“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
“The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
“But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
“He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet. Matthew 21:33-46
In this day and age, a parable like this doesn’t make any sense. If we owned a vineyard and sent an employee to check on it, only to discover the employee was killed by the tenant, we’d call the police. We’d have them arrested. We would throw them out immediately. But, this was no ordinary vineyard.
Jesus had a way with words. He used stories to teach the truth. His method was brilliant. Everyone loves a good story. They capture our attention. They keep our interest. Then once everyone was listening, Jesus made His point.
These wicked tenants were the religious leaders. Over the centuries, they had killed God’s prophets, and soon they would kill God’s Son. They knew who He was talking about.
The Kingdom of God belongs to those who produce its fruit, not those who feel they deserve God’s Kingdom for whatever reason. The religious leaders felt their position entitled them to the things of God. Their history, their pedigree, their education and reputation put them first in line, at least in their own minds.
But, people who feel they deserve actually de-serve when it comes to God’s work. They have rights to be catered to. They also have no biblical basis for feeling they have rights to anything.
“But, I am a founding member.” “I was baptized at an early age.” “My family has been in this church for generations.” The question God might be asking is “What have you done for Me lately?”
Whether you’ve been a Christian for forty years or forty days, the key to God’s Kingdom is humility. What we try to produce for God amounts to nothing, but what God creates through our lives counts for everything.
Where are you tempted to rest on your laurels spiritually? What do you feel you might deserve from God or from the church? What is beneath you? God has far more for you than what you could ever dream up. But it takes a humble heart and an open hand to receive it.
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