Matthew 21:33-46

Jesus Tells the Parable of the Wicked Tenants - Why Accept Christ Now?

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 capstone;

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.

44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking about them.

46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

The Wicked Tenants

The parable above has many different elements. So many that you might consider getting out your study Bible which lists them all.

 

Why Accept Christ Now?

 

I am going to focus on why we should choose to follow Christ now instead of procrastinating.

 

God has done everything to show His love for us, including sending His only son to die on the cross so we can be forgiven of our sins.

 

He gives this love and mercy freely. We don't earn it, we can't be "good enough" to get into heaven on our own. It's only through Jesus Christ that we can enter.

 

There is no greater gift we can receive than the mercy of God through Christ.

 

But, there will come a time of judgment so we have to be prepared when that day comes. At that time, Christ will become the "crushing stone" as foretold in chapter 44.

 

God freely offers mercy and forgiveness now and guarantees our salvation. He also promises judgment later and then it will be too late.

 

With that said, now is the time to choose Jesus.

 

 

Love in Christ

- Bob