2026 Pentecost Devotions II
Saturday, October 3
Matthew 21:33-46
[Jesus said:] 33 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went away. 34 When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. 35 But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they treated them in the same way. 37 Then he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ 39 So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes’?
43 “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces its fruits. 44 The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. 46 They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.
“… Then he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ …”
Jesus is the obvious reference in this parable. The one sent to deliver Israel is the very one whom they crucified. Rather than see the Son as the Savior, they saw him as a threat. The Lord tells this parable to those who are seeking his life.
However, instead of destroying the Lord of life, through the resurrection, new life is given to all. The cross and the empty tomb only solidify God’s fulfillment of the promise of deliverance. Rather than an end to the life and ministry of Jesus, the crucifixion and resurrection bring about newness of life to Israel and all nations. That which they sought to destroy becomes the cornerstone of salvation for all peoples.
The promise God makes to Abram early on – in the twelfth chapter of Genesis – is that he will be the source blessings for all the world. Ultimately, through his descendant – Jesus – God’s promise is fulfilled. In Jesus, all people – all the world – are blessed with the promised gift of new life. Rather than death, sending the Son results in deliverance from sin and death and blessings to all.
Prayer: Thank you, Almighty Father, for sending the Son into the world that we may receive blessings and the gift of new life. Amen.