Matthew 21
Gentle, and mounted on a donkey
MATTHEW 21:1-46
1 When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me. 3 ”If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
5 ”SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION,
‘BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU,
GENTLE, AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY,
EVEN ON A COLT, THE FOAL OF A BEAST OF BURDEN.’”
6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, 7 and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats. 8 Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. 9 The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting,
“Hosanna to the Son of David;
BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD;
Hosanna in the highest!”
10 When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”
12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. 13 And He *said to them, “It is written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER’; but you are making it a ROBBERS’ DEN.”
14 And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant 16 and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus *said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘OUT OF THE MOUTH OF INFANTS AND NURSING BABIES YOU HAVE PREPARED PRAISE FOR YOURSELF’?” 17 And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.
18 Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. 19 Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He *said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.
20 Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?” 21 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 ”And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
23 When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” 24 Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 ”The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?” And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 26 ”But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet.” 27 And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
28 ”But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ 29 ”And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 ”The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. 31 ”Which of the two did the will of his father?” They *said, “The first.” Jesus *said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. 32 ”For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.
33 ”Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. 34 ”When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. 35 ”The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. 36 ”Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. 37 ”But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 ”But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’
39 ”They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 ”Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” 41 They *said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”
42 Jesus *said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,
‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED,
THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone;
THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD,
AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’?
43 ”Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. 44 ”And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. 46 When they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet.
MATTHEW 21:1-10
1 When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me. 3 ”If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
5 ”SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION,
‘BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU,
GENTLE, AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY,
EVEN ON A COLT, THE FOAL OF A BEAST OF BURDEN.’”
6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, 7 and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats. 8 Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. 9 The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting,
“Hosanna to the Son of David;
BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD;
Hosanna in the highest!”
10 When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”
“Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me”
This was no chance meeting that Jesus was sending his disciples to encounter. Mark [Mark 14:13] and Luke [Luke 22:10] tell us that Jesus gave further instructions about where they would stay telling them to look for a man with a “water jug.”
The inference is lost on most of us because we are not from the Middle East, but a man would never be carrying a water jug. In most chauvinistic cultures, that was a woman’s job.
So we can conclude that Jesus had planned this event far ahead of arriving in Jerusalem and had not left the meeting to chance. Both the place to stay and the colt were pre-planned events.
Jesus doesn’t leave our lives to chance either. We can count on his prescience when we are within his call. However it is important to note that the “call” of Jesus is not always a vocational call.
Some people are called to change THE world and some people are called to change THEIR world. We must never belittle each other. We are all called to love extraordinarily in ordinary circumstances. Delivering a “colt to the Prince” might have seemed menial at the time. But without the action, the prophesy of the Messiah riding into Jerusalem on a colt of peace would not be fulfilled.
Whatever we have been called to do, let’s do it as if we delivering a “colt to the Prince” himself.
“Hosanna to the Son of David”
Hosanna [G5614] originally an interjection, from the Hebrew meaning “Save me now.” With time it came to mean, “Save and prosper, O Lord.”
To save is to rescue from danger preferably intact. To save and prosper is not only to protect but also to add to my belongings. Like in many developing nations there was plenty of wealth in the land of Israel, however it was distributed most unfairly to the smallest top percentile.
In such instances, people really need to be saved from their own leaders. Increasingly that is becoming the truth in developed nations today where the gap between the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor widens daily. The majority of the world’s wealth is controlled by a group of people that could fit on a school bus.
MATTHEW 21:10-14
10 When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”
12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. 13 And He *said to them, “It is written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER’; but you are making it a ROBBERS’ DEN.”
14 And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant 16 and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus *said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘OUT OF THE MOUTH OF INFANTS AND NURSING BABIES YOU HAVE PREPARED PRAISE FOR YOURSELF’?” 17 And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.
“It is written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER’; but you are making it a ROBBERS’ DEN.”
The children who were shouting in the temple
MATTHEW 21:18-22
18 Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. 19 Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He *said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.
20 Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?” 21 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 ”And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
And at once the fig tree withered
“And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive”
MATTHEW 21:23
When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?”
Setting the scene
Once again, the context is critical to this story.
John the Baptist had recently been beheaded. He was popular with the people—but his finger was always pointed towards the Messiah as opposed to the central religious powers of Jerusalem. No doubt people were wondering why the chief priests had not spoken out on behalf of John when Herod first had him imprisoned and then murdered.
Jesus came overtly and symbolically riding into Jerusalem as the Prince of Peace and the people were heralding Him as the Messiah.
Jesus rode accompanied by thousands to the temple where He cleared out the “den of thieves” who were essentially racketeers for the chief priests.
As the thieves were driven out, they were replaced by the crippled, lame and poor; an army of the maltreated. Spontaneously, children poured into the outer temple and began singing, dancing and proclaiming Jesus’ rightful title as High Priest of the Temple.
Leaders of Compassion
This was the context by which our Lord once took his just place on Jerusalem’s throne. We know a time will come when he will return to claim that place again!
Three things strike me as I read the chain of events in Matthew 21:
1. It is exactly what our world needs today. There is a very beautiful rabbinic blessing that goes; “May your leaders be those broken by compassion.” How different our world would be if we asked our leaders; “Where does your heart break?” Perhaps the best question we could ask may well be; “Where do you serve? Where do you regularly volunteer your time?”
Compassion without deeds is pity. Compassion is accompanied by action—otherwise it wouldn’t have the word passion in it. What deeds are our leaders known for? We need to ask this of both our religious and political leaders. We can learn all we need to know about a person by where they have given (or not given) their time. Where am I serving today to “lead by modeling” deeds of compassion?
It is exactly what our churches need today. Imagine a church filled with the praise of the restored and the shouting and dancing of children crying out: “Hosanna in the Highest!” If that sounds too uncomfortable, if it sounds too disorganized or chaotic, just imagine how much more uncomfortable heaven will feel!
2. What am I doing today to make my church resemble the Courtyard of the Gentiles on the day Jesus arrived in glory?
It is exactly what our communities need today. Imagine how the center of your city would look if Jesus established his kingdom in your home town as he did that day in Jerusalem. How would your downtown change? How would the economics of your community change? When I asked the kids in our juvenile detention center to create guidelines for community they would like to see for their little brothers and sisters, they came up with this statement; “A community that is physically and emotionally safe and a community of fair opportunity for all regardless of class, race, or gender.”
That sounds very much like the temple grounds on the day our Lord took his rightful seat. What am I doing this day to make my community look like Jesus is “in the house?”
3. Finally, the question is always personal; “Does my temple (or my daily task list and appointment calendar) resemble Christ’s temple (daily planner)—devoid of the false gods of fame and fortune and filled instead with acts of compassion, works of healing and sound of children singing?”
All these things turned out to be the precursors to the chief priest’s questioning of our Lord and herein lays the greatest sorrow. The very One whom these men had been trained to seek became the one they questioned and eventually destroyed. Jesus was the One who could bring purpose back to Israel, joy back to the temple, and hope back to the heart and yet, He was the One who drew their hatred and attacks.
Let us pray that that we will work (in our world, our churches, our communities and our hearts), to establish a kingdom that looks just like the Courtyard of the Gentiles on the day Jesus took his seat. Let us especially pray that we—who claim his title—will recognize his authority and not be found guarding the sanctuary from its rightful occupant.
Authority vs. Respect
The final thing we can learn from this opening verse is that the pious were more worried about authority than fruit. Under their rule temple authority had become the feeble substitute for prophetic compassion.
Authority is also a cheap surrogate for respect—a commodity the Chief Priests held in low supply. What do you do when you have no fruit and no respect, but you want to hold on to your power? You seek authority—which the chief priests claimed by biblical lineage, mastery of theology and ritual and kowtowing to Rome when it met their needs.
Jesus’ contempt of the Chief Priests shows us how little he respected authority without deeds of compassion—even when that authority was biblically claimed.
A fireman once gave me a good analogy of authority versus respect. He spoke of a Fire Chief that the firemen had put up with for years. He was a controlling and nitpicking bureaucrat who wouldn’t fully delegate the simplest task. His constant whine was; “Why am I the only one around here who gets things right.”
My friend told me that until that man retired—everyone did the least work acceptable to keep their jobs. However, now that he is gone and a new leader has replaced him, everyone is doing all they can to make their department one of the finest. What’s the difference? They are now working for a chief they respect.
When I asked; “Why do you respect the new chief?”
My friend answered; “Because he has given us a hard mission to achieve and he believes we can achieve it and he would never ask us to do something that he wouldn’t do himself. In short, he respects us.”
Questions
· Can you think of people you have encountered that had authority without respect?
· How have you dealt with them?
· How did Jesus deal with similar people?
· Have you ever felt in a position when you felt you were losing power and turned “authoritarian”? What caused that shift?
· Looking back; was there another way to deal with the situation?
· How could the presence of Christ have helped?
· How do you think people would feel about Jesus “in your downtown” today?
· What would threaten your community if Jesus were to ride into your downtown?
· What, in us, makes Jesus seem a threat?
MATTHEW 21:24-27
24 Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 ”The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?” And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 26 ”But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet.” 27 And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
The only response
There are generally three ways in which Jesus responds to questioning:
1. He responds with a definitive answer
When people came to Jesus with a hunger and need for help Jesus never dallied. When they asked for healing. Jesus gave it immediately. When they asked for comfort and salvation Jesus never hesitated. When they were hungry Jesus gave them food straight away.
2. He responds with a parable
When Jesus responds with a parable, it is usually to make a difficult concept easier for “the simple-hearted” to grasp. At other times, Jesus will use a parable to differentiate between God’s ways and man’s way. Quite often, Jesus will utilize a parable to correct the Pharisees and even his own disciples when they are being “complex-hearted.”
3. He answers a question with a question
Jesus always reserves this type of response for the adversarial, the critical, and usually for the religious pseudo-scholars. Indeed every man is merely a religious pseudo-scholar in the face of the simplest person who can point to the fruit of God in their life. For an example of this look at the blind man quoted later in this study as he questions the Religious Leaders [John 15:16-20].
Studying about God is no substitute for being his servant. There can be no doubt that we are called to passionately devour his word but only to the point that it makes us more obedient to his call. There are times--as with the Chief Priests, Pharisees and Scribes--that people fall more in love with the concept of being an elite scholar than with the call of being a lowly servant.
Adversaries still abound
Jesus knew there was no response that he could make to the priests that they would not use as ammunition to condemn him. Unfortunately, people like that are never in short supply. The world is full of adversaries. Their questioning is not for the purpose of understanding the bible more completely but to gain a victory for their pride. That is why Jesus does not answer their questions but instead places the onus of the response back into the lap of his adversaries. An adversarial person will question anyone but himself.
Paul instructs Timothy that the best response to people like this is to merely walk away, “Avoid such men as these.”
2 Timothy 3:1-5
1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; and avoid such men as these.
God does not honor us when our hearts are hardened by pride. He treats us in such a way that our own words become a trap and reveal our folly. Jesus knows that directly answering the Chief Priests would merely give credence to their position. He knows that such men are only as brave as public opinion. If they think they will appear foolish they will disappear into the woodwork.
In a private conversation with one of the High Priests (Nicodemus), Jesus tells him clearly that such men only seek personal gain and that the desires of their heart will eventually be revealed:
John 3:10-21
10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not understand these things? 11 “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and you do not receive our witness. 12 “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 “And no one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, {even} the Son of Man. 14 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life. 16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him. 18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 “And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil. 20 “For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 “But he who practices the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
Jesus clearly states that such people have already been judged for; “the light came into the world and men loved the darkness rather than the light.”
What stops the cynical?
1. Truth stops the cynical
The question that Jesus asks is the only one that would debilitate a cynic and Jesus uses it more than once with the pious religious.
Matthew 9:2-8
2 And behold, they were bringing to Him a paralytic, lying on a bed; and Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Take courage, My son, your sins are forgiven.” 3 And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This {fellow} blasphemes.” 4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? 5 “For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, and walk’? 6 “But in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic— ”Rise, take up your bed, and go home.”
7 And he rose, and went home. 8 But when the multitudes saw {this,} they were filled with awe, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
Matthew 12:24-35
24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”
25 And knowing their thoughts He said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself shall not stand. 26 “And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand? 27 “And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Consequently they shall be your judges.
28 “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 “Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong {man} And then he will plunder his house. 30 “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters. 31 “Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. 32 “And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age, or in the {age} to come.
33 “Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. 35 “The good man out of {his} good treasure brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of {his} evil treasure brings forth what is evil.”
What does Jesus use to stop an adversary in his tracks? Deeds, fruits of the Spirit. Healing, restoring people to wholeness. No attacker can argue with the simple statement, “I don’t know as much about ‘religion’ or even scripture as I would like, but I do know what Jesus has done in my life, in my family, in the lives of those around me.”
You cannot argue with first-person testimony! The Chief Priests tried that too. Look at the incredible story of the blind man who became a witness to Christ’s authority:
John 9:24-41
24 So a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He therefore answered, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”
26 They said therefore to him, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen; why do you want to hear {it} again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?” 28 And they reviled him, and said, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 “We know that God has spoken to Moses; but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.”
30 The man answered and said to them, “Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and {yet} He opened my eyes. 31 “We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing, and does His will, He hears him. 32 “Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 “If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.”
34 They answered and said to him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they put him out. 35 Jesus heard that they had put him out; and finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered and said, “And who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.” 38 And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him. 39 And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see; and that those who see may become blind.” 40 Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things, and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.
“I was blind, but now I see! Explain that!” How can you argue with such a statement? The more the Pharisees tried, the more foolish they appeared.
2. Losing face stops the cynical
What else freezes a cynic in his path? Losing face in front of other people. When we are more concerned about what other people think than about telling the truth two things occur:
We are useless to God
We are easily manipulated by men
Jesus knew that asking the Chief Priests about the authority of John the Baptist would freeze them in their tracks. When being right is more important than being faithful our slide into deception is difficult to stop. The opinion of the crowd, the status of our position or the comforts of this world will inhibit us from being “complete” or “perfect” in the Lord (see Matt 19:16-21).
As soon as Jesus asks the Chief Priests about the authority of John, they are frozen by “what others will say.” The very men who have made a living preaching the word of God are frozen by the opinions of commoners. They are no longer viable and no longer leaders. In order to be a leader for Christ we must be able to put the opinions of man behind ourselves and the word of God above ourselves:
Psalm 5:8-12
8 O LORD, lead me in Thy righteousness because of my foes; make Thy way straight before me. 9 There is nothing reliable in what they say; their inward part is destruction {itself} their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue.
10 Hold them guilty, O God; by their own devices let them fall! In the multitude of their transgressions thrust them out, for they are rebellious against Thee.
11 But let all who take refuge in Thee be glad, let them ever sing for joy; and mayest Thou shelter them, that those who love Thy name may exult in Thee.
12 For it is Thou who dost bless the righteous man, O LORD, Thou dost surround him with favor as with a shield.
To draw near to God is to invite persecution
Jesus knew that we would confront persecutors and adversaries as we drew near to God. In fact, Paul tells us in one of the previously readings that we should expect such trials: “[2 Timothy 3:12] And indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
Basically, Christ was demanding accountability for the authority taken by the High Priests. Yet, the very power of the fruits of Jesus made the inactive believer invalid:
Luke 6:9-11
9 And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to do harm, to save a life, or to destroy it?” 10 And after looking around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did {so;} and his hand was restored. 11 But they themselves were filled with rage, and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.
The closer we come to Jesus—the more we should expect persecution. The word for persecution [dioko] is poignantly spiritual. It means “a disciple who perseveres despite suffering.” How trivial this word has become in our culture as people think that having to wait at a stop sign or losing a channel changer implies persecution. Seen in a scriptural light persecution is an honor held for the disciples most feared by Satan.
Jesus knows that we will be persecuted because of our trust in him:
Matthew 5:10-12
10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when {men} cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. 12 “Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
John 15:20-27
20 “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. 22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 “He who hates Me hates My Father also. 24 “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. 25 “But {they have done this} in order that the word may be fulfilled that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’ 26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, {that is} the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me, 27 and you {will} bear witness also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”
Jesus gives us guidance on how to respond: By his example, through his Spirit and through the Word:
Matthew 10:16-20
16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore be shrewd as serpents, and innocent as doves. 17 “But beware of men; for they will deliver you up to {the} courts, and scourge you in their synagogues; 18 and you shall even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19 “But when they deliver you up, do not become anxious about how or what you will speak; for it shall be given you in that hour what you are to speak. 20 “For it is not you who speak, but {it is} the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.
Look at the power given to the early church when it responds to persecution with the testimony of Jesus Christ:
Acts 4:4-37
4 But many of those who had heard the message believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand. 5 And it came about on the next day, that their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem; 6 and Annas the high priest {was there,} and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of high-priestly descent. 7 And when they had placed them in the center, they {began to} inquire, “By what power, or in what name, have you done this?”
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people, 9 if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, 10 let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead-- by this {name} this man stands here before you in good health. 11 “He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, {but} which became the very corner {stone.} 12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.”
13 Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John, and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were marveling, and {began} to recognize them as having been with Jesus. 14 And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply. 15 But when they had ordered them to go aside out of the Council, they {began} to confer with one another, 16 saying, “What shall we do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17 “But in order that it may not spread any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to any man in this name.”
18 And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; 20 for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard.”
21 And when they had threatened them further, they let them go (finding no basis on which they might punish them) on account of the people, because they were all glorifying God for what had happened; 22 for the man was more than forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed.
23 And when they had been released, they went to their own {companions,} and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 And when they heard {this,} they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, “O Lord, it is Thou who didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them, 25 who by the Holy Spirit, {through} the mouth of our father David Thy servant, didst say, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples devise futile things? 26 ‘The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ.’ 27 “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Thy holy servant Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever Thy hand and Thy purpose predestined to occur.
29 “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Thy bond-servants may speak Thy word with all confidence, 30 while Thou dost extend Thy hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Thy holy servant Jesus.”
31 And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and {began} to speak the word of God with boldness. 32 And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one {of them} claimed that anything belonging to him was his own; but all things were common property to them. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. 34 For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales, 35 and lay them at the apostles’ feet; and they would be distributed to each, as any had need. 36 And Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means, Son of Encouragement), 37 and who owned a tract of land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
When we respond with pure testimony, these are the results:
· Our influence increases among those in need and those who advocate for them
· Our power to affect change increases
· Our confidence in the Holy Spirit increases
· Non-believers marvel at what God has done through us
· The truth becomes more important than other people’s opinions in our lives
· Even really old men are healed (forty years and above)
· The fellowship rejoices
· The Holy Spirit expands in our lives
The implied warning
If it is true that the closer we come to God the more we should expect persecution, then we should expect that the opposite is true as well. The farther we are from God the less we will experience persecution. Why would the true adversary fear or persecute someone who was making no difference in the kingdom? In a culture that strives for comfort these words should be frightening! Comfort, position and power was all that these Chief Priests desired. They did not realize that the one who was giving them such discomfort was indeed their only hope of salvation. Instead of worshipping Jesus they crucified him for the sake of expediency and homeostasis.
Let us make sure that our desire for what is comfortable for homeostasis—”the way things have always been”—or for the admiration of men never supersedes our desire to invite him into our hearts and to pursue him though persecuted.
Philippians 2:14-18
14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing; 15 that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may have cause to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. 17 But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. 18 And you too, {I urge you,} rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.
MATTHEW 21:28-32
28 ”But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ 29 ”And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 ”The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. 31 ”Which of the two did the will of his father?” They *said, “The first.” Jesus *said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. 32 ”For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.
The Right Crowd
There are so many times that my mouth has said, “I will sir,” but my actions have said, “I won’t.” It would be so much easier if I could point at these Chief Priests and accuse them of being appalling hypocrites. Yet, I see so much of myself in them.
I find myself not wanting to go where the Holy Spirit calls me. Preferring instead the places where I am most comfortable. Further complicating the matter is that the more I learn about Jesus, the more I find he calls me to places that are uncomfortable, indeed counter-comfortable.
I would like to think that Jesus is satisfied if I just go to church or profess him as my personal Lord and Savior. Yet, he is not. He will judge me according to my deeds [Matthew 16:27]. In fact, Jesus condemns the Pharisees and Religious Leaders for their “deeds.”
MATTHEW 23:1-8
1 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2 saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 3 therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things, and do not do them. 4 “And they tie up heavy loads, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. 5 “But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries, and lengthen the tassels of their garments. 6 “And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called by men, Rabbi.
They used their religious authority and positions to “bind and burden” others. Their deeds were only for show, to earn them a religious title. Let us do all that we can to make sure the same cannot be said of us. Let us throw away our titles and instead, embrace the position of servant. Jesus is calling us to the places where sinners—like prostitutes and traitors (that is how the Jewish people viewed tax collector’s)—are found. Over years of traveling to those kinds of places, a sad revelation has stunned me. That, according to Christ parables, there is more sin in our churches than there is in our jails. I have found the cause of prostitution to be poverty and sexual abuse. I have found the cause of crime to be poverty and the early introduction of violence, drugs and/or alcohol to a person’s life. Those are things that we, in church, are quite able of speaking out against and doing something about—yet we don’t. We are so busy with praise and worship that we forget humility and servitude.
We can stop the repetitive cycle of crime by modeling our Saviors response to prostitutes and traitors, He ate with them. I remember once telling a group of young people in detention that I was heading to the County Jail after our class. “Would you see my dad?” said one young man. Then another said the same thing, and another. Fully fifty percent of that room of thirty youth asked me to see their incarcerated father, brother or beloved uncle.
”Lord, I know we could break that cycle if we, who call ourselves Christians, would just go where you tell us to go.”
Do our churches look like Jerusalem on the day of Christ’s earthly judgment? Will we be chased out or reprimanded by Christ or will we be welcoming in the sinners, the Gentiles, and the children? Which kind of community am I making? Where will I be found when our Lord comes back for his rightful seat?
Over the years, I have begun to tell people that when Jesus calls for me, I would rather be found with the lost, than lost with the found. “Lord, give me the courage to live out that conviction.”
MATTHEW 21:33
[Mt 21:33] “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey.”
The perfect vineyard
It is vital to keep the context of each reading in mind as we read through it. As we begin this reading Jesus has just:
1. Rode into Jerusalem in triumph
2. Cleared the extortionists out of the temple and welcomed the excluded in to replace them
3. The Chief Priests were alerted and responded in anger
That’s where this reading begins, within that context, with the Chief Priests hovering and seeking to arrest him, Jesus tells a story about a perfect vineyard.
The vineyard builder was very attentive to His work. He built a vineyard that would be the envy of all the world. It was the complete vineyard with its own winepress, walls and even towers to guard against enemies. However no matter how strong the walls it was not designed to stand against an enemy within them.
We can certainly see Satan’s tactics in this parable. Our struggles with sin may manifest themselves in appearances but they are motivated—not by outward security—but “in-security.” The enemy within is far more deadly than the enemy without. Jesus was declaring to the people, in the face of the religious leaders, that the enemy was within. The enemies were the vineyard managers and the vineyard managers were the Chief Priests.
This reading demands that we look at our own communities and our own leadership. God has given our world and our communities all that is needed to function fully. There is no reason that anyone should live in poverty if each of us would just choose to live simpler lives of compassion. It is hard to overstate just how rich the Chief Priests had become and how entrenched they were to hold on to their wealth and positions. Their leadership no longer focused on enhancing the state of God’s people but on enhancing their own fortunes. They had taken over God’s vineyard and didn’t expect to be held accountable for their actions. They justified their evil and deception as a means to an end.
What part do we play in this story? Are we the messengers sent forth to remind those around us of their duty to the vineyard owner or do we think of the vineyard as our own and use it for personal gain? The question might be even simpler than that, “Is there unfairness in my vineyard—my community—and what am I doing about it?” That is what the Lord of the vineyard will ask me upon his return.
Questions
· On a personal level: What is the vineyard God would have me tend? What is the fruit he will expect of me?
· On a fellowship level: What are the fruits that God expects of my fellowship corporately? What is my prophetic role in focusing people on the “rent” that will be due? What is my leadership role as a good steward?
· On a community or national level: What are the fruits that God will expect from my city or nation? What is my prophetic role in demanding a focus on the Master’s fruits? Will I respond to the Master’s enquiries before he returns? What am I doing about the unfairness in my own vineyard?
God on a journey
Jesus has a number of stories in which the owner leaves his property to go on a journey. In the process, the owner gives others responsibility for his property or finances. Where does God go?
Matt 25:14
“For {it is} just like a man {about} to go on a journey, who called his own slaves, and entrusted his possessions to them.”
Mark 13:34
{“It is} like a man, away on a journey, {who} upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, {assigning} to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert.”
We are told that the “Owner” is going to other properties to develop them. Jesus is telling us that God left the Jewish people in the hands of its leaders while he toiled in another garden (the Gentiles). All during that time God was expecting his people—and especially his leaders—to prepare for the Messiah’s return. God was doing his part; were the religious leaders doing theirs? That is the question before us today as well.
We mustn’t think that this implies that God is incapable of tending all the gardens at the same time. We are entrusted with these responsibilities—not for God’s sake—but for ours. Where would our growth be if we were not involved in the vineyard? Sadly, this story tells us of a great tragedy. Those left to care for God’s vineyard began to act in their own self-interest. The walls built to protect God’s fruit from the enemy were instead used to foolishly try and keep out God.
God sent prophets to remind the overseers of their responsibility. But the prophets were stoned and beheaded. So the rightful owner sent his own son and he too was killed.
This was, of course, a reference that Jesus made about himself. Jesus gave the Chief Priests a “heads-up”; “I know what you have in mind for me.” Their position was threatened and their position mattered more to them than truth. Jewish law asserted that whoever was in possession of a property at the time of the owner’s death would become the rightful owner. The insinuation of Jesus was; “You have forgotten whose vineyard in which you are working. Do you believe that by killing the prophets and the Son of God, you can retain control of the vineyard? Are you planning to outlive God?”
Here is the danger in this story for all of us. Whether speaking about talents or vineyards, the owner does return and ask for a full accounting; “How have you increased the eternal value of what I entrusted to you?” Increasing the earthly value of our position or possession for our own ends is disgraceful in the eyes of God.
It is what we have done with what we’ve been given that give God joy. Every resource we have should go towards that end or at the end of our life we will be considered the worst fool.
Luke 12:16-21
16 And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a certain rich man was very productive. 17 “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 “And he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.’” 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ 21 “So is the man who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Let’s end our lives wealthy in friendships and justice and not someone who will hear God state, “You fool!”
Guarding the vineyard from the owner
Sometimes, I get the image of our culture as if we were grossly overweight children sitting in the vineyard guzzling down the finest wine. It pours out of our mouths and streams down our jowls flowing upon our robes as we gorge on the Lord’s abundance. Never once do we pause to think; “Hmmm, maybe this isn’t my wine. Am I supposed to be sharing this?”
This morning I sat in on a workshop about “Worship in a PostModern Society.”
I found myself growing increasingly irritated as the leader increasingly spoke about the trends in worship. He shared with us all the bells and whistles that are “necessary” to maintain the attention of a postmodern culture. I kept thinking; “this is all about emotionalism and gadgetry,” and I questioned; “since when did worship become entertainment?”
I thought of the people that I work with in the jails and detention centers and how “low-tech” our worship yet simultaneously, deeply spiritual. It hit me that what some churches lack is not technology, but spirituality. We are using the emotional highs of technological worship to substitute for the spiritual depths of the Holy Spirit. We’ve confused emotions with spirituality. Emotionalism requires gadgets and offers immediate gratification. Worship involves deeply engrained habits of faith and is constant attention. It is easy to lose the focus, the purpose of worship, and suddenly think, “It really is all about me.”
Emotionalism in worship is virtually hollow and I think the workshop leader knew that truth. Deep down inside I think that this presenter knew he was on a pseudo-worship treadmill. Emotional worship is as deep as the next technological breakthrough that leads the postmodern flock a half-mile down the block to the next post-post-modern start-up.
This is “fat-child in the vineyard” sleight of hand. Wouldn’t it be great to be involved in worship where closeness to God was not dependent on the presence of digital media and presentation software? A place where our connectedness runs deeper than sustaining honeymoon feelings of bliss and attraction?
Imagine being covenanted to each other by God and mission. Yet, this cannot happen unless we wipe the wine off our faces and invite God back into his vineyard. God reminds us constantly that the “wine isn’t ours to hoard.” Listen hard enough and look close enough, we can see that God is sending His notice:
He appears as an eccentric (prophet) crying for mercy for the oppressed
He comes as John the Baptist dressed in rags, completely counter-cultural and commanding us to turn our life utterly inside-out
He appears as the Son of God through the imprisoned, the sick, the hungry and the thirsty. Jesus constantly appears as the oppressed offering us the opportunity to serve and to relinquish our consumer lives
Let’s move from emotionalism to spirituality. Let’s focus on the true heart of worship (it implies a dog licking its master’s feet). Here is worship at its most poignant:
Matthew 15:27-28
27 But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; be it done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.
That should be our response as “managers in the vineyard.” We are not here to drink the Master’s wine (emotionalism and self-indulgence); we are here to grow the Master’s crop (spirituality and compassion).
Questions
God is sending prophets to us to remind us of our “place in the vineyard.” Where have you seen them? How could you become one?
What has been your response to God in these guises?
MATTHEW 21:42
[42] Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ’THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’?”
The wonderful Psalm of our Savior
The last week of our Lord’s life was a fulfillment of ageless prophesies and Matthew wants us to completely understand that all scripture points to Jesus Christ as Messiah. He was the culmination of the Covenant of God; testified to by the Old Testament, John the Baptist, his own works, the Holy Spirit and by God the Father (“This is my beloved son, in whom I am well-pleased [Matt 4:17]”). Is it any wonder that the words of scripture were ingrained in our Lord’s heart? He inspired them; it was to him that they pointed!
The particular verse that Christ quoted in this parable was Psalm 118:
Psalm 118:22-23
22 The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone. 23 This is the LORD’S doing; It is marvelous in our eyes.
It is not just this verse from the Psalm that lifts our Lord’s name in glorious praise. Look at the other verses in this song of joyous testimony to God’s plan.
Psalm 118:4
Oh let those who fear the LORD say, “His lovingkindness is everlasting.”
Psalm 118:6
The LORD is for me; I will not fear; what can man do to me?
Psalm 118:8
It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.
Psalm 118:17
I shall not die, but live, and tell of the works of the LORD.
Psalm 118:24
This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:29
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting.
There can be no doubt that the plans of the Chief Priests were evident to our Lord. Yet, their threats met nothing compared to the deep abiding comfort that Jesus drank from in God’s Word. A well-spring doubly blessed for us today. For we have seen it’s promise complete—the sacrifice fulfilled. That well is ours to drink from; the words of comfort still full and true. Not one of its words has come to mean less with the passing of time. Instead each word is richer, more perfect and more prophetic; our Lord is returning. We have work to do. Let’s get busy preparing the vineyard for the return of our glorious Master!
Why is it marvelous?
Why would the Psalmist tell us it is marvelous that the stone was rejected?
It is partly because that rejection is the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament. In a similar fashion, we should marvel when the words of Christ unfold in our lives—even when the revelation leads to rejection. Too much of our energy in this world is wasted on the need for approval. Too little is spent on recognizing that being honest to what we value is more important than being accepted for our compromise.
Yet, what does the bible mean to marvel?
Let’s look at other times that this word was used in the Psalms:
Psalm 31:21-24
21 Blessed be the LORD, For He has made marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city. 22 As for me, I said in my alarm, “I am cut off from before Your eyes”; Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications When I cried to You.
23 O love the LORD, all you His godly ones! The LORD preserves the faithful And fully recompenses the proud doer.
24 Be strong and let your heart take courage, All you who hope in the LORD.
Psalm 71:4-8
4 Rescue me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, Out of the grasp of the wrongdoer and ruthless man, 5 For You are my hope; O Lord GOD, You are my confidence from my youth.
6 By You I have been sustained from my birth; You are He who took me from my mother’s womb; My praise is continually of You.
7 I have become a marvel to many, For You are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with Your praise And with Your glory all day long.
Do you see the pattern? What makes men marvel at God and God marvelous to men?
It is God’s faithful presence in the toughest of situations. It is precisely in crisis that the power of God is strongest, when human hope has dimmed and our resources are drained. It is when we are rescued “out of the hand of the wicked, out of the grasp of the wrongdoer and ruthless man.” That is when God is most marvelous—when we are most at wit’s end, when we are in the greatest need of delivering His salvation to a deaf people.
The Hebrew word used for marvelous [Gadol] is most often translated as great (340 times), as well as large and even loud. Yet we also find it obscurely used for bitter, heavy and hard.
There is pain in growth—what is marvelous is that God promises to be with us when life is bitter, heavy and hard. He promises to establish our strength, be our foundation and point us ever towards his glory—no matter what the world throws at us. Look at how Paul and Silas responded in a great, large and loud manner when their times were bitter, heavy and hard:
Acts 16:22-34
22 And the crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them, and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. 23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; 24 and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison, and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; 26 and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened. 27 And when the jailer had been roused out of sleep and had seen the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here!” 29 And he called for lights and rushed in and, trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. 33 And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. 34 And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.
Paul and Silas sing loudly after they are beaten and thrown into stocks. They start singing at mid-night and they sing right through an earthquake. Similarly, look at how our Lord feasts on the joy of God’s word prior to tasting the bitter herb of sacrifice. He leads us from suffering to joy and his path is truly marvelous. So, next time that we face a situation where life seems bitter, heavy and hard. Respond as our Lord did, respond as Paul and Silas rejoice in a great way; don’t be afraid to be large and loud in the glory of our God.
MATTHEW 21:43-46
33 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. 34 ”When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. 35 ”The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. 36 ”Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. 37 ”But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 ”But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’
39 “They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 ”Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” 41 They *said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”
42 Jesus *said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,
‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED,
THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone;
THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD,
AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’?
43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. 44 ”And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. 46 When they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet.
The people producing fruit
There are two core issues here that are still pertinent to our lives and that were used to condemn the Chief Priests, Scribes and Pharisees:
1. How can I claim salvation if I am not obedient to Jesus as Lord?
2. How can I claim obedience if there is no fruit in my life?
So what is fruit? Karpos [NT2590], the Greek term for fruit, was also used for crop or profit. The religious leaders knew that Jesus was speaking about them when he spoke about “fruitless lives.” They knew they were the evil vine-growers who were more interested in intrigue than grapes. In Jesus’ story we must be aware that the Master would not have sent his servants if the vineyard was producing the “fruit” and the “profit” that it was supposed to produce. Every prophet that came to Israel was sent because Israel was being mismanaged; because the fruit of the leaders was evil. Their fruit was self-focused and self-propitiating. When Jesus tells the vineyard story he is no doubt referring to this prophecy in Isaiah:
Isaiah 3:14-15
14 The LORD enters into judgment with the elders and princes of His people, “It is you who have devoured the vineyard; The plunder of the poor is in your houses.
15 “What do you mean by crushing My people, And grinding the face of the poor ?” Declares the Lord GOD of hosts.
The High Priests had received a great privilege in their inheritance and had used it to “plunder the poor.” This is an important concept to understand if we are to understand anything about the nature of our God. To Jesus, plundering the poor is the same as devouring the vineyard. Of course the opposite of plundering the poor is empowering them. That is what the fruit of the Lord’s garden is meant to do. Reaching out to the vulnerable was the very heart of Christ’s mission:
Luke 4:18-19
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor . He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are downtrodden, 19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
The good news is lived out when the fruits of God are used to free the poor, the captive, the blind and the downtrodden. This is what the Chief Priests had not done. Our question is: Are we? Are we proclaiming the Jubilee Year? Are we proclaiming the year of freedom for those enslaved by poverty? Are we using the fruits of our privilege towards the Lord’s mission and purpose? Are there less poor, captive, blind and downtrodden because of our work?
What we possess in this world is not our fruit and this is not our vineyard. We merely oversee it for God. He will ask an accounting of his fruit and whether or not it was used towards his purposes. That is the truth that God sends the prophets to continually remind us to uphold. That is what Jesus saw as his purpose (as stated above in Luke 4:18-19). Do we have the same purpose as Jesus? Do we have the same purpose as God? Are we using our resources towards the same end? Are we using his fruit towards his ends?
The results of fruitlessness
Jesus prophesies three punishments for fruitless followers of God:
The Kingdom of God will be taken from them;
The kingdom is not a place of empty promises; God will neither make nor tolerate them. his promise to us is salvation—but our promise to him must be obedience and a repentant heart.
In another Holy Week confrontation (this time with the Scribes and Pharisees) a woman caught in adultery is cast before the Lord to be stoned. Jesus does two things that clarify his expectation of us. First, he says to the woman; “I do not condemn you... go and sin no more [John 8:11].” What he commands of her is repentance and obedience. To this day, the prerequisite to the Kingdom is repentance and obedience. Second; he condemns the religious leaders who brought the woman before him:
John 8:24
[Jn 8:24] “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” [25] So they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “What have I been saying to you from the beginning? [26] “I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world.” [27] They did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father. [28] So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. [29] “And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” [30] As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him.
[31] So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; [32] and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” [33] They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”
[34] Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. [35] “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. [36] “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. [37] “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. [38] “I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.”
[39] They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus *said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham. [40] “But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do. [41] “You are doing the deeds of your father.” They said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God.” [42] Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. [43] “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. [44] “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. [45] “But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. [46] “Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? [47] “He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.” (NAS)
Why are the religious leaders condemned? Because they are disobedient and unrepentant. Remember, the Kingdom is an immediate and present place. It is here and now; “On earth as it is in heaven.” Yet, we have no access to the Kingdom or its joy if we are not living according to the promises of repentance and obedience.
“He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces;”
(See #3 for details).
“...but on whomever it (the stone) falls, it will scatter him like dust.”
The stone is both defined as the cornerstone (upon which rests the weight of the walls) and the capstone (upon which rests the weight of the roof). Mess with either of those stones and you have trouble.
God has established Jesus as the foundational stone. The word rests on him and salvation rests under his care. Take Jesus out of our lives, family, church or country and everything begins to collapse.
This was no empty boast by Christ. Within a generation, these men (the religious leaders), their families and their nation were “broken into pieces” and “scattered like dust.” Their roles as chief priests of Jerusalem—a tradition passed down almost 1300 years since Aaron, the brother of Moses—was buried under the weight of Rome and they were scattered abroad (like dust). The last chief priest of Aaron’s line, Ananias, was in the courtyard on that very day seeking a way to condemn Jesus.
Accounting for the vineyard
It seems like the story boils down to a very personal fulcrum. Each one of us is in the vineyard illustrated by Jesus. Each one of us will be held accountable for locking the gates and keeping the wine to ourselves or throwing the gates open and giving the master his due. The pattern in our lives of opening or closing our hearts will not suddenly change on the day we stand before our Lord for a full accounting. If the gates of our heart are closed to God now (and, in particular, to God through his most vulnerable children) they won’t be any more open to God upon our final reckoning. Dives, the rich man who walks around Lazarus every day of his life, still sees Lazarus as a beggar even when Lazarus is resting on Abraham’s breast in heaven. Dives attitude only hardens in hell. He is revealed for the sinful man that he is. In like fashion, we can’t profess that our gates were open if in-deed, they were not. We can’t bluff God. If we are uncomfortable with the vulnerable now, we will be more uncomfortable with them when God gives them his kingdom. A kingdom upon which the weight of the walls rest in these words: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God [Luke 6:20b].”
Do we not understand that if the kingdom belongs to the poor then they will decide who gets in and who stays out? Will the poor call me ”friend?”
In Matthew 20, we saw people stand right next to God; they worked all day in his vineyard and seethed while God generously paid all his people a just wage. Yet, those people who were angry that the “last to come” received a just wage were no closer to heaven than if they had been standing on the other end of eternity—even though they were standing in God’s very presence. They stood next to God and were bitter because he was compassionate. That is hell. Hell is keeping the fruit that was meant for others. It is trying to hoard the fruit for myself—like these Chief Priests. Hell is being angry when God shows compassion.
Pray for repentance and humility
Here is a tough concept to keep in front of us until the Day of Judgment. It appears that standing on the outside of the vineyard walls is wherer you find the righteous, the just and the prophetic in this life. That is where you find those who are stoned, beaten and killed for upholding the Master’s rights. The outlook looks bleakest for the “insiders.”
”God, please help us be on the right side of that wall!”
The best way to insure that we are not like the Chief Priests is to be among those who are not gorging themselves behind the closed doors of the vineyard. Let us pray that the master finds us among the poor, the needy and among the forgotten—pleading for a just accounting of God’s fruit.
Today I was blessed to be invited to a birthday party. A young Christian turned 54 at the Homeless Shelter and I got to be among those singing him happy birthday. What an honor. I am sure I saw tears in the corners of his eyes as people fussed over him and profusely told him how blessed they were by his life. I had to wonder how many of his birthdays had previously gone unnoticed. The shelter chaplain said; “You know why we celebrate your birthday?” Perhaps we all expected a joke or sarcastic comment—but the Chaplain stated; “Because we are glad you were born.”
Friends, there is simply no amount of treasure in the world to replace moments like that. At least for that instant—I knew that I was on the right side of the vineyard gates.