Luke 20:9-19
Be still: Lord, help me to slow down and become aware of your presence. As I read your Word today, give me a heart that is open and ready to listen. Amen
Read: Luke 20:9-19
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 cornerstone’?' (v17)
Encounter: There’s a particular awkwardness when you lend something to someone and it's returned damaged: maybe a book with coffee stains, a jumper with a hole, or a car with fresh dents. It’s not just that it's damaged; it’s that something entrusted to someone has been treated carelessly, as though it belonged to them.
That’s the tension of this parable: Jesus' story is about tenants of a vineyard who forget that the vineyard isn't theirs. Servants are sent to collect what is owed, but the tenants beat them and send them away. Finally, the owner sends his beloved son, thinking, ‘Perhaps they will respect him.’ Instead, they kill him, hoping to seize the inheritance for themselves.
It is a shocking story! The religious leaders know Jesus is speaking about them. They've been entrusted with the things of God but are behaving as though the truth belongs to them. They have mistaken stewardship for ownership. Now, standing in front of them, is the beloved Son himself.
Jesus quotes the psalm: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.’ (v17). The very one they are rejecting is the one on which everything depends. The one they are trying to remove is the foundation of God’s whole saving work.
The challenge is for us too. All of life is entrusted to us: time, money, work, relationships, gifts, bodies, influence. Nothing is ours to possess or control. Everything is God's. Yet it is so easy to live as though we are owners rather than tenants.
The invitation is to receive Jesus as the cornerstone; not as a helpful addition to a life we control, but as the one on whom everything depends.
Apply: Ask God to show you anywhere you have drifted from stewardship into ownership. What would it look like to let Jesus be the cornerstone again: in your work, relationships, money, time, or plans?
Devote: Jesus, you are my cornerstone. Forgive me when I treat what you have entrusted to me as though it's mine. Teach me to receive all I have as a gift, and to build my whole life on you.