Matthew 21

There was a poor peasant named Pahom living in a village in Russia. He rented a small piece of land for his farm. One day he wished to himself, “If I owned a big land, I shouldn’t fear even the Devil!” Pahom didn’t know the Devil was listening to him behind the stove. Satan decided to give Pahom plenty of land, but said to himself, “I will take everything away from him eventually!”

Not long after this, a landlady in the village started to sell her land. Many peasants in the village bought her land. Since the land was so big, they could buy as much as they could afford. Pahom also could not miss this chance. He borrowed money and bought the land. And he worked hard to pay off the debt. Not before long, Pahom finished the debt and he was no longer poor.

However, he now had another problem. He got so annoyed with his neighbours because their animals often crossed his land. Often he had quarrels with them. So he sold everything and moved to a larger area. But now he wanted bigger land. Thus, Pahom kept selling and buying land and expanded his wealth. Nevertheless, he could not satisfy himself to his heart’s content.

One day, a traveller passing by Pahom’s place told him an unbelievable story. There was a region called Bashkirs where people were simple and naive, but owned a huge amount of land. More surprisingly, in Bashkirs, only one thousand rubles could buy as much as land a person wanted. Pahom could not wait another day. He put everything in charge of his wife and hurriedly left for Bashkirs with his servant.

Indeed, the story of the traveller was real. People in Bashkirs welcomed Pahom and wanted to give him whatever he asked for when Pahom offered them gifts. As he expressed his wish to buy their land, the village chief suggested an incredible offer: with one thousand rubles, Pahom could buy as large land as he could walk around in a day – starting at daybreak until sunset. He should mark with a spade as he would go around. All the land he could enclose would be his. But he had to arrive before sunset to the starting point. Otherwise, he would lose his one thousand rubles.

Pahom could not sleep well because of excitement. That night, he had a strange dream in which he saw himself dead by the feet of Satan who was laughing at him.

The next morning, Pahom hurried. As the day went, he found better and better land. He could not turn around. When he realized he was too far out, not much time was left before sunset. Pahom started to run. Finally, he saw the village people gathering where he had started. He ran to all his strength since it was getting dark. The people cheered at Pahom and the chief was laughing for Pahom’s arrival. But coughing up blood, Pahom dropped dead in his servant’s arms. He was too exhausted. His servant dug a six-foot-long grave and buried him.

This is a short story by Leo Tolstoy based on Russian folklore. Its title is “How much land does a man require?” The end of the story answers. Pahom thinks he can own things. But he does not even realize he cannot own his life. The fatal miscalculation of the wicked tenants in the parable of this Sunday’s gospel is that they presumed they could own the vineyard by taking away from the landowner. How foolish and senseless they were! They were only tenants!

The modern man thinks he owns and controls all nature. He seems richer than any of his ancestors. Perhaps all these are true. But it’s an irony that more and more contemporary people cannot afford a six-foot-long grave. Often a small jar is where many end up.