There are two important words in this passage, justice and
righteousness. The Lord condemns His
people that once they were full of justice and righteousness lodged there but
now neither may be found in the city. The
solution is to remove all who will not repent, all who will not do justice or
seek righteousness in order to restore both so that the city may again be
called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. The city of God and the church of God are to
have the same goal, the place where true righteousness and justice
prevail. These are the twin commitments
to which He calls us, to pursue these things and He has given us all we need to
do so. Justice and righteousness are the
hallmarks of God and His image bearers are to reveal these things.
You can see that the people know the implication of this
parable immediately upon hearing the judgment against the wicked tenants. They know that the wicked tenants represent
the people of God, them, not just the leaders, all are responsible and culpable
because they have been given the Word of God.
The previous collection agents are the prophets and none can deny that
the prophets have been treated abominably.
Now, the Son is here to collect what is due and in their desire to have
it for themselves they determine to kill him.
Have they concluded that the owner is dead? The listeners are appalled at what Jesus is
saying, their reaction is "Surely not!" Luke tells us that at this point Jesus looked
directly at them and quoted from the psalms concerning the cornerstone. His prophetic point is clear, what will they
do with it?
Paul is able to say that he and his followers exhibited
Godly conduct among the Thessalonians, they can recall "how holy and
righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers." He was gentle, never a burden, and when
persecuted he did not retaliate. His conduct
was to be an example to the believers. They
are to walk in a manner worthy of God. The
truth is that we are to be a community that is being transformed into a model
community for the world to see a place of light, of justice and
righteousness. The world should see the
Christian community as measurably different from every other community. Is that what the world says about us?
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