Matthew 21:11-14 Are You Invited?

Matthew 21:11-14  “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.  He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’  The man was speechless.  “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’  “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

All these guest are from the king’s realm; all are under his supreme authority.  He addresses the guest with the wrong attire as his friend, acknowledging this man is part of his kingdom.  As in this parable, all humans are part of God’s kingdom.  We are all possible friends to the Creator of all things.  But this citizen enters the party without appropriate dress, without the garment that shows proper respect for the occasion.  His attendance without the right wedding clothes reveals disenchantment with the king’s demands.  His mood is self-serving, not heeding the king’s wishes or accepting the requirements of the situation.  The king views him as dangerous, for he has a disrespectful attitude towards the king and his party.  His adverse behavior is so dangerous to the king that he tells his servants to Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  The king does not reason with this guest, telling him to go home and put on better clothing.  No, the king knows his heart of disobedience that he entered the party some other way than the gate.  How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?  His clothing in a spiritual sense represents a lack of goodness in him.  In Revelation we see the final wedding feast; we see a bride who is holy and the attendees as holy.  Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah!  For our Lord God Almighty reigns.  Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!  For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.  Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.”  (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)  Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb” !  (Revelation 19:6-9)  But this uninvited guest is without the righteous dress that God requires of all his guests.  He is the thief or the robber who enters the sheepfold in an illegal way, not through the gate.  The gatekeeper knows the shepherd and all who enter into the fold, so this man entered the party through another entrance.  Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.  (John 10:1)  Because of his open defiance to the circumstance of the party, the man is not only a danger to the king’s rule, but to the partygoers.  His cancerous yeast of discontent with the king’s demands is in danger of spreading rebellion to others.  Therefore, the king does not treat him gently, but has him thrown out of the party, dispatching him to terrible circumstances in outer darkness.  The uninvited guests represent those who are too busy with life to attend the wedding feast. Their refusal to the king’s invitation caused the king to send out his servants and invite the people along the highways and byways to attend the marriage feast.  So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.  So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.  (Matthew 22:9-10)  These people accepted the call.  They are now the chosen.  They wear the right clothing.  They are not the elite of the community; they are the least in the kingdom, found by the side of the road.  Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?  (James 2:5)  They who are rich in faith will heed the call to the wedding celebration, receiving eternal life, for Jesus is their salvation, in the midst of them who have been abandoned by this world

The call to the feast is for all people.  Jesus is not just the answer to the elite in this world: He is the answer to all who will seek his face through faith in his works and not their own.  But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  Whoever eats this bread will live forever.  This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”  (John 6:49-51)  But the activities of life can interfere with the call of God on people’s lives.  The people who failed to answer the king’s call were busy with life.  They had more important things to think about and do than to respond to the wedding invitation.  They thought their involvement in life was more important than God’s will for them.  The wedding call was an invitation to an eternal existence with God.  But the initial invitees were more concerned about their own existence on earth than an everlasting existence with God.  And if they accepted the invitation, they would have to place on hold their own agenda for life.  If they considered the king’s agenda over their own, they might lose out in this world.  Their affection for the world was great, so they chose not to place the king’s will over theirs.  Because of that, they lost out with the king.  If Christians desire the world above God’s call in their lives, they will lose out with God.  Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.  For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.  (1 John 2:15-17)  John explicitly states, the will of the Father should be the driving force in our lives, not those activities of our lives that will pass away.  If our agenda of living life to its fullest is more important than the will of the Father, we do not love God.  If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.  We cannot enter the marriage feast with our worldly clothes of self-will, self-indulgence.  Such unholy attire will be quickly exorcized from the community of believers.  The pride of life and the things of life should not interfere with the call of God on our lives.  If things of this world dominate our lives, our eyes will not see God’s plan for us and our ears will fail to hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.  We will be as the seed on dormant ground, hardened by life, unable to receive God’s glory.  The citizens who rejected the call of the king were hardened by their invested interest into the world’s activities.  But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business.  (Matthew 22:5)  They felt they would lose something if they went to the marriage feast.  But the least in the world had very little to lose by answering God’s invitation.  They abided on the side of the road or on the street corners, no real investment in this world.  They were the rejected of the world.  They were the African woman with many children, some who died of starvation.  They were the bruised by war and famine.  They were the sick and disabled.  The world looked down on them, but they were jewels in God’s eyes.  They would heed the call of the king.  The servants went to the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

Answering God’s call to eternal life demands receiving the Son of God as our life.  He alone brings eternal life to every man and woman who accepts him.  We cannot enter the banquet feast without his clothing of righteousness.  Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.  (John 6:50-54)  This call is for all people, but only a few will answer the call of God.  God’s promise of eternal life is an everlasting call, for every generation, to all people.  The chosen are the ones who accept the call.  They are the ones who do not hold this life as dear.  They are willing to follow God regardless of the circumstances they face.  They reach out to God’s enduring love by faith.  The Bible indicates that God’s enduring love is for all of his creation. His desire of intimate fellowship with humans will never cease.  He warns us not to be critical of others, for He has made us all, loves everyone.  To reveal his nature, we are to love others as He loves us.  Our love should be an enduring love for others.  In the last celebration feast of the bride’s wedding to the Son of God, we see the bride dressed in fine linen, expressing holiness.  The guests are also dressed in holy garments. The guests’ clothes depict acts of goodness in their lives.  Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.  (Revelation 19)  We who are at the banquet feast should be appropriately dressed in the holy garment of our Savior and his good works.  We should manifest him in everything we do by performing his works through the Holy Spirit’s power. There are no second chances; we do not go around again in life.  As we live presently, we should submit to God’s authority, entering humbly by faith into this feast.  Our circumstances in the world should never despoil the light within us.  Our hurts and disappointments should never overshadow God’s purpose in our lives.  We will have troubles and trials in this world.  Often we will feel like the least, not surviving well physically, emotionally, psychologically; but God has promised eternal life to those who endure to the end, to those who enter the banquet with the right attire.  Peter says to us to be faithful and diligent to God’s call on our lives.  As the chosen, we should live his life every day regardless of our experiences, our suffering.  However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.  (1 Peter 4:16)  IN CHRIST, we are in the right garment.  We have been called from the side of the road, called to serve God.  We are to express the good works of God, and as God moves through his celebration feast, He will greet each of us personally and say to us, welcome my beloved, I am so glad you are here to celebrate my Son’s wedding.  We will be with God, not only as guest but also as the bride of Christ, dressed elegantly in his garment of love towards us.  Amen!  

Matthew 22:1-10 The Banquet Is Ready!

Matthew 22:1-10  Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.  He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.  “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready.  Come to the wedding banquet.’  “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business.  The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.  The king was enraged.  He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.  Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come.  So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’   So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.”

In the above parable Jesus talks about the Jewish community and their elite who were chosen to lead the people to God, but they failed to recognize Jesus as the Messiah.  They filled their lives with rituals and daily tasks, so they were not interested in attending the wedding of the son.  The son did not mean that much to them even though the son was very dear to the king.  He would be the next heir, so the king was placing all of his interest, desires, and love into his son.  He wanted his son to be respected by all the people he chose to be at the wedding banquet.  But the chosen were not in tune with the king’s will.  Their own activities and will were more important than the king’s desires.  The paths in their lives because of their own activities and interests were more important that the king’s will; they were hardened to the king’s authority and went their own way.  Their hearts were so hardened by their own desires and routines that they did not take heed to the king’s request.  In the parable of the seeds, they are the hardened ground where the seed cannot penetrate the beaten down soil.  Jesus told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  (Matthew 13:2-4)  Some seed lay so long, so persistent on the beaten path that the birds came and devoured the seed.  In the above parable, we see the birds as people who resented the intrusion of the call to the banquet, so they “seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.” They were as the evil farmers who desired to seize the land for their own by killing the farmer’s son.  As Jesus ministered to the people, He realized that the leaders of the Jewish community were not ready to open their lives to his work as the Messiah.  They cared more for their own way of life than to attend to Jesus’ call for repentance and to accept his ministry as from God.  As in the above parable, “They paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business.”  They wanted to be left alone, to carry out their daily routines and activities as if they had not been invited to the feast.  Because of their unwillingness to accept God’s call on their lives, the king turns to others who were not chosen to attend the banquet.  “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come.  So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’  The invitation went out to the bad as well as the good.  This time the invitations land on good soil, soil that was willing to heed the call to the banquet.  Jesus was criticized by the chosen for eating with people of ill repute, but He knew this was good ground for his message of Good News.  They would receive thankfully the message to attend the banquet; heaven’s door would be opened to them.  While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.  When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”  On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”  (Mark 2:15-17)  Jesus understood who would answer his call, and He went to them; He ate with them.          

Those who were righteous in their perspective were in need of nothing.  Life’s design was perfect for them. Their religious activity, their routines in life, elevated them above anything Jesus’ words would provide for them in their daily lives.  They did not need his words, the Messiah’s words; they were already receiving great benefits in this life.  The Jewish elites held important positions of power in society.  They received adulation wherever they ventured.  And because of their leadership roles, they accrued wealth and power.  For them, what else does anyone want out of this life?  Attending the king’s banquet in the parable would not have provided the chosen anything more in life than what they already had.  However, what their refusal to attend reveals clearly about them is their lack of love for the king.  This deficit of love for the king (God) is exposed clearly by Jesus’ many parables about the Jewish leadership.  The leaders were content with their religious lives and their many activities—real affection for God was not in their souls.  They had no love for the king.  His authority over them was not appreciated.  Because of their lack of devotion to the king, they snubbed his invitation to the marriage feast.  If they had loved the king, or God as Jesus is focusing on, they would have dropped everything to celebrate the Son’s marriage.  However, in reality their lack of love for God and his Son would lead them to killing Jesus.  Their rebellion to God’s authority, as it was in Adam and Eve, would lead them to the heinous act of killing the Son.  The cross reveals the hatred of mankind towards God.  Even though Jesus healed many and did nothing but good, the chosen, mankind itself, put him on a cross, hoping to get rid of him forever, and by that remove God’s authority over them.  Jesus, the Messiah, was rejected by the leaders of the community of man.  This leadership had already rejected John the Baptist’s message of repentance; now they were putting to death on the cross the only path of redemption.   They felt they had need of nothing; their existence was good enough for them. Their hearts were hardened to the call of Jesus.  Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.  For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did.  And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.”  (Matthew 21:31-32)  The good soil with deep roots growing in it was for those who knew they were not pleasing to a righteous, perfect God.  They pleaded with God for forgiveness, and they found a way to God’s household through faith in Jesus Christ’s and his works.  Jesus fulfilled what God demanded of people: complete righteousness.  The banquet would be attended by people from the side of the road, not the chosen.  They would attend in garments of righteousness, celebrating with God the marriage feast.  Those who hear and accept the invitation of God are saved by faith in Christ’s work at the cross.

The good and bad were called, indicating God loves everyone.  The people of the law and the people who did not know the law were invited.  Obeying the law reflects goodness; following self-will reflects badness.  The banquet was opened to all after the chosen turned down the invitation.  Their unwillingness to love the king beyond their own love for self caused the kingdom to be opened to all people.  This plan of God from the beginning of time, allowing all people and all of creation to come under the shackles of sin was for the purpose of making children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  The elite who were chosen to know the face of God through the revelation of the law failed to fall in love with the God of creation.  And those who never knew the law or the face of God through the law were born as natural enemies to God.  All of mankind, along with creation itself, lived under the burden of sin.  Jesus came as the  Good News announcing freedom from sin.  The burden of sin could be rolled away in the hearts of men and in creation itself.  The lamb would lie down with the lion.  Man could find absolute freedom in God’s grace, given through Jesus Christ, without one fault, bringing humankind perfect before the Creator of all things.  The robe of righteousness would hang from men and women’s frames, Christ’s robe of righteousness.  Those willing to heed the invitation would attend in these robes.  Salvation would be written on their invitations.  For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  (Romans 8:12-13)  We who are reading this breakfast have this invitation in our lives.  Written on it scrolled by love, Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  (Matthew 25:34)  We are most blessed, for God’s intentions for us have always been that we would be with him in an intimate relationship, known as his children.  All angels and principalities will know this too. “Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready.  Come to the wedding banquet.”  Yes, the banquet is open now, attend dear friends with joy, with the appropriate garment, the robe of righteousness washed in the blood of Jesus Christ.  

Matthew 21:42-46 Produce Fruit!

Matthew 21:42-46  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.

Jesus has no compromising words for the Pharisees and Sadducees; he gives them no slack.  He calls them evildoers, snakes, sons of vipers.  They are a contaminating element in the Jewish society.  Rather than leading people to God, they are baring the door to the Lord’s house.  “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.  You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.  (Matthew 23:13-14)  Their sanctimonious lifestyle looked good on the outside, but within them their self-indulgent hearts were far from God.  Their godless hypocrisy created a lifestyle of desiring praises from men more than God.  Jesus knew their hearts.  He approached them with harsh words, judgmental words.  He understood well that they desired to kill him and that they would hate his followers too, chasing them from city to city, killing them, persecuting them.  He told them they were as their fathers, grandfathers, and so on who persecuted and killed the prophets of old.  Jesus knew they would unite with secular power with Pilate to murder him.  Jesus understood them well; they were the farmers who wanted to take the land away from the owner of the land.  They were the fig tree that failed to bear fruit.  They were the second son that said he would follow God, but in his heart had no intention to follow God.  The Jewish elders and elite burned with hatred towards Jesus, for they understood Jesus was talking about them.  They were the corrupt leaders Jesus was describing.  Because of that, they picked up stones many times to kill Jesus.  Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father.  For which of these do you stone me?  (John 10:31-32)  But Jesus’ life would not be given in stoning, but on the cross, for anyone hanging from a tree in Israel is a curse, totally abandoned by man and God.  If someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole, you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight.  Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse.  Deuteronomy (21:22-23)  Jesus would die as the complete and final sacrifice, fulfilling God’s will to sanctify ALL PEOPLE who come to him, believing the curse of sin on them would be lifted because Jesus became a curse for the sins of ALL PEOPLE.  The leaders of the Jewish community rejected Jesus and his teaching.  They were blind to his miracles; they saw only a man who was a threat to their leadership authority.  The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?  The builders of the Jewish religion, the priests who tithed even down to their herbs, who wore flowing robes and who bore on their arms broad phylacteries, rejected Jesus as being from God.  Jesus tells them, 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.  Jesus is not only the cornerstone to God’s plan of rescuing people from sin, He also is the capstone, the final stone at the top of the house that is put into place.  He is the beginning and the ending of God’s plan to rescue his people from the grasp of sin.  God is building an eternal household, where He will dwell with his people forever.  Anything other than trusting in Jesus Christ and his works will be crushed, smashed to smithereens. 

Jesus concludes his Sermon on the Mount by saying, Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.  But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”  (Matthew 7:24-27)  The Jewish leaders’ lifestyle was the antithesis of the teaching of Jesus.  They were not poor in spirit, neither were they poor in the world.  Their wealth came by taking advantage of people.  They accumulated treasure here on earth.  The priests were not merciful; they were willing to to exploit the widow, take her house for lengthy prayers.  (Mark 12:40)  They failed to be earnest peacemakers, gracious, merciful, and the like.  They were not good shepherds, servants of the people. They chose to place heavy burdens on their flock, judging their weaknesses, rather than supporting them by guiding them to a better pasture, a better life.  Jesus warns them, Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.  (Matthew 7:1-2)  Jesus knew of their accumulated wealth.  He knew they robbed widows of their houses.  He knew they asked people to swear on the gold placed on the altar, rather than on the altar itself.  For the gold would belong to them, swearing on the altar did not accrue them any wealth.  They acted like hirelings who would serve only for money and deference.  Jesus understood well their hypocrisy.  The Pharisees, Sadducees, teachers of the law and the elders’ lifestyle was far from being perfect.  They were supposed to be true shepherds, yet their way of living and their willingness to live self-indulgent lives made them enemies of God.  God would deal with them harshly, and the capstone would eventually crush them.  The place of God’s dwelling would be removed from them and placed into the hands of the Messiah.  He and his followers would become the dwelling place of God.  The Jewish community and their elders, priests, and teachers of the law were living lives not acceptable to a  holy God.  God’s covenant with his people could not be implemented through man’s effort to be like God: holy, perfect.  One errant decision or wayward thought contaminates holiness, failure to be as God is: perfect.  The law revealed clearly the people’s weaknesses, and it pointed out to people their imperfection.  The Adamic man could never please God unless he was changed by God himself.  Paul writes, But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.”  So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law.  For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”  This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that a person has life.”  But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law.  When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing.  For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”  Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.  (Galatians 3:10-14)

Today as we analyze the above focus and the castigating of the Jewish leadership by Jesus, we must understand their attempt to please God was undermined by their fleshly desires to have control.  Even though Jesus was in their midst doing good, they would not accept him because of their wish to maintain their position in the community.  They were more intent on keeping power than serving God.  If the latter would have been true, they would have gladly received Jesus as their Master.  But their lives were blinded by their will to maintain their position in the Jewish society.  Jesus knew the minds of the priests and the leadership.  He knew their innate wickedness, their willingness to serve themselves rather than God.  They had a form of religion—they served laws and regulations, but in a perfunctory way, not with a heartfelt desire to know God.  If they had desired to know God, they would have been full of mercy and grace.  For God represents these attributes and so much more.  In our world today, Christians are to serve God with their whole heart, mind, soul and strength.  If we do so, we will love people as we love ourselves.  Christians are not to seek power or position over serving God in roles as servants and slaves.  The world should see us as instruments reflecting God, full of mercy and grace for ALL PEOPLE.  Our society is best described by Paul when instructing Timothy.  But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power.  (2 Timothy 3:1-5)  Sadly, many of these adverse characteristics are applicable to the leaders of the Jewish community and the priests in Jesus’ time.  Worldliness had crept into their lives and institutions.  We should be careful that worldliness does not creep into our lives and the church.  With the Holy Spirit’s leading, we should evaluate our lives clearly.  Are we trying to win the world, but lose our souls?  Let us not deny the power of God.  He has sent the Holy Spirit to energize us toward doing good, being peaceful, caring, and loving.  Let the love of God champion our souls or we will find the discipline of Christ when we stumble over the cornerstone of life.  May we read the scriptures and produce fruit for the Lord.  

Matthew 21:33-41 House of Prayer or Den of Robbers?

Matthew 21:33-41  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.”

In this parable Jesus continues his attack on the Pharisees and teachers of the law.  When Jesus entered Jerusalem, He was greeted by the people with a clamor of devotion.  The people were eager to establish Jesus as the leader of their people, religiously and secularly.  Pilate wrote, Jesus the king of the Jews, probably because he had heard the rumor that the Israelites wanted to make Jesus their king.  The religious leaders also were aware that people were talking about Jesus being the Messiah, of course, ending their coveted position as the religious leaders of the Jews.  Jesus, after his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, does not stir up trouble for Pilate and the Roman overlords, but He does threaten the hierarchical establishment of the Jewish people.  After his entry into Jerusalem, He goes to the Temple that is under the Sadducee’s administration.  He drives out the money changers and sellers of animals and birds from the Temple. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”  (Matthew 21:13)  Later, he curses the fig tree, a symbol of the religious establishment that has failed to shepherd the people, a failure to gather the fruit of righteousness for God.  The fig tree was lush with green leaves, but no fruit.  The religious leaders had a semblance of serving God, but were not producing fruit.  Their lives exhibited self-indulgence, not the sacrifice of true shepherds of God’s flock, his chosen people.  Jesus condemns the religious leaders for their failure to accept that his authority to minister in Israel comes from God.  Even the blind man Jesus healed with mud knew Jesus’ authority had to come from God.  The (blind) man answered, “Now that is remarkable!  You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.  We know that God does not listen to sinners.  He listens to the godly person who does his will.  Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.  If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”  (John 9:30-33)  The religious leaders were willfully ignorant of where Jesus received his power to perform miraculous works.  Because of that, Jesus attacks them for being hypocrites.  He gives them the parable of two sons who were asked by the father to work in the vineyard.  (See Matthew 21:28-31)  The first son told his father he would not waste his day working in the vineyard.  He represented sinners who chose their personal life over the father’s will.  But later he repents and works in the vineyard.  He is the sinner who turns his life over to God.  The second son represents the priests who decide early in their lives they will live for God in his vineyard, but then their self-willed lifestyle prevents them from working in the vineyard.  They do their own will, but not God the Father’s will.  Jesus relates that the priests are the second son, saying they will serve God, having on the trappings such as the robe with long tassels and phylacteries that are conspicuous because of their size, but failing to work in the vineyard.  He condemns them for their lack of obedience to God his Father.  Now in today’s focus, we see Jesus giving the parable of the tenants, revealing the wickedness of the leading priests and leaders of Israel: the elders.  

As with the Promised Land, the farmers were given a mature vineyard and everything else needed to produce abundant fruit and wine.  He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower.  The farmers needed nothing else to do but to take care of the vines and to harvest the fruit.  When the Israelites went into the Promised Land, the vineyards had been established, the walls around the cities were there for protection from their enemies.  The wells had been dug; the cities had been built there for habitation.  The Israelites, as the farmers in this parable, had received a mature land ready for occupying, ready to produce abundant crops for God’s glory.  But as with the farmers in this story, the leaders of the Jewish nation: the kings and the Jewish hierarchy were often self-indulgent, unthankful, believing they had received this land because of their intrinsic value, not because of the grace of God.  Why should they be grateful to the owner when they are the ones working the land, not the owner.  They assumed the abundance of the land and the wealth accrued by the leaders were a result of their efforts and ability alone.  Why should they give anything back to an absent owner: God?  The landowner does not deserve their obeisance for he is not there working the soil.  Only they deserve the product of their labor.  Jesus in this parable refers directly to the intransigent wickedness of the leading priest, the elders, and the teachers of the law.  As with the nation of Israel that had willfully failed to serve God who had delivered them from slavery, the contemporary leaders of the Jews were serving themselves rather than God.  Their hearts were far from God and their intentions for Jesus were as evil as the leaders of old who had abused, persecuted, and killed the prophets.  Jesus uses this parable to expose their hearts, explaining as the farmers, their intent to destroy anyone who threatened their self-willed lives.  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.  Jesus goes on and describes how they will try to gain ownership to the land by killing the owner’s son.  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.   As with the owner’s son, Jesus’ crucifixion will be outside of the vineyard, away from the power structure of Israel, outside of the walls of Jerusalem.  Jesus relates to his audience that the leaders will kill him, satisfying the caldron of hatred that they have for Jesus.  The unsaid conclusion of this parable is stated by the listeners.  He (the landowner) 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.”  By saying this they were predicting their own future.  God will judge them harshly.  

Jesus in his dialogue with the Jewish elite was giving them their future.  The fig tree will be cursed.  The reward of heaven will be given to the prostitute and sinner who decides to go into the vineyard even though at first they said no to God’s authority in their lives.  They will be blessed by Jesus for they recognize Jesus has been sent by God for their deliverance from sin.  They are not sitting on the fence trying to decide on which side they should jump: serving God or serving themselves.  The leading Pharisees, teachers of the law, and the elders had decided to dwell on the wrong side of the fence.  Jesus knows this and calls them hypocrites, for they claim they are in God’s vineyard, but they are not. They are as the wayward son who wastes his inheritance on his own desires, his extravagant, self-indulgent life.  Jesus knows the Pharisees glory in the people’s deference to them.  They seek the praises of men more than the praise of God.  Their lives are oriented towards the now, not for the blessings of a future existence with God.  Jesus understood well the motivation of their lives, what energized them, and it was not God’s will.  They had left their shepherding responsibilities; instead of that, they superimposed their own selfish will over God’s desire for their lives.  They will be judged harshly for their lifestyle focused on self.  The farmers in the parable chose their own direction in their lives.  They wanted freedom from serving the landowner.  They forgot the goodness of the landowner, his gift of a wonderful vineyard, ready to produce abundant fruit.  We who are in the household of God should always remember the grace of God, his undeserved goodness to us.  He has given us a profitable land.  His promise for us today and tomorrow is that He will be with us, giving us his abundant life, eternal life. The farmers had this kind of future for them, an abundant, eternal future, but they chose otherwise.  They sought immediate gratification.  They wanted everything now, not later, but now.  Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.  What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?  (Mark 8:34-36)  Yes, the farmers were the workers.  They had reasons to want the whole crop.  But they were tenants, servants to the landowner.  They forgot or ignored their position in life.  The Lord loves his people.  He has an inheritance for them that is beyond their imagination.  He desires his people to serve him by taking up their cross, being in the vineyard of their lives, serving him as willing servants.  God is in control when we are willing, obedient farmers.  The crop of eternal life will be given to many if we are faithful to his calling in our lives.  We are not our own—God has bought us with the death of his Son.  Let us not be hypocrites as the elders and leaders of Israel, serving God with their tongues and lifestyle, but not in their hearts.  Let us know full well that God has given us our lives; let our lives be fruitful in his vineyard that He has given us for his glory.  Amen!   

Matthew 21:28-32 Walk Your Talk!

Matthew 21:28-32  “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons.  He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’  “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.  “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing.  He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.  “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”  “The first,” they answered.  Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.  For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did.  And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.  

In the above scriptures, Jesus ruminates over the questions the chief priest and elders asked him.  “By what authority are you doing these things?”  “And who gave you this authority?  Jesus did not respond to their questions; instead, He deflected the discussion to John the Baptist.  Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question.  If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.  John’s baptism—where did it come from?  Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”  (24-25)  The priest and elders were caught in a dilemma.  If they claimed John’s authority came from heaven, then Jesus would ask them why they did not obey John’s message and repent of their sins.  If they said it was from John himself, they knew the people would rebel against them, for they thought John was a prophet sent by God.  So they did not answer Jesus’ question directly: We don’t know.  (27)  Therefore, Jesus did not answer their question directly either.  Instead, He tells them a parable of two sons who were directed by their father to work in the vineyard.  These two sons represent two segments of society, the sinners and the self-righteous.  The first son represents the sinners: the wayward, the irresponsible, the tax collectors and the prostitutes, people who repented of their sins when John called for repentance.  The second son represents the self-righteous, those who thought they had no need to repent or to answer God’s call for repentance.  The priests, teachers of the law, and elders were in this group.  They should have been shepherds of the flock, leading the people to God by encouraging them to repent of their sins and wayward living; instead, because of their deceptive hearts, they were hindering the people from finding God.  They were living lives of hypocrisy, pleasing themselves at the people’s expense.  Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.  (Matthew 23:27-28)  As the second son, they claim they will work for the father, but they do not.  They construct their lives around their desires, their will for each day.  Their agenda for their lives is not their father’s but their own.  “I will, sir” is not the real intent of their hearts.  They are hypocrites, not living for the benefit of the father, but for themselves.  By telling this parable, Jesus lambasts the Jewish elite for their unwillingness to be God’s servants, their lack of sacrifice for the wellbeing of the people they serve.  Their actions reveal their lack of compassion and love for the people, even criticizing Jesus for healing people on the Sabbath.  When Jesus heals a woman who had been bent over for eighteen years, releasing her from Satan’s grasp, they were indignant, angry that He would do work on the Sabbath.  Jesus responds to their indignation, “You hypocrites!  Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?  Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”  (Luke 13:15-16)  The second son lost out because he failed to do the will of the father.  The Jewish leaders lost out with God because they failed to behave as true servants of God.  The Jewish priesthood would be replaced by the Good News that Jesus saves and makes people right with God.  

The first son represents the secular world, a son who intended to live his life for himself.  He was initially unwilling to heed his father’s call of working in the vineyard.  He had a plan for that day and it was not the father’s plan for him.  His agenda probably included the secular life of eating, drinking, and being merry for tomorrow we may die.  The first son represents the lifestyle of the prostitutes, the tax collectors, the disreputable—all living their lives the way they desire.  But later on in the day, the son changed his mind and went.  He repented by going into the vineyard to work, choosing to do the father’s will and not his own.  However, the second son’s hypocrisy was exposed by his behavior, not doing the father’s will, merely saying he would without any intention to fulfill his father’s desire for him.  The second son is an analogy of the Jewish leadership, their intractable nature of fulfilling their own desires, putting their agenda above God’s will.  They thought obedience to the law made them right with God.  They believed the temple sacrifices kept them safe from the wrath of God, and that tithing was important because it showed their dedication to God.  Yes, true, but their hearts were in the wrong place: they ignored the more important aspects of serving God.  Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin.  But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.  (Matthew 23:23)  God’s love for people and his desire for their redemption far outshines any religious lifestyle of perfunctory tasks.  Serving God is an issue of the heart.  To love God with all our strength, mind, soul and spirit, and to love others as we love ourselves is essential in serving God.  Love is an action, but it starts with the correct attitude.  The Jewish leadership rebuked Jesus for doing good on the Sabbath, just the opposite of serving God with love for him and others.  The first son found this truth to be foundational in his life by going into the vineyard to work for his father.  This revealed his love for the father.  The second son by disobeying the will of the father revealed his lack of love for his father.  The saying that we must walk our talk is important when it comes to obeying God’s will in our lives.

Jesus was revealing by this parable what will happen to the Jewish self-serving leadership.  They would be replaced by the  people who were once aliens, away from God, who refused to obey him, but later came to him in repentance, giving their lives to God, willing to live their lives in the vineyard, as songs of praise.  Their lives, as the first son illustrates, will be a sacrifice to God.  As Paul says, his life is a drink offering to the Lord, so will every follower of Christ be a drink offering to the Father God—no hypocrisy, no pretension, no lack of dedication to God.  This is the life of the first son.  This is the life of those who first said, “No,” living a secular life, claiming that their lives were their own.  I will eat, drink and be merry and then I will die, but my life will be lived the way my flesh deserves.  But then the first son changed his mind, chose his father’s will rather than his own will.  He will enter the kingdom of God.  The second son said he would work but chose himself over God’s desire for him.  Peter talks about the first son’s willingness to stay in the household of God by doing his will. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.  (1 Peter 2:9-10)  By saying no to the Creator, violence and corruption creeped into mankind, but John ministered repentance, and some repented and became children of God.  Coming to God through Jesus Christ and his works, people became the first son, leaving behind the world’s corruption and violence.  Now Peter says, of those once secular people, you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Obedience is better than sacrifice, or following the law, or tithing or anything else.  Following God through serving Christ, accepting his grace and mercy, will gain everything from God’s household of mercy.  God’s household of mercy is long suffering, caring and loving.  Paul reminds Timothy, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.  Fight the good fight of the faith.  Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.  (1 Timothy 6:11-12)  Otherwise, stay in the vineyard, work hard for the Lord.  Let your life be a sacrificial one.  Your life of dedication to the vineyard is a song of praise to God.  Let God and everyone you meet hear the melody of your life.  Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?  And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?  As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”  (Romans 10:13-15)  Walk your talk today.  Keep your promises to God.  Sing a new song to him!