Today's Devotion

Thursday or Easter 7, May 21, 2026 - Luke 20:1-18

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The “chief priests and the scribes with the elders” exercised great authority. But was their authority legitimate? Jesus operated outside of their authority. He went even further, questioning their authority. So it stands to reason that a clash is coming.

They come to Jesus and demand: “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” Of course, the Son receives His authority from the Father (Matt 28:18). It is the same authority by which John the Baptist preached and taught. The priests, scribes, and elders also opposed John, but were afraid to do so openly. This is why Jesus replies: “I also will ask you a question…. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” Jesus is wording His challenge in this way, because His own authority is “from heaven,” while the priests and their minions are operating under authority propped up by Rome and by their own rules and regulations rather than God’s Word.

They refuse to answer His question, because either answer that they might give will expose them. So they lie and say that they don’t know. Of course, Jesus knows that they are lying and exposes it: “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” For it’s not that they don’t know, it’s that they won’t say. They resort to the politicians’ trick of refusing to answer a difficult question. But they know that Jesus is asserting divine authority here, for both the prophet John and for Himself as the Son: the Son of Man, the Son of David, the Son of God.

And emphasizing this Sonship – and the authority that goes along with it – Jesus translates this conflict into a parable. And in this story, the priests and scribes are simply the latest in a long line of those who usurp God’s authority by rejecting God’s prophets. And it is not lost on anyone that the latest of the prophets, John the Baptist, was beheaded by “king” Herod, a usurper and pretender, a fraud, and a collaborator with Roman authority.

But in the parable, the twist in the plot is that the owner of the vineyard sends his “beloved son” to the tenants, but they resolved to “kill him.” And so “they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.” So what will the owner of the vineyard do to the tenants? “He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” Our Lord’s listeners are shocked, saying, “Surely not!” But Jesus doubles down. “He looked directly at them and said, ‘What then is this that is written: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”? (Ps 118:22). And Jesus concludes: “Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

Jesus, acting on divine authority and rejecting the usurped authority of Herod and the priests, has both destroyed those tenants, and given the vineyard to others.

Amen.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.