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A Recap from Sunday’s Sermon

Preaching Text: Luke 20:1-18

By the end of Jesus’ public ministry, the religious leaders are too self-deceived to recognize him as the Messiah. In Luke’s gospel, by chapter six, they are already looking for reasons to accuse him (Luke 6:7).   In today’s parable, Jesus aims directly at them with the reality of his own centrality for all that is to come. 

Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of all that matters.

The parable he tells is also an allegory. The owner is the Father and the vineyard is Israel. The farmers are the religious leaders. The three servants are the prophets of old and the owner’s son is Jesus, the Son. The others to whom the vineyard will be given are the Gentiles. When he explains that the wicked tenants will be destroyed and the vineyard given to others, they cry “Surely not!” showing how self-deceived they are. 

Jesus then mixes metaphors when he references himself as the “stone the builders rejected.” He points to judgment in telling them that this stone will crush those on whom it falls. But the parable is not only about judgment. We see mercy, grace and love also.

There’s mercy in that fact that the owner sends 3 servants as well as his son. Most would have stopped at 1 or 2. There’s grace in the fact that the vineyard was let out to others. In real life, this included Gentiles and Jews who repented. God is graceful even to his enemies who return to him. We see God’s love in the fact that Jesus was actually prophesying about his own sacrificial and imminent death, given in love for the world.

Taking It Home: Lent is an opportunity to consider any places where Christ’s lordship is missing in your life. Develop and practice a spiritual discipline for the next 40 days to restore Christ’s centrality in this area of your life.