Read Matthew 21:33-46 with your family.

Sometimes we have to listen very carefully to what Jesus meant in his parables, and sometimes we don’t have to wonder at all.

In this parable the priests who were listening knew Jesus was talking about them and about how they had not respected or accepted the messengers from God who had come to teach them about how God wanted them to live. They felt guilty but they did not want to change how they behaved or how rich they were because they worked at the Temple.

The last part of the story was the land owner, meaning God, sent his son, meaning Jesus, and they beat and killed him too.

Jesus barely finishes telling the story when those same priests were planning ways to get rid of Jesus – like they hadn’t even heard the warning in Jesus’ story that they better leave Jesus alone.

There are a lot of people who call themselves Christian leaders, but who are more interested in the power to tell others how to behave rather than living like Jesus wanted them to.

Jesus knew about them and how they chose power and money over God’s teachings.

That is also why Jesus taught us we don’t need anyone else getting in the way of our relationship with God. We can pray to God, sing to God and do the things Jesus taught us to do to make the world into a fair place where everyone is treated properly.