Luke 20:19-20 - How you Treat the Son . . .

Luke 20:19-20 (ESV)

[19] The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. [20] So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.

Jesus told a parable of a man who rented his vineyard to tenants. He sent various servants to collect the rent, but they were beaten and chased off. This is reminiscent of how the Jews treated the Prophets of the Old Testament ending with John having been killed by Herod. The people were drawn to them, but the leaders rejected them. The man then sent his son. The tenants plotted to kill the son reasoning that if they killed the son the land would be theirs. That’s faulty thinking, but when you reject truth everything else sounds right. The conclusion of the story is that how you treat the son determines how you will be treated by the father.

The scribes and chief priests understood exactly what Jesus was saying, but like the unfaithful tenants, they rejected the Son. Fear of the people kept them from attacking him directly, so they used deception. Their plan was to discredit him in front of the people by getting him to say something that would be considered active opposition against the Roman authorities. That would both distance the people from him and pass the act of punishment to the Romans. Their hands would be clean. The people could hate the Romans authorities all they wanted, but Jesus would be taken out of the picture.

Getting someone else to do your dirty work so you look clean does not remove your guilt. How you treat the Son is how you will be treated by the Father. He looks beyond pretense and outward appearances. When Samuel went to anoint the next king after Saul God told him, “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1Sam 16:7). Let’s make sure that our faith journey is genuine and not pretense. How you treat the Son is how you will be treated by the Father.