Luke 20:9-12

Luke 20:9-12 

English Standard Version 

  If you owned the vineyard, how would you react?  Would you keep sending servants?  Your patience would certainly be thin after the first was rejected, and you might well blow your top after the second.  When the second one was rejected, you might simply send in the troops.  Would you exercise patience and continue sending servants?  

  One of the lessons that Jesus is teaching us about God is that God has tremendous patience for us.  God continued to send prophets, even when they were rejected and ignored.  God didn't give up on us.  God loves us too much to leave us, which is what leads God to come in Jesus Christ so that we might find healing and wholeness and hope.  

  Thanks be to God for the tremendous patience God shows -- Paul tells us in Romans 2 that 'God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?'

Luke 20:1-8

Luke 20:1-8 

English Standard Version 

  Here we see the chief priests and scribes trying to trick Jesus.  They aren't genuinely interested in the answer... they simply want to make Jesus look bad.  

  Throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus engaging with all sorts of people.  Some of them know religion, some do not.  Look at Zaccheaus -- he is honestly seeking Jesus, and Jesus goes in to his house and eats with him.  The same is true of Nicodemus -- he comes with honest inquiry, uncertain of what it means when Jesus is teaching.

  These individuals are not coming honestly.  They have an agenda.  

  So when you have big questions, do not be afraid to ask them.  Seek with an open and honest heart.  Ask tough questions.  Christianity has the intellectual depth to engage with your questions as you seek the Truth.

Luke 19:45-48

Luke 19:45-48

English Standard Version 

  There's only 1,000 different conclusions as to what it means for Jesus to drive the traders out of the temple.  The temple economy and the trading that took place was important to the activity of the temple, but things clearly weren't serving the purpose that the temple was built for -- it wasn't serving as a meeting place for the people and God.  Something was getting in the way, so Jesus clears it out, and then he remains, teaching daily.  He is filling the space with his Word, so that the people can hear the teachings of God.  

  There's things in all of our lives that interfere with our connection with God.  Are we willing to be honest and admit the places where we fall short, and find a way to let God's Word fill that space in our lives?

Luke 19:41–44

Luke 19:41-44 

English Standard Version 

  Jesus has foreknowledge of the destruction that is coming to Jerusalem in 70 AD. Roman forces will besiege and destroy much of the city, and Jesus has heartbreak for the devastation that will occur.  

  It's an important aspect of our faith to hold onto -- God weeps when destruction is visited upon God's people.  God made the world and all that is in it, and it is all precious to God.  In an age where we are bombarded by bad news from all over the world, it's easy to become numb to it.  But God still feels pain for the tragic loss that occurs around the world.  May we remember that and let it soften our hearts as we seek to follow Christ and love the world the way God loves it.