AN INVITATION TO REPENTANCE
Opening Prayer
Thank you, Merciful Father, for the gift of prayer, for receiving my praises, but also lovingly welcoming my heart’s cries of doubt, of confusion, of confession; you will never turn me away.
Read LUKE 20:9–19
The Parable of the Tenants
9 He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. 10 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. 12 He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.
13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’
14 “But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
“What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”
When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!”
17 Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written:
“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’[a]?
18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”
19 The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.
Footnotes
- Luke 20:17 Psalm 118:22
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
God sent his beloved Son to us, knowing all we would do to him. He stopped at nothing to save us from destruction.In the Old Testament, the grapevine was often used as an image for Israel, the people of God. So when Jesus told this parable, he wasn’t just picking a type of agriculture at random; he was very deliberately speaking against those who had been left in charge of God’s people.
The ‘tenant farmers’ in the story represented the priests and teachers of the law. I picture them standing at a distance, listening in as Jesus taught the people. They would certainly have understood Jesus’ meaning. How do you think they felt? How would you feel, being openly criticized in front of people who looked up to you? But Jesus never spoke out about people just to shame them. He never wanted to condemn, but rather to convict. Condemnation leaves us in our sin; conviction is an invitation to repent and receive God’s forgiveness. Sadly, verse 19 shows that the chief priests and teachers had closed their hearts to this Son whom God loved. They loved the good things their role brought them more than doing what was right. When the Son came, they chose to destroy him, not worship him.
Apply
How do you respond when God points out areas of sin in your life? Do you put up your barriers and try to ignore him? Or do you welcome his invitation to turn back to him and receive his love and forgiveness once again?
Closing prayer
Jesus, with the hymn writer, I confess that I am prone to wander.* Please keep my heart stayed on you. Help me to be faithful to you in everything l do.
*’Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” Robert Robinson 1758
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