Holy Week - Part 2

So we come to Tuesday. And it’s about to get real. 

The context: 

Jesus goes into the city and starts preaching some pretty pointed teachings. While all of his parables are arguably pointed, these specific teachings seem a bit more targeted towards the religious leaders in the temple. And in a sense, I think that makes them even more important to focus on today. 

While we don’t get an exact timeline of what teachings Jesus taught on Tuesday and Wednesday, I’ll be focusing on 2 parables that Jesus speaks about in Matthew:

1. The Parable of the Tenants

2. The Parable of the Wedding Feast

Let’s dive in.

1. The Parable of the Tenants

This is a rather well-known parable, if only for the fact that it’s a mic drop moment from Jesus, accusing the Pharisees of being the tenants in God’s house. 

But basically, it’s the story of a landowner with a nice plot of land, he’s built a tower and a winepress on it, and he’s leasing it to tenants (Think: Airbnb but an entire farm). 

Unfortunately, the landowner doesn’t pick good tenants. So when he sends servants back to his land in order to get some of the fruit that he’s owed, they get beaten, killed, or stoned. 

And it happens again with another set of servants. 

Then the landowner sends his son, thinking that the tenants will respect his son and give him what is owed. But they don’t. Instead, they kill him out of an irrational desire for his inheritance. 

At this point, Jesus zooms out of the parable and asks the people listening, 

⁴⁰ When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” ⁴¹ They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

Matthew 21:40-41

A pretty reasonable ending for the tenants, right? But Jesus goes on to say, 

⁴³ Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. ⁴⁴ And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

Matthew 21:43-44

And herein lies the kicker: If humans can sense the injustice of the situation in the parable, why can we not see that same injustice in our own lives towards God? 

We claim that God is our Lord, that Jesus is our everything. 

And yet, when it comes to the sacrifice or devotion that Jesus asks of us, we shy away. We push that responsibility to others. We feel as though we “aren’t ready” for such a big commitment. 

Meanwhile, we expect God to give us the inheritance. Is that not the same irrational thought that the tenants had that led them to kill the landowner’s son? 

This parable challenges us to see beyond the “sinner’s prayer.” To see beyond the things that our church culture says makes us Christians. If we aren’t producing fruit, it says “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.” 

Is that not enough reason to pause and re-evaluate what we’re doing with the time given to us? Are we wasting God’s time? His resources? His gifts? 

Which brings us to: 

2. The Parable of the Wedding Feast

What stands out to me most about this parable is the people who have been invited to the feast have a choice. And rather than using that choice to attend a grand wedding banquet, the invited people:

⁵ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business,

Matthew 22:5

That sounds ridiculous! Who would ignore an invitation to the king’s wedding feast? It probably has food and drink that most people have never even heard of–it’s probably an experience that’s not to be missed. 

And yet, the people go back to work. Work of all places! 

But is that really as crazy as it seems? 

Is that not the reaction of many in the church today? Many would put work as the priority over the church. Over the wedding feast. Is that a result of work being so good? Or rather, is it a lack of perspective on what church really is? 

When we think about church, it’s not often thought of as a wedding feast. Many look at the church as a place to go out of habit, because they’ve been going for so many years, or because their parents took them. Or maybe it’s a place to meet friends.

But let’s be real here. 

Church is a place for the congregation of God to meet together in fellowship and worship. It’s a place where we can literally attend the wedding feast together. And the main draw of that wedding feast? 

To be in the presence of God. 

I’ll say it again in case you weren’t blown away by that. 

We are invited into the presence of God. 

Is there anything in life that can compare to that? 

God Bless my friends. 

Love y’all. 

-Caleb