Harvest time

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

HARVEST TIME

Matt 21:33-46

33 "Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. 35 "The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said. 38 "But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.' 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 "Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"  41 "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time." 42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: "'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'? 43 "Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."  45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

NIV

Again we need not examine the parable itself as we are in a hindsight position of knowing its meaning. However we can assert all the servants were the prophets who foretold about Jesus, and the servant who was more than the first time was John the Baptist whom was killed as well. We also know Jesus was speaking about his own death at the hands of the chief priests and elders. They knew he was speaking about them, even after they condemned their own future actions. But what about us? We are supposed to be the people the kingdom of God was given to. But that also implies that we are the ones who will produce its fruit, or at least are expected to produce its fruit. What is this fruit we should be producing? It would seem right to consider the fruit of the Spirit. Although that is a type of fruit which can be harvested, it may not be the fruit which Jesus is speaking about in this vineyard. Certainly the fruit of the Spirit is not intended to benefit the tree which it hangs on, as most fruit needs to be picked to enjoy its benefit, both of taste and nutrition. The fruit of the Spirit which we are to produce in our lives from being planted by the stream of living water, is for others to come along and pick and enjoy the taste as well as the nutritional value of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control. Yet the fruit of this vineyard is that which the Master, or Lord benefits from the harvest. That could only be a vineyard of souls. We are the renters of that vineyard in some sense. Are we only interesting in what the vineyard can produce for us, our inheritance? That should not be, but in fact we should be nourishing that which the Lord has planted. This could certainly mean as the Holy Spirit plants the need of repentance in a person and they are coming under His conviction, we should be ready to harvest that crop for the Lord. That means we cannot settle for the us four and no more attitude of just going to church with all the others "just going to church people". We need to be looking for the harvest, of working the vineyard for the harvest. The harvest is those who are going to be believers. The vineyard is not simply church, but it is the world. Yes he built a wall around it, yes he built a watchtower. The wall and the watchtower are the Holy Spirit. He both protects and looks over the vineyard, the world. He keeps Satan from coming in and destroying the vineyard. If the Holy Spirit was not present in this world, this vineyard, Satan would have unleased all his fury against the creation of God. His only authority is within the power given to him by God. He can do nothing unless God allows him. The Spirit is that wall and watchtower over the vineyard of God. In some sense we are the renters, as we do not own the vineyard, the world. It all belongs to the Lord. But we are to have it ready for his harvest. That would include our own hearts as well as however many hearts we can add partnering with the Spirit. This implies we need to be in the world working for the harvest.