March 19, 2025 | Be God's Family
The Parable of the Wicked Tenants
Scripture: Matthew 21:33-46(NIV)
33 “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. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
38 “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.’ 39 So 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 tenants?”
41 “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.”
42 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’?
43 “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. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
Devotional
Jesus was a pro at making sharp points with parables. He was a masterful storyteller, drawing people in until they saw themselves in the story. Here, He is addressing the religious leaders of the day. They were familiar with how Israel had treated the faithful priests and prophets in the past.
They knew the teachings from their tradition that Isaiah was killed by being sawn in half by the king. Jeremiah was thrown into a cistern, and later stoned to death. Others were beaten, threatened, imprisoned, and martyred. And they were personally aware that, just recently, John the Baptist was beheaded.
Certainly, they wouldn’t do the same to God’s very own Son!
Rather than being convicted by Jesus’ parable, they were hardened. This made them want to arrest and execute Him even more.
What about you? Is Jesus your cornerstone or your stumbling stone? Do His ways and words make you repent of your sin and seek alignment with His truth, or do they make you reject His teachings as out of touch with modern sensibility?
After Jesus was crucified, raised, and ascended to heaven, His followers continued His ministry. In Acts 4, Peter got in hot water for healing a man who was unable to walk. He responded to his critics with these words:
9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is
“‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the cornerstone.’
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:9-12).
Later, in the epistle written by Peter, he declared:
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
8 and,
“A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.” (1 Peter 2:7-8).
So, be honest. In what ways is Jesus your cornerstone? In what ways is Jesus your stumbling stone?
Poem
Nothing But Good
Psalm 147
Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
Psalm 147:1ff
Who is the One who brings
Nothing but good
Into His great creation?
My LORD, my God
In whom I praise
The LORD above all nations!
Who made my soul
And placed me in
His world that He created
With every goodness
One can see
With blessing dedicated
God builds us up
God heals our wounds
God calls the stars by name
God’s pow’r and wisdom
Lift the meek
While casting out defamed
God shades His world
With gentle clouds
And rains refreshing dew
And young and old
On eagle’s wings
Know strength which is renewed
My good, good God
He pleasures not
In chariots and horses
But in the meek one
On her knees
Who cries out, moans, rejoices
O, sing with me
You angel choir
Our holy, holy, holies
O, may our praise
Be full, complete
And lifted to God solely
O, Word of God
Spin now the earth
‘Til every soul has heard
The blessed message
Of Your love
Your truth, their belt, their gird
Melt now the frozen
Hearts of stone
The hardened, trampled ground
And in the soil
Of humble hearts
May gospel seed be found
Who is the One who brings
Nothing but good
Into His great creation?
My LORD, my God
In whom I praise
The LORD above all nations!
