Patient in Judgment – Matthew 21:28-46

One of the common objections I hear to belief in the God of Scripture is that He is such an ogre in the Old Testament. He claims to be merciful and compassionate, but He’s “always” destroying people. Well, that is exactly what He is not doing. When you calculate how long God put up with Israel’s idolatry before finally removing them from the land of Israel (700-800 years) you really see how incredibly patient and forgiving He was.

Jesus highlights this same thing while also showing us how unjust humans have been in regard to God and therefore how deserving of God’s judgment.

“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.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 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. 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.

“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. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 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.”

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’?   

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

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet. (Matthew 21:28-46 ESV)

Jesus’ first parable explains why the priests and Pharisees will miss the kingdom while those they consider unrighteous will enter it.  Their obedience is feigned, is a matter of words only and a hypocritical show.  The proof is John’s ministry, which the tax collectors and prostitutes responded to and the religious leaders rejected.

The second parable explains the active way in which these religious leaders have been part of a historic stream within Israel to reject God’s prophets and finally reject the Messiah.  Jesus hereby declares himself the Son of God, whom also they will kill, and indicates that God’s righteous judgment will fall on these leaders, and then others will take their place who will do right.  This is not a rejection of the nation.  God has promised never to do that, but to keep a remnant of believers with whom He will one day rebuild the nation (see Romans 11:1-10).

Jesus applies the prophecy of Psalm 118:22 to this situation and the chief priests and Pharisees understand he is speaking to them when he says they have rejected God’s cornerstone, the most important stone, and will suffer destruction for it.  Only their fear of the people keeps them from arresting him on the spot.  Is our obedience different than theirs?  Are we receptive to God’s word spoken through Jesus?