Welcome to day 15 of our 40 day challenge! Today, we are in Matthew 21

(You can catch up on our Intro, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14 if you missed them)

Matthew 21:33-46

The Parable of the Tenants

³³ “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planteda vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 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 cornerstone;
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 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone 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 chief priests and the Pharisees heard the words of Jesus. They understood He was talking about them in the parable. And then, in their anger, they reacted just like the tenants in the parable. So they heard it, but they didn’t have ears to hear. Instead of hearing and changing their minds in light of what the Lord was revealing, they grew angry and defensive.

They had held their positions of power long enough that they thought that what they could see was the most real. And that’s the tricky thing, God reigns over both the seen and unseen, and it’s to our detriment to think the seen is the dominant reality or even the only one that’s real. According to what they saw in the world, they thought they had far more power than Jesus. And so they thought this was an easy battle to pick against Him.

There’s always more going on around us, no matter what we see. Remember Elisha asking God to open the eyes of his servant (2 Kings 6:17). Those angels are still around, still at work for the Lord, and still ministering to His people (Hebrews 1:14).

Like the Pharisees, those with worldly power often think they actually do run things. They think their power is the ultimate. But if the Lord would open their eyes for a moment, they would see a greater reality. They would see that the power they think they wield is nothing comparatively. They would see that all they do does not go unnoticed, and if they’re allowed to do harm, it’s not to their benefit that they aren’t caught immediately. It’s for their undoing. The old line about being caught is being

For those of us who walk with Christ, it’s an encouragement. Even when things look grim, and it seems like evil is running roughshod over the world unchecked, there is a greater reality at hand, and the Lord will get the final say. Those who are harmed will be recompensed, and those who harm will be held accountable. The Lord is not slow us some understand slowness, but He is patient, allowing for repentance (2 Peter 2:9).

And for us, it’s also a call to see the response of the Pharisees and do better in our own lives. When the Lord reveals our idols, we aren’t supposed to smash His messenger. We smash the idols. To avoid this error of the Pharisees, we listen humbly and adjust accordingly, instead of becoming defensive. When Jesus reveals the wrong we do or think, He is giving us an opportunity to turn the other way.

May we have the Lord’s perspective on what’s going on around us and Whose land we are in. And may we turn toward Him and smash the idols He reveals.

Options for further  journaling or discussion throughout the challenge:

• Choose a part of the passage to write out by hand. Writing by hand helps us slow down and focus on what the Lord might highlight for us in the passage. Our brains can focus and remember better by writing than just reading alone.
• Journal about what the passage brings to mind. Does the passage tell us anything about God? Does it tell us anything about our response to Him?
• Does your heart respond in gratitude to any part of the passage? Write or pray your gratitude to the Lord.

We’ll see you tomorrow for Day 16, and Psalm 1