In The Word
Read: Matthew 21:23-46
Authority Challenged
23 When He entered the temple area, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” 24 But Jesus responded and said to them, “I will also ask you one question, which, if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 The baptism of John was from what source: from heaven or from men?” And they began considering the implications among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet.” 27 And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.
Parable of Two Sons
28 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ 29 But he replied, ‘I do not want to.’ Yet afterward he regretted it and went. 30 And the man came to his second son and said the same thing; and he replied, ‘I will, sir’; and yet he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They *said, “The first.” Jesus *said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even have second thoughts afterward so as to believe him.
Parable of the Landowner
33 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and he leased it to vine-growers and went on a journey. 34 And when the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit. 35 And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.36 Again, he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they did the same things to them. 37 But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’38 But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let’s kill him and take possession of his inheritance!’ 39 And 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 vine-growers?” 41 They *said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the fruit in the proper seasons.”
42 Jesus *said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,
‘A stone which the builders rejected,
This has become the chief cornerstone;
This came about from the Lord,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruit. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. 46 And although they sought to arrest Him, they feared the crowds, since they considered Him to be a prophet.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
Jesus immediately began to make His presence known by entering the temple and removing the business commencing there. He began healing the people, and the people praised Him. He began teaching the people until He was approached by the Pharisees and asked, “By what authority do you do these things?”
All three parables that followed were directed toward the Jewish leadership that failed to recognize that Jesus was the Son of God. The saddest of all the parables was the parable of the landowner. In verse 33, Jesus began to tell the story of a wealthy landowner (God the Father) who did all the work of creating a business (the earth), handed it over to laborers (the Jewish nation), and sent his messengers (prophets) to check on their progress. But the laborers beat the messengers, and when the landowner decided to send his son (Jesus), they killed him too. The Pharisees demanded justice in this situation until Jesus quoted scripture that implied that they were the laborers! When they heard this they wanted to seize Him right there, but they were afraid of how the people would react. Jesus told them that the kingdom would be taken from them, which happened a few years later in A.D. 70, when the Temple and Jerusalem were burned to the ground. Does your leadership accept the Lordship of Jesus Christ? Are you in His Word, studying to find yourself approved? On Judgment Day, when your life is over, you won’t be able to blame the uninformed or blind leadership. Jesus will be looking at you, and the Father will ask you alone, “Did you know My Son?”