Reading: Matthew 21:33-45
Matthew 21:43 – “God’s kingdom will be taken away from you and will be given to a people who produce fruit.”
As a continued response to the religious leader’s questions about Jesus’ authority to tip over tables in the temple, Jesus offers a second parable in the gospel of Matthew. A vineyard is built and is rented to some tenant farmers. At harvest time a portion of the crop is due to the owner. He sends some servants to collect the fruit. They are mistreated – some are beaten and some are killed. After this happens again, the owner sends his own son. The tenants kill him too, thinking that they can then take the inheritance.
Jesus asks the religious leaders what the owner will do now. Their response: “He will totally destroy those wicked farmers.” The vineyard will be rented to others who will give their fruit to the owner. Jesus then quotes from Psalm 118: “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” Suddenly the religious leaders become the focus of the lesson. Jesus tells them bluntly: “God’s kingdom will be taken away from you and will be given to a people who produce fruit.” And this stone that is rejected? It will crush those that it falls upon.
The question for us, God’s people today, is this: Are we, are you, am I producing fruit for the kingdom of God? We have each been blessed by God with gifts and talents, with resources and time, and with an inheritance to share with others. Are we taking what we’ve been given and using it to lift others, to care for others, to encourage others, to stand and speak for others? Doing so, we are planting seeds so that others can one day come to know the Lord. This is the “fruit” we’re called to help produce. When faith sprouts and grows, God will multiply it to build the kingdom of God here on earth. May it be so for you and for me.
Prayer: Lord God, open our eyes to the opportunities that you give us to serve and love others. Through the sharing of our faith, may others be blessed. And through these blessings, O God, may faith take root, drawing others towards Jesus so that they too can come to know the Son as the Lord of their lives. Amen.
