Luke 20:9-19: The gospel in a nutshell.(please click here for todays passage)

Not only can people get caught in the headlights of a great question, but also by seeing themselves in a story well-told. Jesus scored a ‘Bulls-eye’ with this one (19).

Someone said that when you throw a stone into a pack of dogs you can tell which one you hit. It’s the one that yelps! Jesus obviously scored a direct hit with His parable. Once again we find religious leaders overly concerned with matters of public opinion. But they did so desperately want to do away with the uncomfortable truth. Have you ever been there?

I marvel at these words of Jesus. His parable is a little jewel of economical story-telling. It beautifully enshrines the gospel message. Throughout the Old Testament era God repeatedly sent prophets to his people and these were regularly rejected.

”Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love…’ ” (13; see 3:22; John 3:16). 

Jesus foreknew and foretold that He would be rejected and thrown out and crucified, But in these terrible acts God would be fulfilling Scripture and working to make His Son the Head of a new humanity. This world system still rejects Jesus and desires His death, but turning Him away we press the ‘self-destruct’ button. It was true then; it is true now.