Matthew 21:33-46 ESV
“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who
planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in
it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another
country. When the season for fruit
drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the
tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned
another. Again he sent other
servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he
sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when
the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they
took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When
therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They
said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let
out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their
seasons.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you
never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone that the
builders rejected
has become
the cornerstone;
this was the Lord's doing,
and it is
marvelous in our eyes’?
Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken
away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the
one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on
anyone, it will crush him.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his
parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although
they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held
him to be a prophet.
As I look on this passage; I once again look back to my
studies from last week. I look back to the sermon that I heard on Sunday and I
look back to the Old Testament and think of the Creation Story. I ponder about
the number of times God uses the Creation Story over and over with his people
and with myself. I stop to think how God set humankind up with Paradise, with a
vineyard that was protected and guarded and perfect. I ponder about all the
gifts God has graciously given me in my life and how God has sustained me
through all sorts of occasions. Yet, I like so many other of God’s people, turn
from God, I turn from God and spoil what he has given me with my own
selfishness. I spoil so many things by wanting all the control for myself. I
want to be my own master of my own destiny on my own terms. I fail to realize
all that I have been given and turn from the sweet set up God has placed me in
and think that I can control it all.
This happened over and over by individuals and peoples
throughout the Old Testament and throughout time. God gives everything we need
to live into eternity, yet we turn from that everything and try to control our
own destiny. My destiny is not for me to control. My destiny and your destiny
and the destiny of everything does not fall into that place of my control, your
control or any group of people to control. We are the created… not the creator.
And we all tend to forget this. We all fall into sin and try to become the
creator of ourselves and others of whom we have no business controlling.
God provides a vineyard for our life. A vineyard that is
limited to what God chooses to limit, yes, but we can and are permitted to refuse
God’s gift of this vineyard if we so choose. And many times, I have chosen to
do this. And when I choose to refuse God’s gift; I once again have to ponder…
do I have reverence for the Son of God when I do this? Do, I stop to realize
what God does in my place when I turn from him and turn to myself? Do I realize
what God has done for me to give me a chance to turn back to him?
There is conflict between Jesus and Israel’s leaders. There
is conflict between Jesus and me. There is conflict between Jesus and this
world. In this parable, Jesus predicts his excommunication and his death. In
this parable, Jesus also declares his authority as Son of God.
The Owner sent servants and servants and servants, yet you,
yet I, yet the world, beats and kills them. Why? We want the vineyard… remember
the Creation Story… we want control of Paradise… we want control of the world…
we want control of our lives… we want control of the gifts God has given us,
all for ourselves. We want control and choose to separate ourselves from God. So,
God sends his own son. God sends his own son that this Creation, this Paradise,
this Temple from above may be set aright once again. It’s God’s vineyard! It’s
God’s Temple! It’s God’s Paradise!
So, Jesus mentions the Temple cornerstone. The Temple
cornerstone was about 19 feet long and 7 feet thick. It was a BIG deal. Do we
build our lives on Jesus? Or do we, like the vineyard tenants build our lives
on something else? Do we build on something we think we can control, or earn or
base our lives upon?
When disaster comes, we tend to look on the discarded
cornerstone in our lives and wonder, why we didn’t build our lives on Jesus.
The real fruit of the vineyard is when the tenants turn to
God in repentance. We turn to God because we see how we have put the Owners Son
to death on a cross just so we could be in control of something we have no
business of controlling in the first place.
Lord, forgive me. Forgive me for turning away from you and
to myself. Forgive me when I turn to something other that you. I want to know
Christ. May your face shine on me, on my neighbor and on all who come to
believe in your will and your way that we may be saved. May I bear the fruit
you choose for me and may I daily return to you and live for you, and in you,
and with you… today… tomorrow… and forever. --- Amen
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