Hating or Loving Jesus

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

HATING OR LOVING JESUS

Luke 20:9-18

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, "May this never be!" 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 capstone'? 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed." 

NIV

Although the people said, “May this never be!”, it had already happened by the ancestors of those Jewish people. Of course, God is the owner of the vineyard and he sent prophets to tell of their dome should they reject the owner, which they did, they worshiped other gods, and as a result, they always were captured by other empires. They killed the prophets because they did not want to give God his due by worshipping Him only. After killing several of the prophets, God then sent his one and only Son whom he loved to the people, but we know, that ultimately they killed him too, so they could have their own form of God, their own form of religion, they had devised and even using the commands of God for their reason, but they did not worship him., but instead worshiped their own brand of beliefs. However, we have come a long way from them, yet we still have those three people groups. Some consider there is no God, basically putting Jesus to death. Then some profess to be Christians but decide to live under a set of rules and regulations they make up using the word of God as an excuse for the worship of their own brand of beliefs, much like the Chief priests, teachers of the law, the Pharisees, along with the elders. Finally, we have the people who see who God is, know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, have decided to follow Jesus, and live a life of faith, because they are born-again, Spirit-filled, believers living under the influence of God’s grace. They understand living by faith means a transformation will happen within them, and a change will occur in the way they live in this world, but their lives are not based on the rules of men but on the word of God. These believers live in a living Christ, and He lives within them, Jesus and they are one, as Jesus and the Father are one. Living by the grace of God brings peace, contentment, love, joy, kindness goodness, gentleness, patience, and courageous endurance faithfully waiting for Jesus to return. Oh, How we love Jesus because he first loved us.