Luke 20:13-16

Luke 20:13-16

And the lord of the vineyard said, “What should I do?  I will send my beloved son.  Perhaps they will be put to shame in this one.”  And after the keepers of the vineyard saw him they were considering carefully with one another while saying, ‘This one is the heir.  We should kill him in order that the inheritance should become of us.’  And after casting him outside of the vineyard they killed.  What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do to them?  He will come and he will destroy these keepers of the vineyard and he will give the vineyard to others.”  And after hearing they said, “May it not become.”

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

The lord of the vineyard sends his son to check on the vineyard.  The lord of the vineyard is hoping that the tenants will see him and come to their senses.  He is hoping that they will be ashamed of their actions and do the right thing.  He is hoping that they will receive the Son.  But I think there is more to it than just this.  The vineyard owner is giving the people one final chance to come to their senses.  He’s giving them one more opportunity to do the right thing.  Naturally, this is like God with us.  He gives us chance after chance after chance.  He even sent His own Son so that we might recognize Him.  But in the end, He can only give us the opportunity to do the right thing.  We must receive His opportunity.

Do you respect the Son of the Father?  Do you repent when faced with the sin of your own actions?  Why is it gracious for God to give us so many chances?

Second Thought:

Naturally, of course, the people do not respect the son.  They reject him.  In fact, they kill him.  They kill him in order to take his inheritance.  They kill him because they think that if they do that much, then the vineyard will be theirs.  Of course this is a huge parable foreshadowing the death of Jesus.  They killed Him so that they wouldn’t be troubled by His teaching anymore.  They killed Him so that they would once more have the illusion of control.  But we are not necessarily much different.  We don’t always listen.  We wrestle control out of Jesus’ hands.  We walk away and go the other direction.  Hopefully we don’t go so far as to wish Him dead, but we are not innocent in out obedience, either.

Where in your life do you wrestle against Jesus and God for control?  Why I it so important for human beings to be in control?

Third Thought:

What is the consequence of such ruthless action?  Destruction.  Jesus promises destruction upon them.  However, note the reaction of the people listening.  They say, “May it not be so.”  They are humbled by such consequences.  They may have felt some pity or sorrow for the tenants because they know what they are feeling.  The reality is that we can always have one of two reactions to consequences.  The first reaction is anger.  We can be angry when corrected.  But the other is humble introspection.  When we are facing consequences, we can take the opportunity to examine ourselves and see the faults within.

What is your response to consequence?  Do you usually listen or do you shrug it off?  What makes people apt to receive consequence?  What makes people apt to reject consequences?

Passage for Tomorrow: Luke 20:17-19