There are two big things going on in our reading today: 1) Jesus calls out the Jewish religious leaders at the outset of two parables about sons and servants. He emphasizes that obedience to the will of God is what God desires in His kingdom people. 2) He also compares himself with a cornerstone, emphasizing that He is the foundation of the kingdom. You allow yourself to be built upon His foundational salvific work or you stumble over him and break yourself apart.
Matthew 21:28-46
28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but 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, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go 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 the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.
33 “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. 34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. 35 And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ 39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 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.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord's doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
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.”
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. 46 And although they were seeking to arrest him,they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.
[ WHAT ] is this passage saying and what is a key truth or thought that we learn?
+ What command is given to both sons by the father? If the tax collectors and the prostitutes are the son who said he would not work in the vineyard and did, who does that make the son who promised to work in the vineyard and did not? What does this parable teach us about what God cares about in his kingdom? [v.28-32]
+ In the next parable, how do the tenants treat the messengers sent by the vineyard owner? What do they do to the vineyard owner’s son? [v.33-39]
+ What do the disciples agree the vineyard owner should do to the tenants and his vineyard? [40-41]
+ Jesus then connects this parable with Psalm 118:22-23. The stone that the builders rejected sounds an awful lot like Jesus being rejected by the Jews as the promised Messiah. Jesus says that this stone will be the foundational stone for the kingdom; he is the Cornerstone. He implies that the Jews are not producing fruit for the kingdom of God, so whom will the kingdom be given to? [v. 42-44]
+ How do the Jewish leaders respond to this teaching? [v. 45-46]
[ HOW ] is the Lord calling me to action/obedience?
+ Is there a sin to confess or a next step to take? How has it gone since last time?
+ Am I saying that I will obey God and doing my own thing instead like the son in the first parable?
+ Do I disrespect the leaders that God has sent or disrespect Jesus? Am I producing good fruit for the kingdom of God?
[ WHO ] am I walking with and praying for to discover Jesus?
+ What is my next step?
+ Do I know someone who finds Jesus a stumbling block that I can pray for today?
[Further Reflections]
I love this metaphor of Christ as the Cornerstone. Enjoy this beautiful poem of the Trinity with Christ described as the Stone.
THE MAKERS by Dorothy L. Sayers (1943)
The Architect stood forth and said:
“I am the master of the art:
I have a thought within my head,
I have a dream within my heart.
“Come now, good craftsman, ply your trade
With tool and stone obediently;
Behold the plan that I have made –
I am the master; serve you me.”
The Craftsman answered: “Sir, I will,
Yet look to it that this your draft
Be of a sort to serve my skill –
You are not master of the craft.
“It is by me the towers grow tall,
I lay the course, I shape and hew;
You make a little inky scrawl,
And that is all that you can do.
“Account me, then, the master man,
Laying my rigid rule upon
The plan, and that which serves the plan –
The uncomplaining, helpless stone.”
The Stone made answer: “Masters mine,
Know this: that I can bless or damn
The thing that both of you design
By being but the thing I am;
“For I am granite and not gold,
For I am marble and not clay,
You may not hammer me nor mould –
I am the master of the way.
“Yet once that mastery bestowed
Then I will suffer patiently
The cleaving steel, the crushing load,
That make a calvary of me;
“And you may carve me with your hand
To arch and buttress, roof and wall,
Until the dream rise up and stand –
Serve but the stone, the stone serves all.
“Let each do well what each knows best,
Nothing refuse and nothing shirk,
Since none is master of the rest,
But all are servants of the work –
“The work no master may subject
Save He to whom the whole is known,
Being Himself the Architect,
The Craftsman and the Corner-stone.
“Then, when the greatest and the least
Have finished all their labouring
And sit together at the feast,You shall behold a wonder thing:
“The Maker of the men that make
Will stoop between the cherubim,
The towel and the basin take,
And serve the servants who serve Him.”
The Architect and Craftsman both
Agreed, the Stone had spoken well;
Bound them to service by an oath
And each to his own labour fell.