A very smelly Christmas (Mark 14:1-11)

To some it is the king of fruits. To others it is the world’s smelliest fruit. I am describing, of course, the durian. Smelling like gym socks yet tasting like custard, the durian is a fruit you completely love or absolutely loathe. Mmm, durian.

Imagine durian for Christmas. Instead of a tree, a durian. Instead of roast turkey, a durian. Instead of a present, a durian. Your family will disown you. Your neighbours will call the police on you.

Extreme reactions. That is the theme of today’s passage from Mark Chapter 14 - extreme reactions or responses to Jesus Christ. One of hatred and murder. But the other of love and worship. And the question is: Pushed to the extreme, what is your response to Jesus? What is your extreme reaction to Christ?

Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. “But not during the Feast,” they said, “or the people may riot.”

Mark 14:1-2

The passage begins (and ends) with murder - with the religious leaders scratching their heads thinking of a way to kill Jesus. And it’s tempting to say, “It’s just those extremists.” Or, “Let’s skip this bit,” but we lose something if we do. Mark wants us to compare the religious leaders with this anonymous lady. To compare their reaction with hers.

It’s not as simple as saying one is bad and the other is good. Look at verse 1 and notice how secretive they are. “They were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus.” Verse 2, “Not during the Feast,” they said. Why? Because the people would riot. Because there were too many witnesses. This was a business meeting. They wanted to kill Jesus - to commit murder, yes - but to do it in such a way that they still looked respectable, that they still maintained control.

But then comes this woman who does something so public, so embarrassing yet so full of love.

While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

Mark 14:3

She has no words, no name, she probably has no invitation. But Mark tells us that the jar was made of alabaster. The perfume was made of pure nard. That was the centre of attention. This rare, expensive jar of perfume which was broken, which was poured out on Jesus’ head. In John’s gospel, he writes, “The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume” (John 12:3). Everyone could smell the extravagance of this act of worship.

Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages (three hundred denarii) and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.

Mark 14:4

A very Asian thing to do when we see a friend with a new phone or a new toy is ask, “Eh, how much?” As Asians, we measure everything in dollar signs. That’s how much something is worth - my clothes, my car. That’s how much I am worth - my salary, my Christmas present that my loved one gave to me. It’s interesting how they knew how much that jar of perfume cost. Three hundred denarii. What a waste - not of perfume - but a waste of money. Three hundred denarii poured down the drain.

Three hundred denarii in today’s money is twenty thousand pounds. “We could have given twenty thousand pounds to the poor.” That’s what they were saying. “We could hire a new pastor.” “We can renovate the church centre.” We can do so many things with twenty thousand pounds. But what you do not do with twenty thousand pounds is buy one gigantic bottle of Chanel Number 5 and pour it out on your pastor’s head. What a waste!

So they scolded her, “Silly girl.” But what does Jesus say? “She has done a beautiful thing to me.”

“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.”

Mark 14:6-7

It’s strange. When Jesus says, “The poor you will always have with you… but you will not always have me,” it almost sounds wrong. Is Jesus saying he is more important than the poor?

Well, remembering their objections in verse 5, “This money could have been given to the poor,” Jesus is quoting an Old Testament passage back at them - back at the bullies - about the importance of helping the poor. Hopefully, when I read it, you will see the connection. This is Deuteronomy 15, verse 11.

There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be open-handed towards your brothers and towards the poor and needy in your land.

Deuteronomy 15:11

Jesus says there will always be poor among us - there will always be this problem of poverty in this world - but then quotes a verse that says this is why we should be generous. To be open-handed with the poor. Now, that same chapter in Deuteronomy also has this to say about the poor.

However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, he will richly bless you.

Deuteronomy 15:4

It sounds like a contradiction: There should be no poor (verse 4) and yet the poor you will always have with you (verse 11). How can that be? The reason for the poor is not lack of money, not lack of blessing, not lack of food - no, after all, God says he will richly bless the land he has given them as his people. Yet even in this special land he has given to his people overflowing with his blessing, God has to give the command to be open-handed. Why? Because we forget. We need to be reminded not to hold onto God’s blessing with closed fists. Be open-handed, God says. Be generous.

Do you see what Jesus is saying? Some of us think, “If only I had twenty thousand pounds, wow, I will donate all that money to the poor.” You know you won’t. You will be thinking, “I need twenty thousand more.” But what has this woman done? She poured out everything she had, emptied everything she owned in one single act of abandonment, one single act of worship. Notice, Jesus says, in verse 8, “She did what she could.” Meaning if she had two bottle of perfume, she would break both bottles on Jesus’ head. Well, not quite. What it means is, in her eyes, this was nothing. She didn’t think she was rich. She didn’t wait until she was rich. We give out of our excess, our spare change, but this woman she poured out everything she had in worship and in love for Jesus Christ.

You don’t need to wait. Till you are older. Till you have more talents, more money, more respect. Coming to Jesus means you don’t have much but you give him everything. That’s worship. He is worth everything.

She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.

Mark 14:8-9

A couple of days ago at a friend’s birthday bible study (that’s right, he had bible study on his birthday), I was reminded this was not the first time Jesus was given perfume. If you remember the magi, the wise men from Matthew Chapter 2, who followed the star and came to Christ when he was a child, you will recall how they gave him gold, incense and myrrh as gifts - gold symbolising kingship, incense which was used for worship - but then there is also myrrh. What’s the point of giving myrrh to a kid? (It’s not chocolate). Myrrh is used at funerals, as a kind of perfume to preserve dead bodies. Jesus says, “She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.” Aside from the fact that Jesus is God and Jesus is King is the fact the Jesus has come to die on the cross for our sins. He has come to save us from God’s judgement by dying in our place for our forgiveness.

And he says wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her. The cross hasn’t happened yet, it’s two days to the Passover, two days to the crucifixion, but Jesus is saying, “This is a picture of what I am going to do for you on the cross.” Think of the shame she endured - “Foolish girl”. Think of the price she paid pouring out everything she had. Think of her love measured in terms of her sacrifice.

Jesus says, “She has done a beautiful thing to me.” What she did was make Jesus’ death look good. That’s the gospel. It’s pointing others to Jesus on the cross and showing them what a beautiful Saviour we have in Jesus Christ.

At that same bible study, someone said, “Loving someone always looks foolish.” Why would God give up his Son to die for you, a sinner? Why would Jesus Christ become a man, become a baby, die on the cross, for you, a sinner? Because of love. Others will say, “What a waste!” If you know this love of God, you will say, “What a Saviour!”

Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

Mark 14:10-11

And so the story ends with the plans to kill Jesus moving swiftly ahead. Back in verse 2, they were stuck, they put their plans on hold, but here comes Judas handing Jesus to them as a gift.

I am reminded of a story a pastor once told about a bible study in prison (gives new meaning to cell group) when the prisoners were asked, “Who killed Jesus?” One prisoner said, “The Pharisees!” Another prisoner said, “I killed Jesus,” in remorse over his sinfulness. But the bible study leader wisely said, “God killed Jesus.” It was God who gave Jesus into the hands of the chief priests. It was God who made this happen.

And you have to ask: Why did it have to be this way - through betrayal, through deception? The reason is: Jesus is the ultimate poor man. When Jesus says, “The poor you will always have with you but you will not always have me,” Jesus is calling himself the ultimate poor man. You see, the poor are the oppressed, the victimised. Jesus could not save us as a rich man. The bible says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, for you sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9)

Recently, scientists in Singapore discovered the gene which gives the durian its pungent smell and the significance of that discovery opens up the possibility of creating an odourless or milder-tasting durian of the future. But one Singapore wrote back and said this, “A durian without smell is like a human who has lost his soul.” It’s the smell that’s the essence of the soul of the durian. It is the cross that is the essence of Christ, that is the essence of Christmas.

For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.

2 Corinthians 2:15-16

A Christmas nobody (Luke 2:8-20)

Are you a Christmas nobody?

It’s not that you hate Christmas or that you’re alone over Christmas. But you just feel insignificant this time of year. No one would notice if you walked out of the room. They would still be celebrating, drinking, watching the Dr Who special. But you? You’re expendable. Like a sprout rolled under the tree.

The thing is, being a Christmas nobody might not be such a bad thing.

1. The nobodies of the world

And there were shepherds living out in the fields near by, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”

Luke 2:8-10

Shepherds were nobodies. Five times we’re reminded what their job was: Sheep-keepers. They looked after smelly sheep. They had a reputation as weirdos - the Jar Jar Binks of the ancient world. They were nobodies in the world.

But not to God. “Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you,” the angel says to the shepherds in verse 11. “This will be a sign to you,” verse 12.

When God sat down to write the first Christmas card, he wrote on the envelope: “Shepherds.”

Not “Prime Minister” nor “Archbishop of Jerusalem”. God wanted the first people to hear about the first Christmas to be nobodies, not the somebodies of the world.

Why?

Years later, Jesus would call himself the good shepherd (John 10:11, 14). You see, the way that shepherds care for their sheep - “living out in the fields near by, keeping watch over their flock,” verse 8 - was the way that God cares for his people. Looking after sheep isn’t glamourous. Yet the great leaders of old - Joseph, Moses, King David - learned the ropes by leading sheep. It taught them humility. Practical love. Jesus came to be that kind of shepherd king. That kind of humble Saviour born in a manger.

It takes a nobody to recognise Somebody special. God knew that shepherds would recognise their Saviour.

But they weren’t alone. There is a second group of nobodies: The angels.

2. The nobodies of the universe

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying:

“Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace to men
on whom his favour rests.”

Luke 2:13-14

It might seem strange calling angels nobodies. I doubt the shepherds would dare do that. They were terrified! (verse 9) The angel had to tell them, “Do not be afraid.” (Verse 10)

Furthermore, the “great company of the heavenly host” appearing in verse 13 is not a musical choir. We get that from “O come all ye faithful” - the line from the carol which goes, “Sing choirs of angels, sing in exaltation” - but that is far from what verse 13 is talking about. In reality, it is describing an army. In the same way that the “Lord of hosts” in the Old Testament is better translated the “Lord of armies,” so here, the “heavenly host” refers to the armed forces of Almighty God.

Think less Sister Act and more GI Joe.

Yet these armies appear - “suddenly”, verse 13 - not to fight a war, not to defeat an enemy. Rather, God sends his generals, warriors and footsoldiers on a mission of peace. Verse 14: “...And on earth, peace to men on whom his favour rests.”

You see, Christmas Day made these angels, well, redundant. Because Christmas means an end to the war. Christ is born. His birth marks an end to our rebellion against God.

Jesus once told his disciples, “Don’t you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53) He said this to friends trying to prevent his arrest by soldiers with swords. With violence. He was saying, “Cool it, guys. I’ve got the Heavenly Avengers on speed dial.” He was talking about the same angels we meet here in Luke 2.

The Trinitarian Terminators. The Jehovah Jedis.

Jesus could snap his fingers and the full military might of the universe would be at his disposal.

So why didn’t he? Because the way to win this fight was to lose his life. No angel, however awesome, can take your punishment for sin. No friend, however sincere, can take your place of judgement. Only God can do that. And on the cross, he did. He died in our place.

Christians call this the gospel. It’s the “good news” announced by the angel in verse 10. It is good news for bad people that God has forgiven our sin. It is good news for all peoples that God has defeated our sin. It is good news for you and me that Jesus Christ is Lord. This was a message delivered by angels to shepherds.

This was a message delivered by shepherds to Mary, the last nobody we meet in the Christmas story.

3. Nobody but God

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Luke 2:16-20

We see two reactions to Christmas. Both good. But both different.

Some people are like the shepherds. They hear the news. They see the baby. And they “returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen.” (verse 20) It just makes sense!

But others are like Mary, who “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (verse 19) It’s those quiet moments when nobody is in the room, when the turkey’s in the fridge and guests have gone home, when you ask yourself, “Is this really true? Did God send his Son to save me from my sins?”

Of all people, you would think Mary got this instantly. After all, she gave birth to the Messiah. When she was pregnant in Luke Chapter 1, the angel appeared to her, calling her highly favoured, saying her son would be the Son of God (Luke 1:28, 35). Mary is a model of faith. “I am the Lord’s servant,” she says in Luke 1:38.

Yet Luke Chapter 2 reminds us this was a process, even for Mary. She treasured up the moments and pondered them in her heart. The phrase occurs again at the end of the chapter (Luke 1:51), meaning, she was constantly pondering over what it meant for Jesus to be to be her Lord and Saviour.

I suggest to you that Mary did this all her life because (and I want to be careful how I say this) Christmas isn’t enough to make sense of Christ. It’s a good start, don’t get me wrong. Christmas says Jesus was born for us but it is the cross that says Jesus died for us. The cross makes sense of Christmas. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Mild he lay his glory by,
Born that man no more may die.

Like Mary, it might not be such a bad thing to be alone during such moments. To think. To pray. Because friends, the times in life when we are most aware of our own insignificance isn’t, I don’t think, when we’re lonely or depressed, but when we are in the presence of something truly marvellous and awesome. When God enters our lives, when we are most awed by his holy presence, those are the moments when we are most aware of our sinfulness, most humbled by our lowliness and most surprised by his grace.

Do not be afraid.

I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you;

he is Christ the Lord.

Really, really (John 3:16)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but will have eternal life.

John 3:16

I want us to see four things today. I want us to see that God really, really loves the world; That he gave his only, only Son; So that those who believe in him will never, never die; But that they will truly, truly live.

1. God really, really loves the world

The first thing we see is that God really, really loves the world. This is the God who made the world - who made you and me. The bible says that he loves us.

Some of you hear that and say, “Of course, he loves me. I’m so lovable!” But others hear that and think, “Who cares?” Either we assume if there is God he must love us - that's his job. Or we use that as an excuse to say God doesn't exist because if he did, a loving God would never allow so much suffering to happen in this world.

When the bible says that God really, really loves the world, it is describing a world that takes him for granted. This is a world that ignores God. This is a world that hates God. And yet the bible says the God loves this world that he made.

When Princess Leia finally says to Han Solo, “I love you,” at the end of the Empire Strikes Back, Han turns to Leia and replies, “I know.” We think that’s cool. Or when Jack and Rose are standing on the top of the sinking ship, Titanic and Jack says to Rose, “You jump, I jump,” we think that’s love. Love is something that is mutual. It's chemistry. It’s spontaneous.

But that’s not the kind of love the bible is talking about. It’s more like Shrek, the big green monster when he says, “I love you,” to Fiona the princess at the end of the movie. Shrek is an ogre - a monster - and he is standing in front of Princess Fiona in a big church at the end of the movie; only Fiona is no longer a beautiful princess. She has turned into a big green monster and Shrek looks at her and says, “I love you.” Fiona is surprised and says, “Really?” Shrek answers, “Really, really.”

When God looks at us he does not see a beautiful princess - attractive, beautiful, size 8. He sees a big green monster. And he says, “I really, really love you.”

In this sense, the bible uses the word “world” to describe not its bigness but its badness. It’s not the world of the National Geographic documentaries - panoramas of mountaintops, snapshots of places and peoples in the world. Rather it’s world of the 8 o’clock news. Each time you turn on the evening news you expect to see reports on war, famine and violence; on conflicts happening across the globe. That’s the world we live in. Verse 19 tells us: This is the verdict: Light has come into world but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds are evil. This world is filled with people who do evil things. This is a world which hates God.

The bible says this is the world that we live in, but it also says: This is the world that God really, really loves.

2. God gave his only, only Son

Secondly, God gave his only, only Son. That’s the message of Christmas: Jesus coming into this world to be born as a baby.

His father (if you remember your Sunday School) is Joseph. His mother’s name is Mary. They are his parents; his mum and dad. But actually, the bible tells us that Jesus is God’s one and only Son.

That’s why God sends angels to the shepherds in the middle of the night with that important message, "I bring you good news of great joy for all the people." That’s why we read passages like Isaiah 9:6, “For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders,” written 700 years before the birth of Christ. That’s why the angels say to the shepherds, “Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”

It is because God is telling us this baby is no ordinary baby. This is God’s only, only Son. He was born to rule all of creation with the authority and power of God himself. The title the bible gives him is “Christ”, a word which means God’s chosen King. When we celebrate Christmas, we are celebrating the birth of the King - the birth of the Christ - who is Jesus.

A few months ago was my wife’s birthday and I got a big poster that said, “Happy Birthday” and put it up on the wall in our living room. It’s now December - which means the poster has been up on our living room wall for three months - and the other day, we were watching TV when she said to me, “Are we going to take it down?” “No problem,” I said to her. “We can just write ‘Jesus’ underneath, and it can be our Christmas decoration!”

Happy Birthday... Jesus!

Christmas celebrates the birthday of King Jesus - God’s one and only Son. And if you turn to the very beginning of the gospel, John first introduces us to Jesus as the eternal Word of God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. This is the same Word who created the world - Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. And John 1:14 tells us, this is the same Word who enters our world as a human being: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. God became human in Jesus Christ.

Theologians call this the incarnation. Carne is the latin word for flesh, but I like to think of “chilli con carne” - Chilli with Meat. That is, the Word took on flesh, or meat! I know that sounds crude, but it is supposed to be a shocking statement: God became a human being. Through the incarnation, Jesus becomes fully man and at the same time, fully God. He is Emmanuel - God with us. 

The question is: why? Why did the Creator become like his creation? Our third point tells us: So that we will never, never die.

3. So that we will never, never die

God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son… so that whoever believes in him shall not perish. And that word “perish” means to be completely and violently destroyed. It’s saying something we don’t hear a lot during Christmas: We are in danger of perishing - of being destroyed - because of God’s wrath over our sin.

Wait a minute! Didn’t we just say a moment ago that God really, really loves the world? How then can this same God be angry with the world? If you have never thought of that question before, it’s worth struggling with it - because people tend to either choose God’s love and ignore God’s anger or they focus on God’s anger and forget his love.

We know from the bible - and from our own experience - that both are true. The people we hurt most in our lives are the people we love the most and the people who love us the most. Our parents, our friends, our loved ones. When we let them down; when we lie to them; when ignore them - we hurt them much more than we would a complete stranger.

Someone asked me recently why God should care about the way we live our lives. When we sin against another person - it's understandable if that person is upset. But why should God be upset? It's actually a good question because I don't think this friend of mine disbelieves in the existence of God. But I think that this person believes in a God who is indifferent, not loving. They believe in a God who doesn't care about sin because they think sin doesn't affect him.

The bible tells us that sin is something God takes personally, mainly because sin is defined in the bible as rejecting God. One of the reasons God sends Jesus into the world is to show us that he takes that rejection very seriously. Look at verse 18: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” Our attitude towards Jesus is a picture of our attitude towards God - whether it is rejecting Jesus as King because I want to be king over my own life. Or it is rejecting Jesus as a Saviour because I am perfectly able to solve my own problems, thank you very much. The bible calls that sin and it tells us, one day, God will judge the sin of our lives and our attitudes and our actions and our hearts with death and destruction.

But that day is not this day. Verse 17 says: “For God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world but to save the world through him.” Jesus was sent as a King who would save his people. That’s what his name means. The angel says to Joseph (Matthew 1:21), “You are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.” Jesus means God saves.

4. So that we will truly, truly live

Which brings us to our final point: God gave his one and only Son so that all who believe in him shall not perish but will have eternal life. How does Jesus save us? Not by ignoring our sin but by taking our sin. Jesus came to take our death and to give us his life.

The way that Jesus saves is by himself being condemned. The way that Jesus gives life is by taking our death. In fact, that's how we know that Jesus really is who he is - God eternal and incarnate - through his death on the cross. The word became flesh - Tim Keller a Christian author says that at that point, the word became killable. What Christmas does in such a spectacular way is prepare us for the cross.

What does it mean to truly, truly live? It means to live in a relationship with God that is so intimate and trusting and loving that it can only be described in one way - in terms of God's love for his only Son. All his life, Jesus lived in obedience to his Father. All his life, Jesus never sinned against his Father, not even once. He was the only human being ever to have done that. He walked in obedience and love before God every step of the way.

Yet on the cross, Jesus would cry out to his Father, “My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me?” Jesus was abandoned on the cross. Why? Not because he sinned. Jesus was being punished not for his sin but for ours. The eternal Son of God was abandoned on the cross. When it says there that “God gave his Son,.” it’s not talking about the baby in the manger. God gave up his Son on the cross when he treated Jesus the way he should have treated us - with anger and abandonment. On the cross, it was Jesus who really, really died.

But you see, because Jesus really, really died, we can truly, truly live. He takes our death and he gives us his life. Earlier on, I said that God looks at the world and sees the big green monsters that we are. That’s not the full story though, because if we trust in Jesus, something marvellous happens. God looks at us and sees us the way we should be. He sees Jesus, his Son. On the cross, Jesus takes all our ugliness and sin but he also gives us his life, loveliness and relationship with his Father. He gives us eternal life.

Friends, do you know that God really, really loves you? And if you do: How do you know?

Some of us have never heard of God's love before and it sounds amazing! Wow, God really, really loves me? But some of us know all about God's love. If that's you, might I ask: How do you know that God really, really loves you? Can you even be sure of such a love?

John 3:16 is there to say to us: God wants us to be absolutely sure of his love by looking to the cross. He gave his Son. The incarnation prepares us for the crucifixion. Christmas points forward to the cross. Don't leave today without that absolute assurance - God really, really, really loves me, so much, that he gave Jesus on the cross, so that I might never, never die but will truly, truly live.

God sent his Son (Galatians 4:1-7)

No different from a slave

Our bible passage this afternoon is a classic Christmas text. It tells of how God sent Jesus to be born as a baby, taking on our humanity. We will get to that in verse 4. But just to set things in context, it is important that we begin reading from verse 1.

What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate.

Galatians 4:1

The key phrase for us to note is how Paul says that the heir can be “no different from a slave”. Paul is describing a someone who looks like he has everything - who himself thinks he owns everything - but in reality is no different from a slave. Why? Verse 2 says that he is subject to guardians and trustees. Verse 3 tells us that he is enslaved by “the basic principles of the world”. He’s a slave. This guy isn’t free.

Now, Paul is not talking about sin. That’s important to realise as the slavery which Paul describes in this verses is not addiction to some kind of destructive behaviour. That kind of slavery is obvious. You can see it in your own life (and you may or may not realise this, but your friends can see it too). That kind of bondage or addiction to sin is obvious.

But the slavery that Paul is describing here is not sin because this kind of slavery looks respectable. In verse 1, he gives us a picture of the heir who “owns the whole estate”. Literally, it reads “lord of all”. This guy has everything. Do you know anyone like that - who has all the money in the world; who has the car, the girl, the looks, the smarts? Paul says this guy might have it all but in reality he is no different from the slave forced to clean his toilet.

The thing is, Paul isn’t being hypothetical. He might be using an illustration but in verse 3 he makes it crystal clear he’s applying that illustration to us as Christians. He’s saying it’s possible for us to be saved but still live like we’re lost; it’s possible for us as believers to be sons and act like slaves.

So, also when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world.

Galatians 4:3

Did you get that? When we were children; we were in slavery? That’s Paul’s introduction to the Christmas message and his point is this: It’s possible for us as Christians to make a big deal out of Christmas and yet be absolutely clueless about the Christmas message.

It’s possible - in fact, I’d say that it’s likely - we have turned up today thinking, “This Christmas stuff is for someone else”; and we think it’s because we’ve done it so many times before, we know everything there is to know about Christmas; Christmas is for the kids, it’s for the newcomers, it’s boring - that’s what we think. But in reality, Paul says to us, “The real reason why you’ve lost that wonder over the message of the gospel is because you are like the heir who is no different from the slave”. Your friends might look at you and go, “That guy has everything.” Or, “She’s my role model.” But the truth is your life isn’t one of freedom. It’s one of slavery.

From Christmas to the cross

I got my haircut this week and struck up a conversation about Christmas with my barber, who is a Jehovah’s Witness. The thing you need to know about Jehovah’s Witnesses is they don’t believe that Jesus is God, so they don’t believe in the Christmas message that Jesus was God become man through the incarnation. So, my friend, the barber doesn’t celebrate Christmas (in fact, he doesn’t even celebrate his own birthday). When I asked him what his plans were for Christmas - whether he was going home, spending time with his family - he wasn’t at all keen on talking about it. “Christmas here in the UK is meaningless.” he said. “It’s just about presents and buying things. It’s not about Jesus.”

But then he pointed to bible which I’d placed on the counter. He had seen me reading it while I was waiting in line (I was preparing for this message) and was genuinely curious. “What is this, if you don’t mind my asking?” “It’s a bible,” I said.

“Do you mind if I took a look at your bible?” he asked. Wow! In fact, he did more than take a look at it. He called out to his friend behind his counter, “Hey, check this out!” He then showed me what he was reading that morning for his devotional (Psalm 37). We even talked about his favourite passages from Scripture (John 17 and Revelation 21).

As you can imagine, my haircut took a little longer than expected (and my hair ended up a bit shorter than expected!) He was trying to tell me why he believed Jesus was not divine. I was trying to answer his objections by showing how the bible pointed to Jesus as God.

But I also wanted to steer the conversation back to Christmas. Here was a guy keen to talk about God. He was enthusiastic about the bible. He had a high view of Jesus but he had a big problem with Jesus being God coming to be born as a baby. So finally I said to him, “I know that we disagree on this one thing - you say Jesus wasn’t God, I think the bible says he was. But what would it mean if he was? I know you don’t think so, but consider just for a moment - if Jesus was God, then what Christians are really saying is that God died on the cross. That’s the biggest difference between you and me. If God died on the cross, then it means God had to come as a man; then it means God had to be born as a baby.”

You see, Paul was trying to get to the same point when he talked about Christmas. He was trying to get to the cross. The reason God sent Jesus two thousand years ago, wasn’t just to be born as a baby. It was so that Jesus could die for our sins. In other words, the reason for Christmas is the cross.

Born under law

But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

Galatians 4:4-5

Most people only ever hear verse 4, “God sent his Son, born of a woman...” but it is verse 5 that tells us why God sent Jesus; why Jesus was born of a woman. Verse 5 says, “to redeem those under law.”

If you remember, that is what the angel said to Joseph, “You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Most babies only do three things - eat, sleep and poop. Babies are helpless, they can’t look after themselves, they need constant attention. They need constant care. But this baby, according to the angel, will grow up to do something for us instead. He will save his people from their sins.

That’s why Jesus was born. If you notice, Paul doesn’t just say, “born of a woman,” he also adds, “born under law.” Why does he say that? Born of a woman, we understand. In fact, isn’t that what we hear every Christmas? Jesus was born as a baby. His parents were Mary and Joseph. And then we get the kids to dress up as the shepherds who come and see the baby Jesus in the manger. We understand that Christmas is about Jesus being born as a baby. We’ve heard again and again that on Christmas Day, God sent his Son to be born as a man, born of a woman.

But why? That’s the question Paul is answering. Why did Jesus have to be born of a woman? Answer: Because Jesus was entering our world not as an heir but as a slave. That’s what being born under law means. It means humbling himself. It means Jesus subjected himself under God’s law, living in obedience to the law and ultimately taking upon himself the punishment of the law.

That’s why verse 5 begins, “To redeem those under law.” Redeem simply means to pay. His life was a kind of payment and the law was a bill that we couldn’t afford to pay ourselves, but which Jesus took on and signed on our behalf. Under the law, Jesus paid the price for our salvation.

A few days ago I went to see the musical Les Miserables, which tells the fictional story of Jean Valjean, a man locked up in jail for nineteen years for stealing a loaf of bread. Upon his release from prison, he meets a bishop who offers him food and shelter, but Jean ends up stealing the silverware instead. Jean gets apprehended by the police who bring him back in chains to the priest’s home. But instead of charging Jean Valjean with the theft of the silverware, the bishop thrusts a couple of silver candlesticks into his hands, saying, “You left so early, surely something slipped your mind. You forgot... I gave these to you, also!”

What the bishop showed was more than generosity. It was grace. He gave Jean a second chance. “God has raised you out of darkness. I have bought your soul for God,” said the bishop to Jean.

When Jesus paid our debt on the cross, he did more than pick up the tab. He released us from slavery to become sons. Verse 5 again, “To redeem us under the law that we might receive the full rights of sons.” Paul puts it another way in 2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

At the end of the day, Paul is saying you are either a slave or an heir. It’s either one or the other. Again, the kind of slavery Paul is talking about isn’t chains and oppression and bondage - it’s not the kind of slavery that’s obvious. Rather, this slavery looks respectable and proper from the outside.

Over and against the Valjean’s character in the musical Les Mis was the character of Inspector Javert, who spends his life searching for the escaped convict. Yet in a pivotal scene of the musical, Jean risks his life to save the inspector from being executed. The inspector cannot comprehend how a criminal he has despised all his life would come to his aid. Instead of gratitude, the experience fills the inspector with grief and hatred.

Damned if I'll live in the debt of a thief!

Damned if I'll yield at the end of the chase.

I am the Law and the Law is not mocked

I'll spit his pity right back in his face

There is nothing on earth that we share

It is either Valjean or Javert!

Unable to deal with the conflict in his soul, Javert takes his own life by jumping off a bridge. You might say to me, “Now that’s just silly. Why would anyone be so broken up over the law - a bunch of rules - of all things?” Well, for Javert it was the law, but for many students here in Cambridge, it’s their degree. For many parents, it’s their children. For many Asians, it’s respect and status in the community. We’re not talking about something that’s bad or destructive in and of itself, rather, it’s what we’ve built our entire lives on, over and against God. It’s that thing or person or accomplishment, which if taken away, we would say, “I no longer have a reason to live.” That’s the kind of slavery Paul is describing in Galatians and I think it’s a kind of slavery that happens a whole lot here in a city like Cambridge.

What Jesus did in coming to be born on Christmas Day was take on our humanity, yes, but also, take on our slavery. He was born under law, so that when he died on the cross, he could take the full penalty of that law.

When you understand slavery in that way and what Jesus did to free us from that slavery, then you begin to see that people react to the message of Christmas in one of two ways. Either they are freed from their slavery by trusting in Jesus, or sadly like Inspector Javert, they would rather die the slave than live in gratitude to the one who freed them.

This means determining whether you are a slave or an heir is not as simple as asking yourself, “Am I free?” or “How blessed do I feel?” After all, Paul began with the heir who thinks he has everything but in reality is no different from the slave. Meaning, it’s easy to fool yourself into thinking you are one or the other - either out of pride or self-pity. No, the real test is in your response to God’s grace in Jesus Christ. The real test is look at the cross - to see there a man hanging in agony, bearing the full weight of God’s anger - and say, “That’s what I deserved, but thank you, Jesus, that you came and paid price I could never have paid on my own.”

The Spirit of the Son

Some of you are terrified at the idea of doing something like that because you think it’s a con that Christians use to get you to feel miserable about your sin. You are afraid that if you let yourself be vulnerable even for a moment, even before God, he’s going to point the finger at you and go, “Aha! Gotcha!”

If that’s you, then just listen to what Paul says next because he tells us God sends the Spirit to help us to cry out to him as more than just a master, more than just a judge. He wants us to call him Dad.

Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

Galatians 4:6-7

God helps us to turn to him every step of the way. First he sent his Son to die for us on the cross. Then he sends the Spirit of his Son to call him Father. Why does he do that? Precisely because it’s not enough to know that we are no longer slaves, we need to be reassured that we are sons. If you are at all able to pray to God and call him Father, here is a word of assurance from the bible that says to you, it’s the work of the Holy Spirit enabling you to do just that.

The point is, God doesn’t want slaves, he loves us as sons. He loves us to such an extent that he sent his own Son to die on the cross for us. It means he isn’t looking for you to prove yourself - he loves you. It means he isn’t looking for you to make up for your mistakes - he forgave you in Jesus already.

It means that in Jesus Christ, God became man, the Son humbled himself as a slave, the author of life suffered death, the sinless one became sin, the one who made the law was born under law in order that he might redeem those under law. In order that we, together with Jesus, might receive the full blessings of God our Father as his sons.

Born that man no more may die

Born to raise the sons of earth

Born to give them second birth

Hark! The herald angels sing

"Glory to the newborn King!"

All I want for Christmas is... Love (Matthew 21:33-46)

Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

Matthew 21:37

All I want for Christmas - that’s the title of our Christmas series. And for the past few weeks we have been dealing with expectations. What do we expect from one another? What do we expect from God?

Today we end our series by looking at a passage in the bible which speaks not about our expectation of God, but of God’s expectation of us. Last of all, verse 37 says, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. But as soon as they saw him, verse 39 tells us: They took him and they threw him out and they killed him.

What was God’s expectation in sending Jesus? That he would be received. That Jesus would be rejected. Both are true. Jesus should have been received as God’s son. But God also knew that Jesus would be rejected, cast out and killed.

The turning point in the whole story comes in the next verse; in verse 40. Jesus turns to his hearers and asks, “So, what do you think will happen next?” You see, Jesus is telling a story with a conclusion that is so obvious that everyone can see how it is going to end. Look at how his hearers respond - not Jesus, but the people listening to Jesus tell this parable - Look at how they end the story.

He will bring those wretches to a wretched end.

Matthew 21:41

“Ooh, those horrible people deserve to be taught a good lesson!” they said. This was not simply a matter justice. This was vengeance. Payback. Those wretches will be brought to a wretched end. Those soi yan should be squashed like soggy satsumas. Everyone was going, “Yeah! Get them, Jesus! Get those bad guys.”

But then again, Jesus wasn’t just talking about “those” bad guys. He says, “I am talking about you...” Verse 41: “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.”

Happy Christmas! Joy to the world - The kingdom of God will be taken away from you! Not exactly the warm fuzzy story we expected on Christmas day - of love, peace and joy? But let me just say, if we understand this story rightly, it is a story of love - a rejected love. It is a story of peace - a restored peace. And it is a story of joy - an everlasting joy.

It is a story  that begins with a generous landowner who provides the very best for his tenants.

The landowner

“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.
Matthew 21:33

Imagine you were starting up your a new business. Yao, Ben and Lang form a band - the Solid Rockers. Or Winnie and Alana decide to open up an architecture firm together. Or Along starts up law firm in Cambridge. What you would need is lots of money and investment, office space, furniture, advertising, staff.

That’s what Jesus is talking about. I mean, we hear “winepress”, “tower”, “vineyard” - and naturally, we think about farming. But what this landowner does is he builds a business. He develops his land so that it isn’t just empty space, but rather, it becomes fruitful. This is a vineyard - meaning, it’s for growing grapes, and technically, if all he wanted to do was grow grapes, he had everything he needed - land and soil. But what else does he do? He builds a wall - he protects his investment. He digs a winepress - meaning, he builds in the facilities to produce wine from the grapes. And finally, he builds a tower - this is like putting in a high-end security system, on top of the wall that’s already there.

It’s like going to an investor with your business idea and he says, “Right, I’ll give you the money, I’ll buy you all the equipment you need - the fastest computers, the best equipment, a snazzy website. On top of that, I’ll insure and protect your business - I’ll file the patents and get Along to countersign all the legal documents. All you need to do is to move in and start working. Anything and everything you need will be provided for you.

This is a picture of a God who is generous. A God who blesses abundantly - more than we expect; more than we deserve. This is a God who takes joy in his creation. Notice how it is the landowner who plants the vineyard, he builds the wall, he digs the winepress. He gets his hands dirty, because he is invested in his creation and he takes joy in his creation. Finally, he entrusts his joy and the labour of his love to others so that they will benefit from his creation.

The story starts with God. And that’s something we need to realise. Everything comes from God who created everything and entrusts his creation to man. In the story, the landowner rents the business out to some farmers who lease the vineyard, together with the all the added extras. And as we shall see, they love the land. But as we shall also see, this same love for the land, causes them to start hating the owner of the land.

The tenants

When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.

Matthew 21:34-36

At the end of the month, the bill arrives in the post - “Please pay this month’s rent.” Except instead of just ignoring the letter or throwing it in the bin, they tie up the postman and start beating him up! Meaning: this isn’t just ignorance we are looking at, nor is it merely ingratitude. It is contempt for the landowner and anything who represents the landowner. Notice what the farmers do to the servants in verse 35: they beat one, they killed another, and they stone the third. They went all Old Testament on these guys, especially the bit about stoning. Stoning was a communal act of judgement. It wasn’t just a few farmers who didn’t like their boss. Everyone turned up, picked up a stone and threw it at the postman. Everyone took part in the rebellion.

But notice the landowners response. He sent other servants, more than the first time. He doesn’t give up. He sends more and more people - servants, not soldiers - to deliver a message. But each and every servant was treated the same way.

That’s what the landowner did, and that’s what God does in the bible. He sends his prophets. He sends Moses. He sends Isaiah. He sends Daniel and Jeremiah. But each time, the servant is reject, the message is rejected because God is being rejected. Yet, God does not give up. He keeps sending his word and he keeps sending people to speak his word to a world which rejects his word.

But lastly, he sends his Son.

Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. “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.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

Matthew 21:38-39

What is so interesting about this is that now we start to see why the tenants have been rejected landowner. Look at what they say when they see his son approaching the vineyard, “This is the heir. Let’s kill him and take his inheritance.”

There are two clear reasons. Firstly, they want the vineyard. It’s a fantastic business venture. Everything is good. It is not the case that the landowner is forcing them to work. It is not the case that there was something wrong with the land. Everything was good. That was the problem.

Often times in church, especially during a time like Christmas, we focus on reminding everyone just how good things are. We talk about Christmas as time for family. A time for thanksgiving. A time for rejoicing. And we say, isn’t it amazing how God has blessed us this year? And so much of our efforts at Christmas-time is focussed on making sure everyone has a good time.

Now the last thing I want to suggest is that we make Christmas horrible and miserable! But isn’t it the case with the tenants that they were so focussed on how good they had it with the land and with the vineyard, that they rejected the one who gave them that blessing in the first place? I see this every year at Christmas: people who are so desperate to celebrate all the good things God has given them that they are ironically blinded to God himself. They are so desperate to make Christmas about everything good except God - It’s all about  the food, family, presents, turkey, holiday, TV, sleeping in on Sunday - but mention about Jesus at the dinner table; or bring up the cross in a Christmas sermon - and people will get upset.

The first thing we see from the tenants is: It is very possible to receive God’s blessing and still reject God.

The second thing we see is this: The tenants recognise the landowner’s son. “This is the heir. This is his inheritance.” They wanted to separate the son from his inheritance. “Let’s kill him  and take his inheritance.” But notice how in verse 39, the tenants didn’t simply kill the him, they way they did with the other servants. No, first they took him, then they threw him out of the vineyard. Only after that did they killed him.

What were they doing? They wanted to be sons. Do you see that? They didn’t say, “We will take the land.” They said, “We will take the inheritance.” For them, sonship was about a status. They would own the land, not merely live in it. They wanted to be the landowners.

Jesus is helping us understand what sin actually is. A lot of people might read this parable and think sin is killing the servants. Or that, sin means killing the son. I mean, those actions are sinful. So we might teach this parable in Sunday School and say to the kids, “So kids, we should not be like the bad tenants and beat up the people we don’t like. Understand?” And the kids go, “Yes, teacher!” But that’s not the bible’s definition sin (doing bad things) and that’s not the lesson of the parable (don’t be like sinful people).

Rather, the parable teaches us that sin is wanting to be God. Sin means we’re not happy merely receiving blessing from God. We want to own that blessing. We want to be the source of that blessing. We want to be God of our own lives. And it is out of this deep desire to replace God that flows sinful actions like anger, jealousy and hate and murder. But at the root of sin is this deep desire to be God - to be our own master and to reject God as our master.

When we make Christmas out to be about me - that’s sin. We take the good things that God has given us and we celebrate ourselves. And when we make an effort to intentionally separate Christ from Christmas - to distance him from the blessing’s he has given us, which rightly belong to him - it’s really no different from the tenants kicking the son out of the vineyard. That’s a very dangerous and foolish thing to do.

The Son

“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” “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.”

Matthew 21:40-41

At this point it is very important to recognise who Jesus is talking to. In a sense, yes, he is talking to us and we’ve seen that there are lots of points of application in our own lives. But while it is very tempting to apply this parable directly to us today, it is important to recognise that Jesus is addressing a specific group of individuals in this passage.

Verse 23 introduces the context of the conversation.

Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him.

Matthew 21:23

But the more obvious verse to look at is near the end of the chapter.

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them.

Matthew 21:45

In fact, for the next few chapters, Jesus is speaking to the same specific group of individuals - the chief priests and the Pharisees. The chief priests were the pastors. They were the guys who led the biggest church in town. If you had a question about the bible or about God, you asked the chief priests. On the other hand, the Pharisees were the bible teachers and experts. Not only did they know Leviticus inside-out in Hebrew and Greek, they tried to apply as much of the Old Testament laws as possible to their own lives and to others. In other words, these were the evangelicals of their day.

The chief priest and Pharisees were church leaders and top theologians of the Jewish faith; and verse 23 tells us that Jesus was engaging them in their home turf - the temple. There he was in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge - talking to the Chinese tourists armed with their Canon SLR’s - about what God was really like; how God’s kingdom was coming; what is meant to understand God’s will in the bible - and the theologians and church leaders in Cambridge weren’t happy. They came to Jesus and asked him - this ex-construction worker without a degree who had from a housing estate up north in Arbury - what business he had to be here.

Jesus answers them. To these experts and religious teachers, he says, “Haven’t you read the Scriptures?”

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 marvellous in our eyes’?

Matthew 21:42

This is a direct quote from Psalm 118 and at first glance it might be hard to see the connection to the parable. Jesus switches from a farm to a construction site. He switches from talking about a rejected son to now talking about a rejected stone.

The builders were the experts in choosing the right building materials - the right stones that they needed to build the walls. From experience and skill, they were the experts who could tell which kind of brick was best. Often this meant choosing the most uniform-looking and standard-sized stone. Yet here, they come across one stone that is unsuitable for use and is tossed out. Psalm 18 says, this rejected stone becomes the captone - literally, the headstone - meaning, the one that caps the entire building and has the most prominence.

Like the builders, the chief priests had rejected Jesus. Like the tenants, the Pharisees rejected the son. Out of all the people in Jerusalem, the religious leaders ought to have recognised who Jesus was, because of their privilege of serving in God’s temple, because of their position as God’s priests. Instead the experts rejected Jesus as unsuitable and unworthy.

It is to the religious teachers that Jesus pronounces the judgement in verse 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. He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”

Matthew 21:43

These leaders were unfruitful and unfaithful. All this while we may have been assuming that the tenants were merely unwilling to share the fruit they had worked so hard for. But Jesus sums up the story by saying that God’s kingdom will be given to another people who will “produce its fruit”. This is very telling. It’s saying that they current tenants aren’t producing fruit at all. They were entrusted with an enterprise - a vineyard that was meant to grow in fruitfulness and blessing. But these tenants don’t want to do the work. They want the status as owners. They want to live on the land and to live off the land as landowners.

If you remember a couple of weeks ago, this ties in very clearly to the judgement Jesus pronounced on the fruitless fig tree. It was a tree that was full of leaves, meaning, it had the appearance of bearing fruit. But in reality, it was all empty packaging.

And when Jesus says “the kingdom of God will be... given to another people”, the word that he actually uses is “nation”. It will be taken from you and given to another nation - Jesus says. As in, the Court of Nations, where Jesus drove out the money-changes and dove-sellers. As in, the house of prayer for the nations that he quoted from Isaiah 56:7. Jesus is talking about mission. God’s blessing is meant to go out to the nations.

What is the fruitfulness that God looks for amongst his people - specifically amongst his church - today? It isn’t that your church grows. The chief priests and Pharisees were concerned for their own church - so much so, that they were willing to turn the Court of the Nations into the temple bookshop and to run Alpha courses for their own church members (which really kinda defeats the point of having Alpha courses, if you ask me). And neither is fruitfulness about growing your church finances, having a bigger building, or hosting large conferences in the name of Jesus. Again and again, right through this chapter in Matthew 21 and right through the bible - fruitfulness has to do with the mission of God’s son proclaimed among the nations.

The leaders in the temple were unfruitful. In an effort to preserve their own status and guard their own investments, they had forsaken God’s mission to bring all nations to a knowledge of himself.

But there is another - more serious - indictment that Jesus makes here of the builder. They were unfaithful. They had rejected God and they had rejected his Son. Like the tenants, they saw in Jesus a threat to their status. The last verse reveals very tellingly, their true yet hidden intentions towards Jesus.

They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

Matthew 21:46

The only difference was opportunity. The tenants saw the son and they killed him. The religious leaders would have done exactly the same, if it weren’t that they were more concerned about how it would look bad for them in front of the crowd. It is exactly the same with us. We have the motivation. Our hearts are just as opposed to Jesus. We are just too scared to let other people see what we would really do if we had the chance.

That’s the thing about unfaithfulness. We cover it up. Do it often enough and we might even succeed in hiding it from ourselves. But Jesus comes to exposes the unfaithful hearts of the religious leaders, “I tell you.. the kingdom of God will be taken away... from you”. It is amazing how they couldn’t see the obvious truth coming a while away. For them, the parable was a story about those “wretched people” who deserve a “wretched end”. Jesus says, It’s not them, it’s you.

That’s the bad news. But embedded in this is the tremendous good news. God takes our rejection and turns it into the very basis of our salvation. Jesus knew he would be rejected. He was days away from being executed on the cross. He could see that coming a mile away. But he also predicted that he would be raised and resurrected, and in doing so, fulfil the prophecy of Psalm 118.

‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone;

the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes.

God has done this. Yes, the builders rejected the stone. And yes, the same religious leaders would be responsible for killing Jesus on the cross. But Psalm 118 says that ultimately, the Lord has done this. God sent his son knowing that Jesus would be rejected but that on the cross, he would be taking all of our rejection of God, and all of God’s rejection of us, upon himself. On the cross, Jesus would take our sin and our punishment for sin, so that all who trust in him would be fully accepted before God. For us who look to him on the cross - on Jesus - he is marvellous in our eyes.

What do you see when you look at Jesus? The parable gives us two possible responses.

Some of us see a threat. The tenants see the heir coming to take away the land, forgetting that it was all graciously given them in the first place in trust and in love. The religious leaders see a challenge to their authority and status in the church. Ironically, their love for God’s blessing has led them to forsake God, the source of their blessing.

But I sincerely hope you see Jesus as he truly is. Marvellous. God has sent his son into the world to be received as who he really is - the heir of all things. In his generosity and his wisdom, it is to those who do receive his Son who receive together with him - all things.

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

Romans 8:32