City Life Starter

Written by Stefan Johnsson

The Word

Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send by beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ And they threw him him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”

When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!”

But He looked directly at them and said, “What then is this written: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’?

Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

Luke 20:13-18

¹⁶ And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east. ¹⁷ Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their nose.

Ezekiel 8:16-17

Reflection

The chief priests and scribes whom Jesus spoke to, believed they were the example of godly righteousness to be followed. They justified their personal sins and shortcomings while forcing others to follow rules that were man made and not by God. They were hypocrites in their own right. Not to say that anyone could follow the mosaic laws perfectly, but they made them much stricter than intended and the purpose and love that the laws were based on were long forgotten. Inside the hearts of the chief priests and scribes were impure hearts, committing all kinds of idolatry to God.

In Ezekiel, God shows him[Ezekiel] the hidden idolatry going on in the temple of God by the priests. It was so bad that the glory of God left the temple and ultimately the Babylonians came and destroyed the temple while leading the people of Judah into captivity. Ezekiel, who experienced all this, would later write in Ezekiel 36-37 that God would cleanse the hearts of His people and turn their hearts of stone to hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26).

I use the example of Ezekiel because it brings a good metaphor to the parable that Jesus spoke on. The priests were hiding their worship of idols instead of worshipping the true God. God crushed them and the temple while leading the people of God to captivity. There those who remained were broken and remolded by God so that they would be able to come back to rebuild the temple and set things right. So it was during the time of Jesus, where the temple was once again crushed by the idolatry of the chief priests and scribes, but this time the new heart and new flesh wass ultimately fulfilled through Jesus’ sacrificial blood, and His death and resurrection on the cross and became our Cornerstone.

Application

Jeremiah says that all hearts are bent on wickedness(17:9) and we do not give God the authority we should. God will crush those who are idolaters and unwilling to follow God on His seat of judgment in the end times. But those who are willing to let the cornerstone(Jesus) break them, He will give them a new heart, a heart of flesh and not stone. A true heart that can worship Him.

We have to always remember that it is easy to be caught in the trappings of sin and become hardened by it. You have to let God break you and mold you, always seeking after Him in whatever you do. The question is, are you doing this today or is there something in your heart that God has to break, something that you are holding with your own authority?

Prayer

Father, help me to give all authority in my life to You. Help me to give to You what is already Yours, and that is my life and possessions. Break me and mold me as you see fit. Let me be a light to those around me. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.