Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Psalms 57-59
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Matthew 21:33-40
Jesus: Here is another story: A landowner planted a vineyard, put a wall around it, fitted it with a winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard and left town. When harvesttime came, the landowner sent his servants to collect rent—in the form of grapes—from his tenants. The tenants attacked these rent-collecting servants. They killed one, stoned another, and beat a third. The dismayed landowner sent another band of servants to try to collect his due, a larger group of servants this time, but the tenants did the same thing—capturing, beating, killing. Finally the landowner sent his son to the tenants, thinking, “They will at least respect my son.” But the tenants knew the son was the best way to get to the landowner, so when they saw the son approaching they said,
Tenants: This is the landowner’s heir apparent! Let’s kill him and take his inheritance.
And so they did; they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
What do you think the landowner will do when he comes and sees those tenants?
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
It almost seems like Jesus is taunting the chief priests and scribes and elders in the temple and around Jerusalem, doesn’t it? Here he is again with another story that points directly at them. Using our 20/20 hindsight, clearly, the story is an allegory for God’s kingdom and the judgment against the religious leaders in Israel. The landowner is the Father, the vineyard is the work done here on earth to gather people into His kingdom. The workers are those who should be spreading the word of His love and grace and mercy, those whose mission is growing the kingdom. The son of the landowner is Jesus.
What should be done to the tenants of the vineyard who kill the landowner’s son? It’s an easy question for those religious bigots to answer. Tear them to pieces. Kill them all. Throw them out. Find others who will be honest and work diligently for the landowner. But these self-righteous religious leaders didn’t see themselves as the workers in the vineyard. They saw the injustice in the story, but didn’t see their own failures in doing exactly the same thing with God’s work.
The outsiders, the Gentiles came to Jerusalem and the religious leaders to find God’s grace and they were driven away by the self-righteous leaders who held the law in their hands. Even their fellow Jews came to find grace and instead were burdened by the impossible traditions levied on them by these men who made sure everyone who came to the temple felt the guilt of their sin rather than the grace of God’s love.
Soon, they would even take action against the Father’s Son by hanging Him on a tree. Thinking Him cursed and unfit for their imagined kingdom of God, they would have Him crucified, murdered by the conspsiracy of their doing. What would happen to them? The church would grow exponentially. They couldn’t stop it. As hard as they tried, the church would grow.
So what does the story of these leaders of the past have to do with us? Do we fit into the allegory anywhere? Maybe. Take a look at what you do in your ministries. Do you drive away those who would seek the fruits of your labor. Do you try to hoard what God has done for you and try to keep it for yourself? Do you think God has blessed you in whatever way He has so that you can enjoy those benefits alone?
If so, look at the plight of those workers in the vineyard. The landowner expected a return on His investment in those tenants. He expected the laborers to give back to Him something of what they were allowed to enjoy. The landowner didn’t take it all. He just wanted a return on His investment. He could take it all, after all, the land was His. The vines were His. Everything there belonged to Him. The workers were fortunate to have an opportunity to work and probably given food to eat and a place to live as long as they worked in the vineyard. But the profit belonged to the landowner. Everyone knew it. Even those tenants.
So what about the work that you do? Do you realize that it all belongs to God? Do you give it to Him to let Him use it in whatever way He desires? Do you begrudge Him your time, offerings, energy, job, family, whatever tasks you might do in His name? If you do, remember Paul’s words. “Whatever you do, do it as if for the Lord.” Everything belongs to Him anyway. We are only tenants in this little dot of space. He owns it all and allows us to enjoy a bit of it for our pleasure for a little while. But never forget that during those few years we are here, we are just tenants. We just pass through. Remember the story. Don’t be caught like the tenants Jesus describes.
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