Luke 20

Read: Luke 20

In Luke 19, Jesus entered Jerusalem like royalty!  Then as soon as he got there the chief priests, the scribes, and other leaders started looking for a way to kill him (19:47).  These leaders were trying to test Jesus, hoping to catch him in something that they could use to condemn him. Jesus of course outsmarted their every move.  He then condemned them for their attempts to stand in the way of what God was doing.  

One way Jesus condemned them was by telling a parable about a man that leased his vineyard to some tenant farmers.  At harvest time, the man kept sending his servants to collect from the farmers, but they beat his servants and sent them back to him empty handed.  Finally, the master sent his own son to deal with them. In hopes of stealing the inheritance, these evil farmers killed the heir. Jesus then said that the owner of the vineyard will kill the farmers and give the vineyard to others.  This brought much protest from Jesus’ listeners because they knew that he had told the parable against them.

From the time of Abraham, God covenanted with the people of Israel.  Whenever God sent the prophets to challenge Israel to keep the covenant with God, they instead beat and persecuted God’s messengers.  Finally, God sent his son Jesus to take care of the problem, and of course they killed him. Yet again, Jesus was subtly predicting his death.  But at the same time, he was condemning these leaders for being so hard hearted that they had rejected everyone God had sent them. They rejected the prophets, John the Baptist, and even God’s Son.  God would now make a new covenant and judge those who rejected the old one.  

Today, the Church is God’s people and it is built with Christ as the cornerstone or foundation.  It is not because a person is from a certain country, culture, or speaks a specific language that they can be part of the people of God.  God’s people are people of faith (Galatians 3:10-14). Those who walk in faith in what Jesus has done for them are God’s people. This is open to everyone from all groups of people because God is not just the God of Israel; he is the God of the world!  Those who believe in Jesus are adopted as children of God. Those who reject him will spend eternity separated from the goodness of God.