Amos 4:6-13
Psalm 18
2 Peter 3:11-18
Matthew 21:33-46
Jesus’ parables are my favorite part of the Bible. Stories with teaching points – some would call them marching orders – often with an unexpected twist. In today’s reading from Matthew, Jesus tells leaders of his day, some priests and elders, the uncomfortable story about the vineyard and the ungrateful tenants who turn on the master’s representatives. “When the master comes” to make things right, Jesus says, “What should he do?” The response is that the owner of the vineyard should “kill the evil men.” Jesus then chides the priests and elders for their lack of scriptural knowledge before completing his message.
In the reading from Peter, we’re warned to prepare for the Day of the Lord. To expect it and to be at peace with God and each other as we wait. Amos, writing 700 years before Christ, tells of God’s power and warns that His judgment is coming. In the long Psalm 18, we learn of David’s deliverance from God, his dutiful acceptance, and his ultimate reward as king of his people with God as his ruler and conscience.
In Matthew, after telling the story of the vineyard and the violence – which is a metaphor for accepting God and taking a gentler approach to life – Jesus says, “The Kingdom of God will be taken away from you.” He closes by saying the Kingdom “will be given to a people who will produce the proper fruits.”
We are those people.
Ed Spaulding