Ok, it's Christmas day, and I was tempted to skip today's lesson, because hey, talking about evil farmers doesn't sound like a Christmas idea does it? The parable starts out nice .. a farmer has fields of grapes that he leased to others, but when the time came to get his share of the crop, the other farmers wouldn't let his servants gather up his share of the grapes. The owner kept on sending his servants, but the tenants wouldn't let them, they even killed a servant. Then the owner sent his only son, and the other farmers murdered him, and cast his body out of the vineyard. vs. 9-10 "What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do?" Jesus asked. "I'll tell you - he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others." The passage concludes "The religious leaders wanted to arrest Jesus because they realized he was telling the story against them-they were the wicked farmers. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away."
Jesus was continuing his rant on the Priests and elder from the previous verses, and making it clear that they will be judged. But once more Jesus is making it clear that he will be put to death, prophecy concerning his own death.
So what does this have to do with us?
What's interesting is that the story focuses on the tenants keeping the owner's servants from collecting the harvest, and the penalty for this. It emphasizes the importance of not being a hindrance to the gospel, but allow God to move.
Are my actions a hindrance to the work being done by God? Or am I helping in the fields to get the crop ready for the owner?
I like the quote that Jesus made (Ps. 118:22-23) "The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing, and it is wonderful to see" Jesus the rejected, the cornerstone of our faith!!
How awesome is the Lord to us!! He sent his son to us, knowing full well the price that was going to be paid, all for us to have Christ as our Cornerstone!! It's so humbling to reflect on the sacrifice that God made for us.
God didn't send Jesus to be just a baby that we celebrate once a year, but he sent his Son to be persecuted by the people He was going to save. I pray that today you would know Christ the Cornerstone in your life, that you would know him as more than a baby in a manger this Christmas season.
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