Take a few moments to open your heart in confession – not just confession of sin – but also of the stresses, concerns and pains that you are carrying with you today. Ask the Lord for his forgiving grace and his sustaining power in your life today.
Read Matthew 21:33-40
“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 went away on a journey. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
“The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
“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.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
Read Matthew 21:41-44
“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.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.’”
“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from your and given to a people who will produce its fruit. He who falls on this stone will be broken into pieces, but he who on whom it falls will be crushed.”
Jesus uses the image of a “stone” in several interesting ways. First he refers to a “capstone” – which was the most important stone in the construction of an archway. Then he refers to a stone which is so substantial as to be both immovable and unbreakable.
Jesus, of course, is referring to himself! He is the son of God – who is both the capstone of God’s plan for his people as well as the unbreakable and immovable truth of God.
The religious leaders had wrongly placed themselves in the position of authority reserved only for God and his son. Jesus is warning them that unless they humble themselves before the truth and authority of God – they will be crushed by that same truth.
While you and I may have put our faith in Jesus as the son of God and received him as Savior – we do need to continually ask ourselves two questions:
- Is Christ the “capstone” of my life? That is, is Jesus the central and most important person in my life?
- Is there any way in which I may be putting myself in the place of authority that must be reserved for God alone?
Ask God to help you to be honest enough with yourself – and with him – to answer these questions on a daily basis.
Brian Coffey
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