AUGUST 24 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#26-01 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#26 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those called to labor for him?” (Matthew 21:40)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

AUGUST 24  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#26-01  >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<  JQ#26  “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those called to labor for him?”  (Matthew 21:40)

Daily Prayer to JESUS    

Jesus, Giver of Life, You alone are Worthy — Lord, it would be more than enough for You to provide Salvation for us but when we consider “How” and “Why” You provided that most precious Gift, it is truly more than we can begin to understand. Lord Jesus, for You to come down from Your Glory in Heaven to this sin-filled earth is one thing, but to descend from Your Deity to take on flesh is beyond comprehension — add to that mix that You chose to be born of a woman and then to live a perfect example, not as a king or ruler but as a “servant” and then to take that Perfection and use it as the Perfect Sacrifice for the sins of the world — O Lord, we shall never in this mortal body and limited intellect know, but when You give us our glorified bodies and we take on the True Mind of Christ, then we will finally understand and then throughout all eternity we will give to You all praise and Glory due to the ONE THAT DIED TO REDEEM OUR LOST SOULS!!!!!   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

AUGUST 24  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#26-01  >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<  JQ#26  “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those called to labor for him?”  (Matthew 21:40)      Jesus is living and Teaching His last week on earth in Jerusalem where He has made His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem as the Son of David and His first order of business was to clean out the temple of God which had become a “den of thieves” and Jesus re-established the temple as a “house of prayer”. Jesus immediately was confronted by the religious rulers who did not question His “works” ——— however, they were indignant that Jesus had not come to get permission from them so they questioned His “authority” — obviously these “rulers” were blinded by their self-assumed authority and missed the Truth of God that only God had the power to do miracles and healing and that these miraculous works of God was being accomplished through Jesus, the Chosen One under the leadership of the Holy Spirit in the temple at Jerusalem right before their eyes, with their permission or not!!! Jesus went right to the point of correcting their mistakes and He started with returning their question of “authority” by pointing out that ALL AUTHORITY AND POWER COMES FROM GOD — If there were no God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob there would be no Israel, no City of David and no Temple of God and all the “rulers” would have NO authority whatsoever outside the existence of God! When the “rulers” continued their confrontation, Jesus then began to Teach as only the Master Teacher could do with parables. Just as Jesus had taught by the “the-baptism-of-John”  Question the Truth of God that all sin is against the True Authority of God and that God will “Judge” all that do not “Repent”!!! (Matthew 21:28-32) Jesus is now using the parable of the two sons to continue the Lesson — as a continuation of His Lessons to the “rulers” Jesus goes immediately into the next parable as He said to them, “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.” (Matthew 21:33) Keep in mind who Jesus is “Teaching” and what “Lesson” He will accomplish with these 3 parables Taught in succession for all three parables address the issue of how we should respond to the True Authority of God!  Oswald Chambers in his commentary on SEPTEMBER 22 (from the journal “My Utmost for His Highest”) really nails what the whole problem really is with not only “rulers” but with everyone who denies the reality of God and His Perfect Plan of Salvation as Oswald writes: “To have a master and teacher is not the same thing as being mastered and taught. Having a master and teacher means that there is someone who knows me better that I know myself, who is closer than a friend, and who understands the remotest depths of my heart and is able to satisfy them fully. It means having someone who has made me secure in the knowledge that he has met and solved all the doubts, uncertainties, and problems in my mind. To have a master and teacher is this and nothing less—for One is your Teacher, the Christ…” (Matthew 23:8) Jesus is “Teaching” in Matthew 21-22 through parables about “True Authority and Lordship” and then in Matthew 23 He sums up the “why and how” for all who will listen and allow themselves to be “Taught” by the “Master”. The question each of us must ask ourselves is “Are we willing to be taught by the Master who is the One True Lord of Life?” ——— Jesus immediately started the second parable but where the first parable established the penalty for not obeying the father, the second parable is prophetic as He summed up the history of Israel and the hope of the Messiah as Jesus said that the landowner planted a vineyard and equipped it with everything they needed to have a good crop and a good living and then he “leased” the vineyard and then the landowner “went in a far country”. Jesus has been telling His disciples that He was going to be betrayed into the hands of men and He would be crucified, dead, and buried but on the third day He would be “resurrected” and Jesus repeats that prophecy of His death as He teaches in this prophetic parable that when the “vintage time drew near” that the landowner sent servants (prophets) and vinedressers (religious rulers) “beat one, killed one, and stoned the other…” (Matthew 21:35) then the landowner finally sent his son saying “they will respect my son…” (Matthew 21:37) Jesus then predicts His death as He continued, “the vinedressers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’” (Matthew 21:38) Jesus then asked JQ#25 “Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?” (Matthew 21:40). Once again the religious rulers gave the obvious answer that the landowner would “destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.” (Matthew 21:41) Jesus then let the scriptures pronounce the religious rulers fate as He quoted from the Psalms: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes…” (Psalm 118:22-23) (Matthew 21:42). Then Jesus let the ax fall on the Sanhedrin and all the “religious rulers” of Israel that had rejected Him as the Son of God as Jesus gives His final judgement: “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.” (Matthew 21:43) This parable about the landowner really hit home because “Now when the chief priest and Pharisees heard His parable, they perceived that He was speaking of them.” (Matthew 21:45) But even though they could answer the obvious Question they could not see the prophetic picture of God coming back to His Creation and will require an accounting of all that He has called into His labors — The question we must ask ourselves is: “Have we been doing everything we should have been doing to render to God the ‘fruits in their season’?”