Listen here.
Welcome to Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the
appointed Scripture readings for the upcoming Sunday. I am Pastor Eric Tritten
from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Hudson, OH. Thank you for being with me
today.
This coming Sunday is the 18th Sunday after
Pentecost. In last week’s reading we found Jesus being confronted by the chief
priests and elders about his authority. This week we find Jesus confronting the
chief priests and the Pharisees through the Parable of the Tenants in which he
essentially accuses them of usurping not only his, that is Jesus’, authority,
but God’s authority as well.
Let’s listen to God’s Word.
The Reading: Matthew 21:33-46
33 "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. 34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his
servants to the tenants to get his fruit. 35 And the tenants took
his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36
Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to
them. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect
my son.' 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves,
'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.' 39
And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40
When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those
tenants?" 41 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."
42 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'?
43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will
be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. 44
And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls
on anyone, it will crush him."
45 When
the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he
was speaking about them. 46 And although they were seeking to arrest
him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet. (Matt.
21:33-46 ESV)
Comments
It is
interesting that most of the time when Jesus tells a parable he has to explain
it after the fact. Not with this one. “When the chief priests and the Pharisees
heard his parable, they perceived that he was speaking about them.” They knew
that this was a word of judgement that God was rejecting them because they had
rejected the prophets and Jesus himself, and in so doing, Jesus says, they
rejected God.
This is one
of the things that God’s Word does; it convicts us of our sin. Whenever we
encounter God’s Word, we encounter the Spirit of God, and in John 16:8-10 Jesus
says that the Spirit convicts the world concerning sin and righteousness and
judgement. “… concerning sin because they do not believe me; concerning
righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer;
concerning judgement, because the ruler of this world is judged.”
Now we need
to be clear, this parable was spoken against the chief priests and the
Pharisees, but that does not mean that this account does not apply to us as
well. There is a word of warning for us here. God is our creator; we are his
creatures and, in a sense, tenants in this world. He has every right to expect
fruit from our lives – especially the fruit of faith in Jesus. The servants he
sent, the prophets, all pointed ahead to Jesus’ coming. God expects us to
believe them. He sent apostles. We are to believe them for they speak through
the Scriptures of Jesus’ coming. And, of course, we are to believe the Son, and
to honor him for coming among us. The warning here is that if we reject the
servants, and we reject the Son, we reject God.
But there
is more than a warning here. This is how we who are not descendants of Israel
come to be God’s people. The kingdom of God has been given to those who produce
its fruits – fruits like repentance, confession of our sin, trust in Jesus, and
a life that strives to conform to our Savior. This is all rooted in faith that
Jesus has redeemed and won us. We were lost and condemned creatures, but now we
are restored and renewed in Christ.
Jesus says
pretty explicitly that those who reject him will be broken and crushed – that
is they will be broken and crushed by their sin and God’s judgement. Yet in his
mercy he calls others – you and me and many more – to come to the vineyard, to
be part of his kingdom and to live in his forgiveness and salvation through
faith in him.
And isn’t
it interesting that the chief priests and Pharisees response to all of this is
to kill Jesus? They long to destroy him, not know that God would use that very
deed, the death of his Son, to redeem those who would believe and not reject
him.
Prayers
O God, you created this world, all that is in it, and even
each of us. Help us to live faithfully as good tenants should, producing the
fruit you desire – especially faith and trust in our Savior Jesus. Lord, you
used the sinful desires of those who rejected Jesus to bring your salvation to
us. We thank and praise you for making us your people. We pray that you would
bring many more into your vineyard and that they and we would produce fruit in
keeping with repentance for your Son’s sake. Help Jesus’ cross and empty tomb
to always be marvelous in our eyes. In his name we pray. Amen.
Thank you so much for using Devotions for Worship, I pray
that our time together has blessed you and given you something to meditate on –
some reminder of God’s grace to rattle around in your brain – for the rest of
the day.
One of the things we can do to help us meditate on God’s
word is to memorize it. This week’s verse comes from our Old Testament lesson
this week.
Memory Verse: Psalm 80:7 - Restore us, O God of hosts; let
your face shine, that we may be saved! (Ps. 80:7 ESV)
Would you do me a favor? If you got something out of this
devotional time, would you like and/or share it on Facebook, Twitter, or
wherever you do social media? That would help me get the word out, and
hopefully help these devotions be a blessing to others.
God bless you!
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