Day 51: March 18

SCRIPTURE READING: MATTHEW 21:28-

SCRIPTURE HIGHLIGHTS: 
Vs 43-44 - Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
 
OBSERVATIONS:
The reading for today consists mainly of two parables of Jesus. They are both directed at the Pharisees and Chief Priests. The first parable compares the actions of two sons. The first son expressed an unwillingness to obey his father initially but he changed his mind and obeyed the father’s instructions, but never followed through obedient actions. The second son initially expressed a willingness to obey his father but he ended up ignoring his father and disobeying his instructions.

The father in the parable represents God. The first son represents the tax collectors and prostitutes who were responding to the outreach of Jesus and repenting and embracing him as their Messiah. These scandalous sinners were rebels who had a change of mind and heart.

The second son represents the religious leaders who professed devotion to God but by their rejection of Jesus proved themselves to be the real rebels.
 
In the second parable the points of reference are as follows:

• The master and owner of the vineyard represents God.
• The Vineyard represents Israel – the people of God.
• The tenants represent the leaders of Israel who were supposed to take care of God’s people.
• The servants represent the prophets who came to hold the leaders accountable.
• The mistreatment of the servants by the tenants represent the mistreatment of the prophets.
• The Son represents Jesus. The tenants who kill the Son represent the chief priests and Pharisees who were planning to kill Jesus and would be responsible for his death.

 
These parables expose these religious leaders for their failure to listen to and obey the God whose scripture they claimed to know and follow.  Their treatment of Jesus reveals them to be of the same character of the kings and leaders of Israel who killed the prophets.
Each parable ends with Jesus declaring that those who seemed farthest from the Kingdom of God, those whose sins were most visible, are the ones who end up in the Kingdom while those who had a godly reputation had hearts that were in actuality very far from God  
 
APPLICATION:
The Kingdom of God does not belong to the self-righteous, self-sufficient, self-promoters of the world. It belongs to those who are humble enough to acknowledge their sin and throw themselves at Jesus feet in complete dependence on him as their savior and Lord. We need to be very careful about the judgments we make about people. Those who appear “godly” are often actors and actresses engaged in religious activity but without a true love and devotion to God. Those who are “scandalous sinners” are often broken by their sin and very receptive to the message of the Gospel. Our response to Jesus is the true test of the spiritual condition of our hearts. To love the Father is to love the Son.
 
PRAYER:
Lord, thank you for showering me with your grace when I was in open rebellion against you.
I was like the son who said “No!” to you, but you gave me a second chance. Help me to extend your grace to all people and to be careful not to write them off because of their past or their appearance.