The God We Want or The God Who Is

Matthew 21:33-46

There are a lot of religious people in the world that serve the "god" that want, rather than the God who is. They let their world views create a deity that they call "God" but the attributes that they ascribe to him do not match with the attributes of God. To be honest though, there is a risk of all of us doing that. We must guard our minds and hearts against creating the God we want, rather than worshiping the God who created us.

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Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: 34 And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. 35 And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. 37 But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. 38 But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. 39 And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. 40 When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? 41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. 42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? 43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. 44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. 45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. 46 But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.

Matthew 21:33-46

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In the text today, Jesus is in a verbal confrontation with the chief priests and the elders. They are trying to trap him yet again, but he uses wisdom to defend against their traps. This is neither an argument, nor an personal defense. It is the wisdom of God defeating the wisdom (foolishness) of men.

In the parable, a man has a vineyard that he builds a hedge around and then prepares for the harvest. This is an investment and he gets everything ready. Then, he hires husbandmen to take care of the vineyard until the harvest. When the harvest came, he sent servants to get his produce. When they arrived, the husbandmen beat one and killed another. The man sent more servants and the husbandmen did the same to them. Thinking that the husbandmen would respect his son, he sent him to collect the fruit. However, the husbandmen killed his son. Jesus ends by asking the chief priests and elders, "What will the man do?"

Their answer was the correct answer. They said that the man would "miserably destroy" the men and hire different husbandmen. Jesus responds with another question. He asks, "Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders reject, the same is become the head of the corner; this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder."

This long scriptural answer cut them to their core. The text says that they knew he was talking about them. They knew that he was implying that they had rejected the son from the parable. They also knew that he was calling himself the stone which the builders rejected and that he was calling them the builders. They also fully understood what he meant by "The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." They were livid.

So, what did he mean? He meant that they had rejected him, the Son of God. He was the true foundation upon which their lives were to be built. Since they were rejecting him, Jesus said that the priesthood's God-given authority would be taken away and given to another "nation". This begs us to ask, "Who is this other nation?" The answer to that is the church.

In Exodus, God told Israel, "And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel" (Exodus 19:6). Now, because of their unfaithfulness to the Father and the Son, a new nation was going to be given that authority. Peter said, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people..." (I Peter 2:9).

I ask myself this question though, are we any different today from the chief priests of Jesus day? They did what they wanted to. They made the worship of God how they wanted it. They did not care what God's word said, they made their own rules. They held their rules above what God said. If we are honest, many today have done the same thing. Today, as in years past, this angers God and we should desire to not be guilty of such.

Father, help me to worship you for who you are and not who I want you to be. May I see you high and lifted up and bow before your holy presence. I know if I see you for who you are, I will not make you more like me.