Secrets of the Kingdom: Judges Everyone


We walk the earth thinking we own lots of stuff.  Our houses, cars, jewelry, cell phones, stocks, etc., etc.  But the truth is we're only stewards. We receive or earn things and use them for a while.  But at last we pass them on to others.

If you're a Christ follower, you're also a steward of the good news of Christ and the gospel.  You received it from others and now God has entrusted it to you.  What will you do with it?

Jesus spoke of this in his parable of the tenants in Matthew 21:33-46.  Originally, it was a parable directed at Jewish leaders.  It's really more of an allegory than a parable.  In it, Jesus shows how the priests and Pharisees had taken a living faith and turned it into something corrupt that took people away from God.  Ultimately, they rejected God's Son when he came to him.

Those leaders blew it.  It seems some of us are doing the same thing.  Some of us have created a legalistic conservative evangelicalism that takes people away from Jesus instead of toward him.  The Jesus of the scriptures is set aside for legalistic texts from the Old Testament or distorted to the extent that he's no longer recognizable.  

The religious leaders of Jesus time rejected him and put him on a cross.  We profess him as Lord, but ignore his commands.

How do we change our course so we're not subject to the same judgment?  The way to do it is both simple and difficult!  We need to start acting more like Jesus.  Not the idolatrous cultural Jesus we've created as a substitute for the real thing.  But the real Jesus, the one who commanded his followers to love their enemies, to seek and save sinners, and to care for the poor.

We've received something wonderful.  During Holy Week, reflect on how we can be good stewards of it, so we can bear God's fruit of love and mercy in this world.

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