Luke 20:9-12

Rachel Workman: No comments today.

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John Burnett:  ⁵ They reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ ⁶ But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” ⁷ So they answered that they did not know where it came from. ⁸ And Jesus said to them, “Nor ^[a]will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” He is perfect and His response was perfect but in my sinful nature, I would have loved to see the look on their face if He incorporated their thoughts in His response.

Parable of the Vine-growers

⁹ And He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to ^[b]vine-growers, and went on a journey for a long time. ¹⁰ At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, so that they would give him some of the produce of the vineyard; but the vine-growers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹ And he proceeded to send another slave; and they beat him also and treated him shamefully and sent him away empty-handed. ¹² And he proceeded to send a third; and this one also they wounded and cast out.  God is the man who planted the vineyard, we are the vine growers, the ones beaten are the prophets.  The vineyard is God’s creation that He has given to us rent-free.  We are to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and love our neighbors as our self.  Instead, we disrespect him by not giving him the praise and glory that only he deserves.

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Tomorrow’s reading for Luke 20:13-16

¹³ “‘What will I do?’ the owner asked himself. ‘I know! I’ll send my cherished son. Surely they will respect him.’

¹⁴ “But when the tenant farmers saw his son, they said to each other, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ ¹⁵ So they dragged him out of the vineyard and murdered him.

“What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do to them?” Jesus asked. ¹⁶ “I’ll tell you—he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others.”

“How terrible that such a thing should ever happen,” his listeners protested.