He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all saying, “They will respect my son.” But the tenants said to one another, “This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and the inheritance will be ours.” So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.
Mark 12:6-9
How would you have advised God? I would have shouted a warning to Him across the gulf of eternity, “Don’t do it! Don’t send Your Son, whom You love, to tenants who have killed Your servants!”
The best indicator of future behavior is past performance. Over the course of time, the vineyard tenants had demonstrated that they wouldn’t give the owner what was due him and, instead, would kill whomever he sent.
But the owner wouldn’t give up! Last of all he sent his son—and this was no ordinary son. The father didn’t send him to get rid of him. The son wasn’t just a chief operating officer of the company, or a business representative of the father. Oh no, he was the son “whom he loved.”
Surely the father knew the risk because he was aware of how all his servants had been treated. But the son didn’t balk when the father chose to send him.
The tenants had not changed. They had no regard at all for the one who made possible their livelihood. They wanted ownership and control of what was not theirs.
Isn’t that the problem with all organized religion—the temptation to assume ownership of what is God’s? Even God Himself is prevented from reclaiming His church. Religious leaders and hierarchy too easily can assume that the church is theirs. Not so!
Even in the New Testament era we have a picture of Jesus being locked outside His own church, knocking to gain entrance (Revelation 3:20). What is often true for organized Christianity is true also for the Israel to which Jesus came. The religious leaders loved their religion far more than they loved God. They loved their ceremonies, rituals, and income more than the One who gave them all that.
This story of the vineyard tenants must have filled Jesus with much emotion as He told it. After all, He was the Son who came after the tenants; through the long history of Israel, they had ignored, beaten, or killed the prophets who preceded Him. Jesus knew that in their heart of hearts they recognized Him as the Son. They were not killing a pretender. They hated the Son because they hated the Owner.
The crucifixion of Jesus on the part of the religious establishment wasn’t a case of mistaken identity. Deep down they knew what they were doing. That is what Jesus was saying in this story.
But patience has its limits. Hoping that someone will change lasts for a season, until a point of no return.
Jesus knew that such a point had been reached with the religious leaders who opposed Him. They had had enough chances to say yes to God.
This story also has a personal application. We can resist the grace of God for so long that we reach a point of no return. Let that never happen to you!
A Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me always to understand that my life is not my own. May I never want to possess for myself what is Yours by right.
Excerpted from Dr. Wood’s book, Fearless: How Jesus Changes Everything, available from Vital Resources.
The post God Won’t Give Up appeared first on Dr. George O. Wood.