Jesus came to Gather His Children

Verses: Luke 20 : 9 - 19

My thoughts about the verses:

The first thing we need to do is break down the different parts of this story.  Each part explains why Jesus had to come to Earth so that we may find salvation.  The problem is that Jesus had to die for us to finally accept that God loves us and wants a relationship with us.  Isn't it amazing that no matter how many times we were told that God wanted us to have abundant life it took death for us to understand it.

Let us start with the land owner.  It is easy to understand that the land owner is God the Creator.  God gave us the one thing that we needed was love.  Love and relationship with God is given to us freely.  The only thing God wants in return is our love and a relationship with us.  

The servants can be many different people that are spread throughout the Bible.  For me the first servants were Adam and Eve.  They were given everything that they could ever need.  God had made them and loved them.  They were in a perfect relationship with God.  Yet, they did the unthinkable they built a wall between them self and God by disobeying the one that loved them.  They broke their connection of pure love and relationship by their transgressions.  Yet this did not stop God from loving them.  Instead God started the plan to save them at that moment and time.

I also see the second servants as all of the leaders and prophets that came after the fall.  Just think what happened to the prophets.  They came to teach about God's love.  Yet, the people didn't listen.  In the end the community was sent to exile because they would not even listen to the people that God had sent them.  The prophets endured rejection during their time on Earth because they were just spreading what God told them to say.  Yet, now we think of them as heroes and martyrs.

I also believe that John the Baptist was one of the Servants that were rejected.  He was coming to tell people that they needed to ask God to forgive them of their trespasses.  Yet, what happened to John he was tortured and even killed because of his teachings.  John was teaching love yet, that wasn't what people wanted to accept.  

Servants who continue to spread the love of God are often persecuted for their teachings.  They are belittled and abused.  Teaching unconditional love is something that people have a hard time accepting.  They base their past experience with human love and cannot understand how much God loves them.  They are not willing to give the little piece of their life back to God.  

The people that were working the field are the masses.  The ones that is willing to take from God's harvest.  Yet,  we are not willing to love God back with their heart.  They hold back the one part that God wants and that is a loving relationship.  

It even gets more intense when you realize that some of those that are denying God total love are the very religious leaders that teach God's word.  This has affected many people over time.  The fact that they often teach hate and judge others causes problems.  I just think about all those that have left the church and run from God because certain religious leaders judge them as unworthy.  A true religious leader will concentrate on spreading the love of God instead of passing judgment on others.  Yet, this is something that has happened even since the time of Jesus.  In fact, the religious leaders knew that Jesus was talking about them as he told the parable.  So what is important is that Christians do their best to share love instead of teaching hate.

The last person in the story is the easiest to pick out.  Jesus is the son that was sent to collect and show love to the masses.  He was sent to fulfill the promise of a relationship and love.  Yet, even though he did no wrong he was killed.  That death led to our everlasting life.  Jesus was letting the Pharisees know that he knew that his death was the inevitable and that he had accepted it.  As expected it made them mad yet they couldn't do anything at that moment.  Yet, the time was soon coming when Jesus would go to the tree to lead his people home.  The relationship would be rebuilt by the sacrifice of love that came through unconditional love. 

Prayer:

Dear God we just give you all the honor and glory.  We thank you for loving us when we did not trust you.  Thank you for sending Jesus so that we could have our relationship with you restored.  We only ask that you keep us from being a farrier to others.  Help us show others the unconditional love that you give to us freely.  In the name of the Creator we pray.  Amen

Questions:

What person are you most like in this story?  Are you satisfied in being that person?  Have you accepted the unconditional love of God?  Are you being a stumbling block to anyone?  How can you spread the love so others can find peace and a relationship with God?