areliablefaith

Matthew 20–21

It’s amazing how Scripture keeps opening up, even passages I’ve read dozens of times. This morning, Matthew 20–21 struck me in a new way because of how the two chapters speak to each other.

Chapter 20 opens with a landowner who keeps going out all day to hire workers for his vineyard. At evening he pays everyone the same wage. Those hired at dawn got exactly what they agreed to. Those hired at the last hour got far more than they had earned. That is grace, and the landowner pictures God. Grace is getting what we don’t deserve.

What stands out is the reaction of the early workers. They grumble, convinced they deserve more than they were promised. The landowner answers directly: “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?” (Matthew 20:15, ESV).

Hold onto that as the reading moves into chapter 21. Jesus enters Jerusalem, cleanses the temple, and heals the blind and the lame. Children shout “Hosanna!” And the response of the chief priests and scribes is telling: “when [they] saw the wonderful things that he did… they were indignant” (Matthew 21:15, ESV).

Then comes the fig tree. Jesus finds it “with nothing on it but only leaves,” and it withers (Matthew 21:19, ESV). For years I didn’t know what to do with this passage, so I set it on the shelf. I think that’s a healthy practice. When a passage doesn’t square with what you know of Jesus, don’t force an interpretation. Keep reading, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you, and let understanding come in time.

Today it came through clearly. The fig tree pictures the religious leaders of Israel. They had the leaves: visible religion, position, and power. But they had no fruit. They had replaced true, faithful worship and seeking of God with a man-made system they were very confident in. Jesus says it plainly a few verses later: “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits” (Matthew 21:43, ESV).

This wasn’t the end of Israel’s story. God’s promises to His chosen people still stand, and Revelation shows them with an important role. But their whole calling was that the Messiah would come through them, and that the kingdom would spread through the gospel, through love and faithfulness and knowing Him, not by force. The leaders missed it. The Messiah was standing in front of them, and they were indignant.

That temptation is not only theirs. Every person is made with what’s been called a God-shaped void. We try to fill it with religion of our own making, or we give up and insist there is no God at all. Nothing fits that space except Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. He truly lived, died, and rose again, proving He is the Son of God who brought the kingdom near.

So here is the contrast in today’s reading. On one side are the undeserving latecomers, welcomed by grace. On the other are those certain they deserved the kingdom, full of leaves and empty of fruit. “So the last will be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:16, ESV).

A question to consider: When God is generous to someone else, do I rejoice, or do I quietly feel I deserved more? And is my faith producing fruit, or just leaves?

Be blessed and be a blessing.