The foolishness of the master in this story always bothers me. The tenants have a long pattern of murdering servants. How could anybody be stupid enough to believe they would respect his son? Of course they’re going to kill him. And they do.
One could almost say the same of God for sending Jesus. Why do that? Of course we were going to torture Him and put Him to death on a cross. As sinful human beings, we have a long track record of abusing the innocent. And Jesus being the Son of God didn’t change that.
But God knew what we would do—knew it from before the foundation of the world. It wasn’t naivete that brought Jesus into the world—it was love. God would use our predictable evil for His own purposes, to bring about the greatest reversal that ever was. Jesus’ death and resurrection would completely remake us—changing us from wicked tenants into forgiven, innocent children of God.
WE PRAY: Lord, open my eyes to Your love. Amen.
Reflection Questions:
* Give an example of a predictable evil you know about.
* Why do you think God sent so many prophets before His Son?
* Why does God choose to use our evil to produce His wonderful good?
Lenten Devotions were written by Dr. Kari Vo.