Accept, Produce Fruit

 

  Matthew 21:33-43

 The Parable of the Tenants

³³ “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. ³⁴ When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

³⁵ “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. ³⁶ Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. ³⁷ Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

³⁸ “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ ³⁹ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

⁴⁰ “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

⁴¹ “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“‘The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

⁴³ “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.

This rather brutal  parable is a stark warning to us that we must bear good fruit or otherwise be flushed out of  God's kingdom. We need to hear these words and face this reality today when their is outright hostility toward the values of the Kingdom, or at best, a blatant indifference to them. The song, "I'll Do It My Way", is a fitting theme song for our time. Jesus reminds us that HE is the cornerstone, the foundation on which we are to build our spiritual home.HE, NOT ME. We are to put him and his teachings first in our daily lives and dealings with one another. Let us not be influenced by the "wicked tenants" of today, but pray for the fidelity, strength and courage to accept our role, our mission to produce good and lasting fruit.

Bro. Rene

Dear God, help me to remain a faithful worker in your vineyard and not stray from my mission to help establish your kingdom. Amen.