Luke 7:11-17: “Death-Defier”

Jesus is the TRUE Death-Defier, not by doing things that are wild and crazy but by doing things that destroy death, that defy the power of sin and death and decay and the devil.

Today’s story is a death defying story that’s a precursor of what’s to come! It’s a story of Jesus raising a person from the dead. This story is only in the Gospel of Luke.

Here’s the story – as Jesus and His disciples are reaching the town of Nain, there is a funeral procession of mourners carrying a boy to burial, an only son of a widow. And that day in Nain everything changed! When Jesus saw the woman His heart went out to her. Jesus walked up to the coffin and said to the dead boy, “Young man, I say to You, Get up!”

Then the dead boy sat up alive and talked and people praised God!

Interestingly, hundreds of years earlier, this same kind of miracle took place in nearly this same place where Elisha had raised a dead Shulamite woman. This group of mourners now rejoicing would have know that story and are seeing the Scriptures come to life again!

They cry out, “God has come to help His people!” They had no idea at the depth of the truth of their words, for God truly had come – Yes God in Jesus had truly come! And He came to “help His people!”

Let’s take a look at Jesus and funerals. He attended several in many cities:
1. Three recorded in the Gospels: Main, Capernaum and Bethany
2. Jesus spoke directly to the deceased and the dead responded because Jesus’ Word has power
3. All three dead people were resurrected! Romans 4:17 God who gives life to the dead, calls into being things that were not!

Jesus is the Living God come to earth!

This story is a picture of what is to come – it gives us a picture of what is going to happen on a majestic and incredible scale at the end of days. The dead will hear His voice and we will rise!

The story is a harbinger of things to come!

Death-Defying Truths:
1. Jesus’ resurrection is the guarantee to our resurrection (1 Peter 1:3)
2. Our future is not as disembodied spirits. We are going to be bodily raised (1 Corinthians 15:442ff)
3. We will live forever in a New Creation (Isaiah 65:17)

Our destiny is to be raised! And to experience a new and perfect creation. Our future is to know the Living God as never before; face to face.

4. This our constant encouragement (1 Thessalonians 4:13) Jesus will return! Therefore encourage each other with these words!

This is the heart of the Christian message – Jesus is returning and we will be raised to eternal life with Him.

This story was not merely about compassion to a mom, it was about the assurance to all who saw it that day and to those who have read/heard the story in the centuries that have followed. This is the story that shows us the assurance of our resurrection.

If you don’t know Jesus, we invite you to read the Scriptures and discover who He is!

The same Jesus who raised the widow’s son is the same Jesus who went to the cross for each one of us, paid the full price for our sin, and by His resurrection He assures us that by faith in Him we too will be raised in the end of days!

You don’t want to miss this!

The day is coming when the dead will all hear His voice and we will be changed in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet! That’s God’s promise!!! And that’s our future!!

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St. Luke’s Account is part three of our Two Year Study of the Gospels. The Gospel of Luke takes a look at the life of Jesus, beginning with the well-known Christmas stories. Luke, a non Jew, offers a unique perspective into the story of Jesus’ life.

This study is great for large group. small group or home group Bible study.

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Heavenly Father, You have given us this good land as our heritage.  May we remember Your generosity, and constantly and do Your holy will.  Bless our land with industry, truthful education and a godly way of life.  Save us from violence and discord, from confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil. May we who came from many nations with many different languages, become one united people.  Support us in defending our liberties and give those to whom we have entrusted the authority of government, the spirit of wisdom that there may be justice and peace in our land. When times are prosperous may our hearts be thankful. In troubled times do not let our trust in You fail.  We pray this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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This teaching is from Matthew 22:41 – Matthew 23:1-12

In today’s study of Matthew we continue looking at the last week of Jesus’ life before His arrest, crucifixion, death and resurrection.  The religious leaders are continuing their pursuit of trapping Jesus into saying something that they could then bring charges against Him for and get rid of Him.

Jesus asks the religious leaders this question: “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is He?” They answer “The son of David,” thinking they had done well in answering!  But Jesus replies, “He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
    under your feet.”

In this quote (Ps 110:1) who is the first Lord? It is God the Father.  Who is “my Lord”? David is saying his Lord, meaning this sentence is The Lord (God the Father, Eternal Creator) said to my Lord (David’s Lord – the Messiah) …

Then Jesus goes on (verses 45-46), If David calls Him “my Lord” how can his Lord be his son? Jesus pushes their answer right back to them. This answer causes the religious leaders to stop asking Jesus questions. The leaders could not comprehend that David was pointing to the Messiah and that Jesus was pointing to Himself as the Messiah.

Jesus is pointing out that the Messiah is far more that just a descendant of David. He is instead the Living God who took a flesh – true Gd and true man and offers Himself as the sacrifice for sin for all people everywhere throughout all time.

Verses 1-12 of Chapter 23 is a 
HIPOCRISY ALERT

A hypocrite is someone who doesn’t practice what they preach.  In these next verses Jesus encourages the people to listen to what the leaders are teaching from the Torah, BUT No to do what they do because they are hypocrites.  They strove to show people that they were better than they were. They were showy. It was all about drawing attention to themselves and how great they were.

Jesus calls us to Him as our Instructor and Teacher. To honor Him, serve Him, follow Him and warns us against raising up people to the level of God. Honor the Heavenly Father and listen to the voice of Jesus, and to heed what the Holy Spirit has to say. 

Our Messiah – Jesus – is our Instructor. We want to learn from Him, we want to learn of Him, we want to know Him, follow Him, be immersed in His teaching and want His words to dwell within us in everyday, in every time and in every situation.

Jesus teaches against hypocrisy with a final instruction saying the greatest among us will be a servant.  For those who exalt themselves (hypocrites) will be humbles and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Jesus is making it clear of us who know Him that we are called to serve God and others, because that is Jesus’ example.  “The Risen Servant”

Jesus speaks the SEVEN WOES in the next verses.  They were spoken against the Pharisees and against many of the religious leaders of His day.  These are cutting and difficult words spoken in love  to these leaders and teachers of God Torah (law) with the purpose being a wake up call to them, a way to show them they are sinners in need of a Savior. Plus these are words that remind us of the importance of taking to heart the very teachings of Jesus: love God above all else and love our neighbors as ourselves.  Jesus speaks truth bluntly to these leaders.  His heart is to call them back to Himself.

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When under attack from enemies, is God our last resort… or our first resort?

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God’s word is compelling and so very practical.  It thoroughly equips us and it still speaks to us today.

Today’s story takes place in the town of Miletus where Paul is speaking to leaders of the church sharing the difficult challenges and testing he experienced in his three years of mission work in Ephesus. He shares how he humbly did the work God gave him even in the most despairing times he humbly hung on tight to God who brought him through it all.

What can we learn from Paul’s speech?
    1.    Humble Service – we are called to humility before our awesome and mighty God, recognizing all we have and are comes from Him and that we are all in the same condition – sinners. We need a Savior and only God can save us. Humility is needed in understanding this. 
We are called to serve God in humility and to humbly server others to use our gifts, time, talents, abilities and opportunities that God gives us to serve Him and bless others.  Our lives are to be lives of Humble Service.

Paul goes on to summarize what he taught while in Ephesus: that all must turn to God in repentance and have faith in Jesus. He taught the full counsel of God, not just the popular things but also the things that weren’t. He did so without camouflaging God’s word or avoiding those things that could be heard as upsetting.  He spoke the full truth to all.

Repent and believe the good news is the heart of the Gospel message – come back to the living God in the way we live and walk with a change of heart and mind through Christ.

    2.    Steadfast Truth – Speaking the truth in love – that we need to repent before God. Martin Luther says, “When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said repent, He willed that entire life of a believer be one of repentance.”  Repentance is a calling – a daily calling to turn back to God, to daily recognize the importance of walking with Jesus. We are not called to simple religion, we are called to a relationship with God through faith in Jesus, God’s Son, who died, rose and is coming again!  We are to live in this truth and to share that truth with others
As the story continues, Paul shares how he will go where God leads even though he does not know what lies ahead. He shares how the Holy Spirit has warned him that prison and hardships are coming but even in the face of this knowledge, Paul follows willingly where the Holy Spirit compelled him to go, regardless of danger and threats ahead.

    3.    Spirit Directed – we too have a calling from God – to know Him, to rejoice in Him, to receive hi forgiveness in Christ, to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to allow the Spirit of God to guide and direct our lives.  It’s not always easy or comfortable, but it is for our benefit and God’s glory.

We are called to listen to the Holy Spirit, walk in the Holy Spirit, to follow the Holy Spirit, to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal and show us God’s goodness.

Paul’s story concludes with him stating his life’s aim is to complete the task the Lord Jesus had given him – the task of testifying to the Good News of God’s grace.

Pastor shares a personal story regarding this verse, a conversation with a college professor and the place he had this verse inscribed prior to his wedding day. This verse had a profound effect on Pastor life and he shares the impact of visiting the city of Miletus several years ago and being where Paul had spoken these words of Acts 20:24.

Without Jesus we are lost – when Jesus breaks into our lives we are changed!!

    4.    Life’s Commitment – we are to live our lives committed to Jesus. We are to live our lives for Jesus and “finish the race,” the course of our lifetime as planned by God. 

Our life is a “race.”  Towards the end of Paul’s life he writes the following in 2 Timothy 4:7 – “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” That is our calling, too!

We are to run the race with endurance, to follow Jesus as our Savior and Guide, to honor, worship and praise our Heavenly Father, to listen to the Holy Spirit as He speaks into our hearts, to follow where God leads NO MATTER THE DIRECTION.  NO MATTER THE COST.

Scripture: Acts 20:17-24, 2 Timothy 3:16-17

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Luke 4:14-30: “Hometown Visit.”

This story of Jesus going to His hometown appears to be a different trip than those told in the other gospels.

This is a story of those listening to Jesus in Nazareth (His hometown) in comparison to those hearing Jesus in Galilee and who willingly received what Jesus had to offer. But those in Nazareth because of their pride and arrogance and boastfulness and being skeptical, did not get to experience what Jesus has to give us!

Jesus was born in Bethlehem but Nazareth is the town Jesus grew up in. As He returned home for a visit, He went to the synagogue as was His regular practice on the Sabbath.

Here is some information about synagogues in Jesus’ day:
1. Opened with singing (mainly Psalms 145-150)
2. Recitation of the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4)
3. Recitation of the Tefillah (18 benedictions and prayers)
4. Reading of the Scriptures (torah, prophets and writings)
5. Message of Interpretation of what was read
6. The Aaronic Benediction

Jesus comes home to a town that had heard all the remarkable stories of Him since He’s been gone and He’s at the synagogue and He does the Reading. He chooses a prophetic word from Isaiah 58 and Isaiah 61 and closes with “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

What He’s saying is that He’s the one the prophets predicted and the home town people, having heard the storied of what He had been doing in the other town, and there is initial excitement.

Jesus gives them these Words of Grace in the Reading:
1. Good News to the poor
2. Freedom for prisoners
3. Sight for the blind
4. Deliverance from oppression
5. Debts paid – Jubilee

Jesus words of grace and hope are for us still today:

1. Good News of the Gospel message of what Jesus has done for us
2. Freedom from bondage to sin
3. Sight given for our spiritual blindness
4. Deliverance from brokenness
5. Our Debt to God for our sins is paid in full for us by Jesus through faith

After Jesus delivers His Words of Grace the crowd began to question and doubt what He was saying and they became offended at His words.

So Jesus confronts those doubting who He is. The crowd wanted proof that Jesus was who He said He was – but Jesus’ response is that He sees into their hearts and that prophets aren’t accepted in their home towns. They were acting like the Israelites. Jesus proceeds to preach a message on the time of Elijah and Elisha – a time in history much like now in America – a time of national apostasy and spiritual poverty.

Jesus knows what’s in our hearts and souls still today. We live in a nation that has traditionally thought of itself as a Christian nation and yet our roots have become just a veneer of Christianity.

We have made our own rules, done what we want to do, followed our own gods of money, wealth and success, believed what we want to and redefined what God has said, establishing our own morality and it is destroying us from within.

After Jesus’ teaching about the times of Elijah and Elisha The people were furious and wanted to get rid of Jesus, to kill Him.

Jesus spoke words of Truth and to those who are humble and repentant – His Words bring joy, life, hope and purpose – and they still do today.

God knows our hearts and to those who refuse to listen the result is anger. But He doesn’t give up when people won’t listen or when they turn their backs on Him. He continues to reach out to the proud – He desires to bring restoration. He continues to reach out to those who are broken-hearted and discouraged – He desires to bring healing. And to those stuck in sin and darkness and addiction – He desires to bring freedom, restoration and renewal.

May we be humble and contrite before Him and may God bring that kind of revival and renewal and awakening in our nation. Hearts turning back to Him!

He comes to those who hear His voice! May we be listening always!!!

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St. Luke’s Account is part three of our Two Year Study of the Gospels. The Gospel of Luke takes a look at the life of Jesus, beginning with the well-known Christmas stories. Luke, a non Jew, offers a unique perspective into the story of Jesus’ life.

This study is great for large group. small group or home group Bible study.

Check out this episode!

This teaching is from Matthew 22:1-40 and continues our exploration into Jesus’ final week of his ministry before his death and resurrection. While there is rising anger against Him Jesus’ heart is to continue to work to call those against Him to the truth of the Scriptures and to God.  Jesus makes it clear that it is possible to be incredibly religious and yet have no real genuine relationship with God.

Pastor finishes exploring the 3 parables in Matthew 21 and 22 with today’s dive starting with the third parable where we see that these individuals, the religious leaders, truly did not understand the scripture and did not respond to the obvious.

3 Parables
    1.    Indictment (Matthew 21:28-32)
    2.    Sentencing (Matthew 21:33-46)
These two parables were discussed in last week’s teaching. Use the links below to listen to Matthew Week 30)
    3.     Execution (Matthew 22:1-14) is shown in the Parable of the Marriage Feast.

It starts by saying the kingdom of heaven is like a King (God) who prepared a wedding banquet for His Son (the Messiah coming to Israel).  All of Israel was invited – the One they have been longing for!  The king sends out his servants to let the invitees know of the banquet, but even though they have been eagerly anticipating the Messiah’s arrival, verse 53 says, “but they refused to come.” The king again sends his servants out to announce the banquet saying the dinner is prepared and all is ready! Come to the wedding banquet! (The long awaited Messiah is here!!  Come celebrate!)

The parable goes on to say the invited paid no attention to this second invite and some seized the servant announcing the invite and killed him.  This enraged the king and he sent his army and destroyed the murderers and burnt down their city. (This is a foreshadowing – Jesus knows what is coming – because religious leaders and others rejected Him – not only reject Him but will kill Him and so this is Jesus giving a head up that judgement is coming to the city of Jerusalem (this will be discussed further in the upcoming weeks)

The parable continues with the king telling the servants that as those invited did not come that they are to invite anyone they find.(prostitutes, tax collectors, and the non-Jewish world – Gentiles). And the servants filled the wedding hall.

In verse 11 the King (God) notices a guest that is not wearing wedding clothes so the king asks him how he got in without the wedding clothes that he was offering to everyone who came. (The white robes of righteousness through faith in Jesus 
Christ). The man not having the clothing was thrown out into the darkness.

Jesus is making it very clear that there is salvation and life forever found through faith in Him and Him alone.  He is challenging the religious leadership to see Him for who He is – the prophesied Messiah they have been waiting for!

After Jesus told this Parable the Pharisees decided to lay plans to trap Jesus.  They united with the Herodians in a well-planned attack with the question that no matter which way Jesus replied, He would be found guilty by one or the other group. The question: “What is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?” 

If He answered yes, pay the tax to Caesar, the Pharisees would have risen up against Him as they were not happy to be under the control of Rome and despised paying tax to the very ones whose rule they were under. If He answered not to pay the tax then the Herodians would have risen up against Him as they supported Roman rule.

But Jesus cuts their scheming plan off at the knees by His reply:”Show me the coin used for paying the imperial tax. Whose image and inscription is this?” They replied “Caesar’s.” Jesus continues, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

Jesus’ answer was brilliant. His answer doesn’t allow either of them to accuse Him of anything. His response amazed them so they left Him and went on their way.

The dissension around Jesus is rising with verbal attack after verbal attack. At each attack the crowds hear Jesus’ answers and they are astonished at His teaching while the religious leaders get angrier.

Further on in chapter 22 Jesus is asked this question, “Which is the greatest command in the law?” Jesus’ answer: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and will all your mind!’ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the law and prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Again they are amazed, but Jesus comes back immediately with a question for them! And it’s a really good one!  Come back next week to find out!!

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Today’s teaching is on enemy territory and the reality of spiritual warfare. In a fallen world the battle is not between people – it is between the Living God and the powers of darkness, It is between the Body of Christ and those under the spell of the devil.

Ephesus was the center of worship of Artemis and also a hotbed of the occult, magic, eastern religions, drugs, alcohol and many of the same things we encounter in our world today. Ephesus is where Paul carried out some of his most important mission work and it is where God shows us some important lifetime truths through how He worked in Ephesus nearly 2000 years ago.

Where we left off last week was with Paul spending two years teaching daily in the Hall of Tyrannus. Verse 10 of Acts chapter 19 tells us that all Jews and Greeks in the area heard the word of the Lord. Paul and others were training up believers to share their faith and so the Gospel message was shared all over Asia.  

During Paul’s time in Ephesus he experienced more push back than ever before. God was doing extraordinary miracles through Paul and many were healed physically but Paul was also casting out demons and healing people from spiritual illness.

DIVINE POWER
        We need to be connected to the Living God. Our faith is not to be a little bit of head knowledge, a song and a prayer. Our faith is to be life changing, it is to be the heart of who we are.
        Because God was doing amazing miracles through Paul, news traveled that Paul was not only healing physically but also doing spiritual battle and that He was healing in the name of Jesus.
        Ephesus was a town filled with evil but the DIVINE POWER of God was so obviously being displayed in the miraculous healings done in Jesus’ name, that it caused the name of Jesus to be held in high honor and it caused a reaction of believers to openly confess what they had done as part of the evil in Ephesus.

TAKE GOD SERIOUSLY
        A massive move of God caused people to take Him very seriously.
        Our faith molds and transforms us because we are delivered from bondage to sin and death. God offers deliverance from the power of the demonic and the things that can so easily destroy our lives.

CLEANING HOUSE
        People who had practiced sorcery burned their scrolls publicly and the word of the Lord continued to spread and grow in power.
        as believers changed and non-believers become believers people grew and matured in their faith and suddenly began to realize they needed to do a house cleaning in their lives.
        God’s Holy Spirit is gracious and reveals things to us as we grow and mature in faith. We are not fully mature the moment we believe – It is a life-long process.
        God’s desire is that we clean house in our lives, in our homes, in anything that gets in the way of our love and worship of God, anything that controls us in ways that are dangerous and spiritually defiling.
        With all the awakening to the reality of the Gospel Power of Jesus and the importance of a God-pleasing life of faith, those who didn’t have that faith were began to try to stop all that was happening in Jesus’ name.

WORLD VIEWS COLLIDE
        A worker who made silver shrines to Artemus was very concerned about his economic future in light of the amazing growth of Christianity. And so he spoke out publicly, drawing a crowd and the two sides began to collide.

World views are colliding in our world today. The world view of our culture is:
        All that matters is me
        All that matters is what I want
        All that matters is that you don’t stand in my way and say anything to upset me.
The world view of the Bible is:
        All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
        God sent His one and only Son 
        The Living God took on flesh and brought life and forgiveness through His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection from the grave.
        In Jesus there is life, forgiveness and power. The power to live a new life.

And so their two world views clashed then and they are still clashing today.

We are called not to fight with human weapons, but to recognize the reality of spiritual war and to use the weapons of the Holy Spirit:
    Prayer
    Trust in God
    God’s Word
    The power of our testimonies

Today’s scripture reading ends with the whole city in an uproar – both sides shouting and many joining in the near riot.

CROWD FOLLOWERS
        It can be easy to just go along with the crowd
        Yet God warns us not to follow the crowd. Exodus 23:2 says, “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong.”
        Wise words for us today!

Scripture: Acts 19:11-41, Ephesians 6:12 and Exodus 23:2

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Luke 2:41-52: “Jesus at the Age of Twelve.”

Today we ask, “Why is this story of Jesus at age 12 in the Bible?” There is no mention of Jesus from age 2 -30 except this one story in the Gospel of Luke. Here’s how this story goes: In the one and only account we have of Jesus as a child we’re told he went with His parents to Jerusalem to worship and praise the Lord at Passover.

This story is a foreshadowing of what is to come. The only time He’s mentioned as a child is at the Feast of the Passover. Jesus is described elsewhere in Hebrew Scriptures as the Passover Lamb who was slain for us and now as a 12 year old He and we get a glimpse of what is to come.

After the Feast, unbeknownst to His parents, Jesus had stayed in Jerusalem when the rest of the family was heading home. When Mary and Joseph realized Jesus was not together with the family caravan, they turned back to Jerusalem to find Him. Three days later they find Him in the Temple Courts sitting with the teachers and asking and answering questions.

Did you pick up on the prophetic significance of “three days?” And it is on the third day His parents find Him alive and well. It was the third day in the grave when Jesus rises to life.. the grave could not hold Him!

Jesus’ parents found Him asking and answering questions of the teachers, who were amazed at His answers and knowledge. This too is significant for us today, because Jesus invites questions. If we look at the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament we’ll see He is asking and answering question frequently! God delights in conversation and He speaks to the deepest needs of our hearts.

When Jesus’ parents found Him they questioned Him about not having been with them. Jesus answers, “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s House.” This answer compels us ask, “Why is this significant?”

Think about this: These are the first recorded words of Jesus in the Bible! Why are they His first recorded words?

Note that Jesus calls God, “My Father.” Even as a 12 year old He understands who He is. He is announcing the day the prophets spoke of has arrived! The Messiah has come! The Redeemer of all is here.

But Mary and Joseph didn’t understand what Jesus was saying – It wasn’t until after Jesus’ resurrection that people understand who He is, what He accomplishes and what He offers to each of us.

The story ends with Jesus obediently returning to Nazareth with His parents. He displays submissive obedience, modeling this for each of us and showing us what is expected from each of us.

The standout piece of this story is that Jesus has given us the right to speak of God as “Our Father.”

So much is in this short story – not only is there a glimpse of what Jesus was like as a boy, it gives us insight into His love and compassion in asking and answering us and is a glimpse of what God desires in us in conversation and obedience. Jesus wasn’t just an extraordinary child – He is the very Son of God! Savior! And coming King!

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St. Luke’s Account is part three of our Two Year Study of the Gospels. The Gospel of Luke takes a look at the life of Jesus, beginning with the well-known Christmas stories. Luke, a non Jew, offers a unique perspective into the story of Jesus’ life.

This study is great for large group. small group or home group Bible study.

Check out this episode!

This teaching is from Matthew 21:23-46 and continues our dive into Jesus’ final week of his ministry before his death and resurrection.

The religious leaders are doing all they can to get Jesus to say something so that they can bring Him up on charges and get rid of Him. And there is a debate between Jesus and those leaders in the first verses of our study today. As the leaders (priests and elders) ask Jesus by what authority He was doing things in and who gave him this authority. This question might seem like a simple question but in reality it is a set up and they want him to reveal who He is so they can charge Him with blasphemy. 

These leaders should have understood who Jesus was; they had the opportunity to listen to His teachings, see His miracles, and hear testimonies of what Jesus had been doing. All these things predicted had been predicted by the prophets. Those with eyes to see could see who He was. 

Jesus takes their question and turns it around on them and responds that He’ll answer them if they answer a question first. The question He gives them, they decide they can’t answer. So there is a stalemate. So Jesus moves on into sharing three Parables that are addressed to the religious leaders.

The Parables do the following:

• Indictment

• Sentence

• Execution
  

The Indictment – the parable of the two sons. A father asks a son to go work in the vineyard and the son says, “No,” but then changes his mind later and does go out and work in the vineyard. To the other son the father says to go work in the vineyard, but that son says, “Yes,” but never goes and does it.

Jesus poses the question, “Which of the two sons did what his father wanted?” The leaders reply, “the first son: and Jesus hands down this indictment to the religious leaders, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you … you did not repent and believe.” This was a public rebuke of the leaders in front of a crowd.

Jesus moves on to share another parable, the parable of the tenants. A landowner (God the Father) planted a vineyard, walled it in, installed a winepress and added a watch tower and leased it out to some tenants (religious leaders). When harvest time came he sent his servants (prophets) to the tenants to collect his fruit. The tenants beat and killed the servants that came to collect for the landowner. Then the land owner sent a second set of servants to collect and they too were killed. Lastly the land owner sent his son (Jesus) to collect, but they killed him too. (Prediction of what is to come and the revelation of the religious leader’s plan).

Jesus ends this parable with the question, “When the owner of the vineyard comes – what will he do to these tenants?” The religious leaders – being obviously spiritually blind did not understand the parable at all and that it was about them. Jesus is getting ready to speak their sentencing…. They answer Jesus, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.” 

Jesus points out to them that He is the One, the Son, the Stone the builders rejected. He is the awaited Messiah, the cornerstone, the rock on which we build our lives. And He replies to them, “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this Stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” 

Jesus clearly states the sentencing against the religious leaders. 

1. Points to the fact that only those who repent and believe in Jesus as Messiah and Savior have life ever after. 

2. Jesus says it will be given to someone else. Alluding to the Gentile mission – the Kingdom of God coming to both Jews and Gentile; through the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus, through repentance and faith and through the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

God will carry out the world-wide mission! 

Verse 45 shares that the Pharisees (religious leaders) now knew He was talking about them! And so they looked for a way to arrest Him – but they were concerned about the crowd because they held that Jesus was a prophet – they were listening to Him. 

But what changes in the next few days that makes it possible for them to arrest and crucify Jesus? Join us next time to find out!

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