for anything else.

However, like the tenants, we can fall prey to the distractions of the world that seem to be louder and more
constant. Voices telling us who to be, how to look, what to buy, who is right or wrong, who is to blame, what
success looks like, drown out our “main thing.” Information, notifications, technology, stress, and anxiety overload
are affecting our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. Silence and Sabbath seem like luxuries we
cannot afford.

Today’s gospel is a wakeup call, a call to action to evaluate your tenancy. Am I producing good fruit? Am I
distracted or somewhere in between? St. Paul, in the second reading, provides us with a starting point. What in
your life is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, gracious, excellent, and worthy of praise? Keep doing these things. If
these are missing, then turn to prayer. Begin with prayers of thanksgiving and gratitude. Make your requests and
petitions known to God. ​Then listen.

Recalibrate where necessary so that you are able “to keep the main the main thing” producing good and holy fruit that build up the kingdom, right where you are.



Siempre Adelante,



​Teresa Runyon
​Pastoral Associate

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