1. The first son kind of sounds like me. My initial response is usually a dumb one. It takes me a little time (and prayer) to come to my senses. The first con does go to work in the vineyard. Kudos to him…
2. I would hate to be like that second son, but I know I have been. There a lot things that I have SAID I will do in this life that I haven’t. That’s definitely not a good thing…
3. A no-brainer story. And then Jesus turns it on their heads. Tax collectors and prostitutes have said “no” to God, but now they are saying “yes.” Religious leaders say, “Yeah, sure, I’ll work for You, God,” and then don’t. Not cool. Not cool. I bet this ticked them off, but it was true!
4. John the Baptist brought the truth and the “bad” people responded. The “good” people sat on their butts. Hmm…
5. Another parable…ok…guy builds wine-making operation, rents it out, goes away, and has some servants to come by to collect the fruit during harvest time. Easy…
6. Apparently, these renters forgot whose land it was because they beat, killed, and stoned the servants! Dang! Twice. Dang!
7. The man thought they’d at least respect his son (I mean, the son is an owner too!). They didn’t. They killed him. They wanted what was his. Greedy.
8. You’d have to think that the owner is now going to bring the heat with him.
9. No brainer story. Right…wrong…
10. Jesus then quotes a Psalm, saying that there is a “stone” that the “builders” have rejected. But now it will be the “capstone,” the stone that holds everything together. In an archway, you build with stones, up from each side. Finally, you place the middle stone (the capstone). This stone is central and bears the most weight, making it the most important. Amateur architecture. Yeah…
11. So…who were the “servants” from the story?
12. The “son” and the “stone” that was rejected are the same. Who is that?
13. How will the “stone” that was rejected become the “capstone”?
14. The religious leaders seem to be the renters of the vineyard because Jesus talks about taking the kingdom of God away from them and giving it to people who will produce fruit (tax collectors? prostitutes?).
15. You know that you feel guilty when you want to shoot the messenger. They wanted to arrest Jesus. Man… I guess it was a good thing that they were so worried about the crowd.
