The Pleading Landowner

Authority. How do you respond when you hear that word? Do you respond differently when you hear the word power? Do you make a difference in your mind? Does the way they interact matter? Something to think about as we consider a parable that reflects glimpses of both power and authority.

In the verses leading up to the parable we are considering, the religious leaders had raised the question of Jesus authority. What Jesus goes on to do is to give them a story about the manifestation of authority, and how people in the story responded from the standpoint of power. God's idea of authority is very different from our understanding of power. It is a kind of authority that continues to give, and risk, and feel pain because of love, even when the cost is high. Jesus used the illustration of the cornerstone, which can provide either a strong foundation upon which to build, or an obstacle over which we stumble and fall. The response is largely up to us. This is what Pastor Jon explores in the sermon this week.

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Luke 20

NIV

9 He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. 10 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. 12 He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.

13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’

14 “But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

“What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”

When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!”

17 Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written:

“‘The stone the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone’?

18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

19 The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.