Read Matthew 21.33-46
http://www.biblegateway.com/
Despite the inclination of our modern culture to paint Jesus as a meek and mild Gandhi-like mystic, we are often confronted in the gospels with a man who did not shy away from saying hard things. Here, as in many other places, Jesus articulates the reality of a Kingdom which has boundaries. Some will be in the Kingdom, some will not. These repeated sayings of Jesus argue pretty convincingly against a universalism which is very popular these days, even among some Christians.
Yet, as is the case always with Jesus, saying the hard thing is often the same as saying the right thing. Jesus always spoke the Truth of God - he was incapable of doing otherwise. He always bore witness to the Truth, for he was and is the Truth of God. When Jesus challenged the Pharisees in this parable, clearly identifying them as the wicked tenants of the vineyard, he expressed a remarkable truth: God will make a way for his kingdom to flourish. He will find people who will bear witness to the ways of God and live according to His precepts. The Way that God chose was, of course, to send his very own Son to inaugurate the Kingdom in a way that would endure until the end of time itself. The Kingdom takes root in the hearts of all the faithful, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
What kind of tenant have you been of God's vineyard? Take a moment today to prayerfully ponder on how you have tended the gift of the Gospel in your own life. How have you nurtured the Truth of Jesus Christ in your daily disciplines of prayer and study of the Word? How have you lived out the Kingdom principles of mercy and compassion in your interactions with others? Pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit to be more and more like the One by whose name you are called: Christian.
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