October 5, 2008 Matthew 21:33-46
Someone wisely noticed that 20% of fatal accidents occur with car crashes. Message: don’t ride in automobiles.
Another 17% of accidents happen at home. So, be sure to go out, often. Don’t walk on the street or sidewalks. 14% of accidents happen to pedestrians. And don’t travel by air, rail, or water. There’s another 16% of accidents. However, only 0.001% of all deaths reported occur in worship services. Overstated, but you get the point. When I heard that 90% of accidents happen within a few miles of your home, I said, “I’m moving!” Get it?
Throughout his life, Jesus told stories, parables, kingdom jokes and wanted people to “get it.” With each parable, Jesus was trying to get us to develop a kingdom mentality, God’s perspective on what’s most important in life. The Sower and the Seed, The Wheat and Weeds, The Pearl of Great Price, The Prodigal Son, The Good Samaritan, The Lost Sheep, The Wicked Tenants: these are among some three dozen parables Jesus told to get people to think about their relationship with God and their relationships with people.
To interpret a parable of Jesus correctly is first to identify what Jesus meant then and there and to identify what his hearers understood then and there. Only then are we able to apply the meaning for today, here and now. Here’s the parable we just read and heard. I. Then and There Jesus said, “There was a landowner who planted a vineyard.” The religious leaders and common people all understood that Israel was the vineyard planted and owned by God. Jesus’ words were informed reflections of Jewish tradition and teaching. In Isaiah 5 it says, “The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,” the covenant community, the chosen people. The wall, the winepress, and the watchtower served to meet all the needs for safety, food, and lodging for the workers. God had provided all that Israel needed for a safe, secure, productive, happy life. “Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.” It was clear right off the bat that the farmers, the tenants were the religious leaders of Israel. Later it says that “the chief priests and Pharisees knew Jesus was talking about them.” From Abraham in 200 B.C. to the coming of Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, the leaders of Israel were to tend the vineyard, prepare for the harvest. That is, they were to prepare the people for the fulfillment of the covenant. Back in Genesis 12, God promised Abraham, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you… and all the peoples on the earth will be blessed through you.” The purpose of the vineyard was to bless the tenants as well as many others with the harvest of fruit. The purpose of God’s people was to know the blessings of God and to extend that blessing to all others.
The servants sent by the owner in the parable were of course the prophets sent by God to remind Israel of this purpose in the covenant. When Jesus came, God was announcing the time for all nations to share in the covenant blessings.
So far, the parable made perfect sense to those listening. All of this could have been heard in a rabbinic teaching in a synagogue anywhere throughout Israel at the time. But then Jesus said, “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Last of all, he sent his son to them. But the when tenants saw the son, they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.” End of story. What did they think? What was Jesus saying?
The kings of Israel and Judah along with most religious leaders often rejected, persecuted and even killed the prophets. Isaiah was executed during Manasseh’s reign. Jeremiah was a miserable failure, rejected by family, friends and neighbors, thrown into prison, and hauled off with the captivity. Finally, they would reject Jesus the Messiah, the Holy One of Israel, throw him out of the Holy City Jerusalem and see him crucified. In the parable, the son who came at long last is Jesus himself.
“Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.” Both leaders and people had become so in-grown, so proud of being the chosen people, so comfortable in their religious power that they could not and would not allow the blessing of God and his Messiah go out to the other peoples of their world. In Jesus day, all the other nations, the gentiles were considered “wild dogs” unworthy and unclean, categorically and irreversibly outside the care of God and the covenant.
After telling the story, Jesus asks, “When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” Obviously, “he will bring those wretches to a wretched end and rent the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.” God would judge the old system and start a new work, a new people to tend the vineyard of blessing. The new tenants are Jews and Gentiles who trust in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. “Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female” as the apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 3. Here in this vivid story, Jesus sets out the history and doom when God’s people forget or reject their God-ordained purpose. The vision and hope of the new covenant community emerges. II. Here and Now
That was then and there. This is here and now. “There was a landowner who planted a vineyard.” What has God planted in your life? Where were you born? What was your education? Do you have a family, a career, a church? What is the vineyard God has given you? And what fruitful purpose does he have for you today?
“Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers.” God entrusts what he’s lent to you to be good stewards. Your life is not your own! It belongs to the Lord. He created you. He is redeeming you. He is the one who sustains your life today.
“The tenants seized his servants and his son, beat them and killed them.” Who are the messengers God has sent into your life? A godly mother or father? A Sunday school teacher or pastor? A good friend or neighbor? As they urged you or guided you toward faith in Jesus or to share the harvest fruit of God’s blessings in your life, how did you respond? How are you reacting to God’s call to share your faith with others, get involved in the church’s ministry, give to God a rightful portion of all that belongs to him?
As a church, will we readily seek out, accept, include, and share with new members of our community and congregation? Will we foster the gracious change from stranger to friend as our elder Pamela Atkinson often reminds us? Or will our selfishness or pride get in the way?
Someone said, “Pride is the dandelion of the soul. Its root goes deep. A little left behind will sprout again. Its seeds lodge in the tiniest cracks.” Theodore Roosevelt said long ago (it could be said again and again today), “The things that will destroy America are peace at any price, prosperity at any cost, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life.” Such pride and selfishness are the tools for dismantling our faith and the covenant purposes of Jesus Christ. Conclusion
The meaning of the parable then and there is quite clear. The application of the parable to here and now is even clearer. What one response is God hoping for from you or me today? What will Jesus hear and see? Let us pray together: “Lord, I want to be faithful steward of all you’ve given me. I am thankful for the vineyard you have planted and protected and given to me to work. I love to see the things of the Gospel grow in my life and the lives of others. And when you come, each day, each week, I willingly give you the harvest due. Thank you for your servants who have shared your grace with me. Thank you for your Son who gave his life for me. Amen.” |
