10032020 – Matthew 21. 33-46
There is a “background” and – an “important context” to our texts…
Jesus ENTERED the Holy City (of Jerusalem) to a great deal of popular acclaim and fanfare! Talk about your “riding’ high…moments!”
He also “dropped in” on the Temple, where he kind of “FREAKED OUT”…when he SAW all the BUYING and SELLING and all of the MISUSE and all of the CORRUPTION taking place.
It did not “sit well” with him.
So he single-handedly FLIPPED some tables and TOSSED some people out…on their EARS and then, he commends to FREE some of the caged-up-animals…
The Temple was not to be “a DEN OF THIEVES…” (That obviously – people had delighted and turned it INTO.)
Jesus’ mood was DARK. And he was more than a little TESTY and on EDGE.
The very next morning he CURSES a fig tree and it WITHERS and DIES…
MEANWHILE, the chief priests and the elders are still QUESTIONING HIS AUTHORITY. And, we are told THEY are SEEKing to “destroy him.” (DUN DUN DUN)
And all Jesus can do, is to SHAKE HIS HEAD, and WONDER what makes these people TICK!
SO, he offers them A COUPLE of PARABLES-or-riddle-like-stories so they might SEE THEMSELVES as OTHERS SEE THEM…one last weekend, and a second one today.
“THAT” kind of brings us UP TO DATE and on the same page!
WHAT we know for sure is that: FEELINGS…were RUNNING HOT between Jesus and “THE RELIGIOUS LEADERSHIP” of his day and they were getting “HOTTER and HOTTER” moment by moment. (Really heating up!)
CONFLICT was MORE than JUST ”in the AIR.” It was indeed a REALITY!
It was all around…and forming an ever-tightening noose around Jesus’ neck.
Far from OBLIVIOUS to it all, Jesus was right back at it, AGAIN, in the Temple, and doing his “TEACHING THING.” And, “upping the ante,” and “pushing all kinds of buttons” as he does so…
You have to remember this— the RELIGIOUS LEADERS:
LOVED their “religious TRADITIONS” more than GOD and NEIGHBOR.
They LOVED their “INTERPRETATIONS of the SCRIPTURES” more than God and neighbor.
They loved “MONEY” more than God and NEIGHBOR.
They love the “pomp and circumstance” and “POSITION” – MORE than God and NEIGHBOR.
They loved their “POLITICAL POWER” more than GOD and neighbor
They loved their “RELIGIOUS POWER” AND their “CLOUT” more than God and neighbor
They were “the EPITOME of hypocrisy.”
And, WE ALL REALIZE that Jesus loved telling to THEM these “simple stories”…from “everyday life”…especially when he could use THEM to depict the so-called RELIGIOUS LEADERS of his time.
EVERYONE in Jesus’ day knew about vineyards, fences, pits, wine presses, watchtowers, owners, and renters. It was common knowledge and experience.
Vineyards were such a common sight in Jesus’s day that he used them in several of his parables…The people were always able to relate! So, he TOLD this one AGAINST “the Jewish Leadership”…who were only OUT for their OWN SELF INTEREST and to line THEIR POCKETS!
“Remember the highest good” -here- would seem to be “GOD AND NEIGHBOR.”
So a couple of questions for YOU:
“WHAT “do you love – MORE THAN God and Neighbor? “WHO” do you love More than GOD and NEIGHBOR? “WHAT IS IT” that you PRIZE more than God and Neighbor?
If there is ANYTHING or ANYONE that you place BEFORE God and neighbor DO NOT JUDGE the religious leadership too harshly.
Because WE OURSELVES are RIGHT THERE WITH THEM.
IT is supposed to be GOD and NEIGHBOR first.
SO, seriously, really, truly – WHO comes FIRST in YOUR LIFE?
Amen.