AUGUST 24 THE JESUS QUESTIONS 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 Prayer
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 of ETERNAL LIFE, 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 DIVINE 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
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 with parables as only the Master Teacher could do. 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 to whom Jesus is “Teaching” and what “Lesson” He
will convey with these 3 parables Taught in succession — for these
three parables all 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
“went into 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 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’?”
