Picked Last

Matthew 21:33-4633"Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 34When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. 35"The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said. 38"But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.' 39So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40"Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" 41"He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time." 42Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: " 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'This week we will be returning to the Vineyard. This time the land owner is not there because he had leased the land to some tenants. He has left someone else in charge to take care of the property. This parable has the overtones of being rejected. Let's face it, we have all felt rejected or left out. I can think back to grade school when we choose up sides for different teams. I remember that this one boy who loved to play but was rather pathetic was always picked last. I do not mean sometimes, I mean every time sides were chosen he was dead last. I remember feeling so bad watching him sit there with that excited look on his face. But he was always picked last. How did he feel when the realization set in that there was no one else to pick, as he stood there alone? I think that God represents the last one picked. This must be how God feels when we reject his son? He sent his son not because he had too but because he loves us. he wanted to have a love re;ationship with us. But so often we reject not only the love that was offered but also the sacrifice that was made. I think that we also pick Jesus last in a lot situation. We have tons of options and if Jesus fits into our schedule or dreams, then we will pick him but it is usually the last pick. God stands there offering all that we need and we pick over him almost every time. You see we have the wrong concept of the way he should pick God. Actually we should not pick God at all. But we should allow God to pick us. This week in our reading for "Experiencing God", we read a quote from Henry Blackaby that said, "we do not dream our dreams and then asked God to bless them. No we live out the dream that God has called us to." See when we pick Jesus first we allow God to work in us and through us. Did Jesus pick the best and most qualified as his disciples? No, he picked the ones that had been picked over. That is really good news because that it means when we line up and God chooses sides he is going to choose us first. I love it the way one theologian described how much we mean to God. He said, "if God had a refrigerator then your picture would be on it" Do not reject the corner stone because he has picked you.