This is the day the LORD hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Isa. 43:16-21
Phil. 3:4-14
Luke 20:9-20*
Psalm 28
*When we first read this parable of Jesus, we don't like it. You see it
is filled with bloody violence, tension and greed. But when we
understand it we realize Jesus is describing for us the greatest love
story-His Father's love for us.
As Jesus told this parable, He was talking to people who were planning
to withhold His produce, mistreat His servants and kill His Son. He is
telling them "You won't get away with it" They understood the landowner
as God the Father, the vineyard the people of Israel, the farmers are
Israel's leaders, and the servants are prophets.
How sad Jesus must have been that Tuesday of Holy week. God had planted
this vineyard and cared for it by sending prophets like Moses and John
the Baptist to speak God's Word to the people. Sadly many of them
didn't believe, and there was no fruit for God and . . .
This is the day the LORD hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Isa. 43:16-21
Phil. 3:4-14
Luke 20:9-20*
Psalm 28
*When we first read this parable of Jesus, we don't like it. You see it is filled with bloody violence, tension and greed. But when we understand it we realize Jesus is describing for us the greatest love story-His Father's love for us.
As Jesus told this parable, He was talking to people who were planning to withhold His produce, mistreat His servants and kill His Son. He is telling them "You won't get away with it" They understood the landowner as God the Father, the vineyard the people of Israel, the farmers are Israel's leaders, and the servants are prophets.
How sad Jesus must have been that Tuesday of Holy week. God had planted this vineyard and cared for it by sending prophets like Moses and John the Baptist to speak God's Word to the people. Sadly many of them didn't believe, and there was no fruit for God and the people mistreated God's prophets, the very messengers sent to call them back to God. It was really the Father who threw His Son out of the vineyard. Jesus was carrying our sins as He was nailed to a Roman Cross. God saw Jesus teeming with the sins of the world, and gave Jesus the punishment that those sins deserved. He forsook His own Son to save us. This love staggers the imagination.
Christian friends, there is a lesson here for us. By His grace, God has made redemption a reality and planted us in His kingdom. He did it for us because we cannot save ourselves.
When I survey the wondrous Cross
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but Loss
And pour contempt on all my pride.
PRAY - Almighty and eternal God, because it was Your will that Your Son should bear the pains of the Cross for us and thus remove from us the power of the adversary, help us so to remember and give thanks for our LORD'S Passion that we may receive remission of sins and redemption from everlasting death. Amen