kingdom life and fruit

again, I'm re-posting entries from a couple of years ago with minor changes...


Matthew 21:33-46


"Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits."
(Matthew 21:43)


Jesus turns up the intensity some more with a second parable told against the chief priests in the temple. They are the tenants working in the master's vineyard who beat and kill first the master's servants sent to get his fruit, and then the master's son. They refuse to give to the Lord his fruitful harvest. This is getting intense; Jesus is amping up the conflict.

Jesus quotes from Psalm 118 (from the section which the crowds quoted when he came into Jerusalem on a donkey - in fact, "save us, we pray" [ESV, v. 25] is Hosanna in Hebrew): "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone." This psalm was viewed as a messianic text, or at least pointing to a victorious, vindicated king who enters the Jerusalem. Jesus is referring to their rejection of him, like the tenants killing the master's son, and to his ultimate vindication and victory.

As the chief priests answer Jesus' question they say that the master will "let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” The word for give here is not the normal word used, but has the idea of returning what is due or paying back what is due or deserved. Just as the Father is due our love and devotion and worship, so the Messiah was due trust and praise and pleas for salvation.

Then Jesus concludes, "Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits" (v. 43). As we heard in the parables back in chapter 13, there will be a harvest. The master will have his harvest. These priests have shown both their rejection of John the Baptist, who declared to the Sadducees (the chief priests) "Bear fruit in keeping with repentance" (ch. 3), and of Jesus.

By receiving Jesus as the Savior King, by honoring him as the Son, and by trusting and following him, we can and will bear good fruit in and for his kingdom. In this way we build our lives on the rock, the cornerstone, rather then rejecting it and being broken by it.