Fear Of Truth

Fear of Truth

Matthew 21:45-46, NIV

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

Luke 20:19, NIV

The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.

Setting the Scene

This week’s readings began with a delegation of priests confronting Jesus about his authority. They end with the confrontation reversed. The chief priests had been outmaneuvered. Jesus had managed to sidestep their trap, provide an answer to their question for those who really wanted to know the source of his authority, and then turn the tables on them using a parable that highlighted their historic failure to be the spiritual leaders God had intended them to be. And they were livid.

Luke tells us that though the chief priests were looking for a “way to arrest him immediately,” they didn’t because they were “afraid of the people.” Matthew helps us understand why they were afraid: “because the people held that he was a prophet.” Those trying to destroy Jesus knew they needed to move cautiously and plan carefully.

We may not give the messengers God sends to us the violent treatment given to the landowner’s servants, but do we listen and learn from those God sends our way? Or are we sullen, silent, or even prideful, thinking we have nothing new to learn?

Getting Personal

Based on Jesus’ parable of the tenants, how do you think we should treat the messengers that God sends into our lives?

What is your relationship like right now with your pastor and other religious leaders in your life?

One of the killers of spiritual vitality is calculated behavior. We want to figure out the minimum standards for pleasing God and then pretend to meet them. This is a game we can’t win by trying or by pretending. A halfhearted effort to surrender to God means that the other half of our heart is desperately looking for a way of escape.

Talking to God

Let any reluctance to obey be shattered against “the stone.” Ask God to help you seek his Kingdom and his righteousness first, and let other priorities fall into place.