The text this morning is from the Gospel according to Luke, the 20th chapter:
And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
Our passage today shows us the extravagant patience of God our Father. The man, the owner, is God. The vineyard is Israel. The tenants are the religious leaders, those who spoke for Israel. The servants are the prophets. The Son is Jesus Christ.
So, when God plants this vineyard, He wants the tenants to take care of it. When He puts Israel into the land He promised them, He wants them to listen to Him, take care of Israel and all her people, and keep pointing them back to the Owner. So, He sends the prophets to them, to remind them of the Lord’s decrees, to urge them to repent, which is the true fruit of the vineyard. But they beat the prophets. Really, they kill them. They hate that the Owner of the vineyard wants something from them and they refuse to listen to Him any more.
So, finally, with all authority and power in His hand, the Son is sent by the Father to bring the children of Israel back to God. But they hate the Son even more than the prophets. Instead of just killing Him like they did the prophets, they plot to take Israel for themselves, they plot to humiliate the Owner by denuding the Son, and then kill Him.
Do you see how patient the Owner has been all this time? He abides with their sin. He waits and waits and waits. He gives hundreds of chances to the tenants to give Him what is owed, namely repentance. He even sends the Son with all the authority of the Father, but the tenants still hate God. And so they do the worst and most stupid thing imaginable, they kill His Son. I mean, they’re not going to be inheriting anything. They aren’t in the last will and testament. They would get nothing. But, they do it anyway.
So, of course, after all this patience, the only way the Father is going to get His vineyard back is to come with great vengeance against those tenants, and place other tenants in the midst of the vineyard. This is what our Lord has done for us. The religious leaders of the day rejected God in every way imaginable, desiring for themselves the glory of Israel. But, God would not allow this, for the vineyard of promise is His. He desires to see her taken care of, cultivated, so that the fruit of repentance would grow and grow. By this, the Father receives all that is due Him and He is rich.
But, you see that His mercy and patience do run out. The people crucified the Lord Jesus. Of course, this was God’s plan all along: that His son would die for the sake of the world, to forgive the sins of all people. Yet, the Lord uses the sinful works of man to accomplish His purposes. It doesn’t make what these people did right, just because God would use it. In fact, it was, easily, one of the worst things one could ever do, to kill the Son of God. Yet, through this suffering and agony, the Lord effected His purposes, to forgive all of your sins.
And because the tenants did this to the Son of God, the Lord placed His Church into the vineyard, gave it to new tenants, so to speak. This Church is Israel, the only Israel that matters, and we are the new tenants. We are those who give to the Lord His due, the repentance He so eagerly desires so that we may be at peace with God and with one another.
But, what happens when we don’t hear this parable? What happens when we become like the religious leaders of old? What happens when we desire the Church for ourselves, for our glory, for our purposes?
We become like the old tenants. We conspire to kill again the Son of God. We set ourselves up to be Lord of the Church. We want the glory. We want the limelight. We want the fruits of the vineyard because after all, goshdarnit, we earned it. We are the important ones, aren’t we? We are the reason this vineyard is here. We should have more of a say in the Church. Things should go my way.
But that’s not right. Dear Lord, that’s the worst thing imaginable. Can you imagine what would happen if you got your way in the Church? Things would be chaotic. Everyone would do as they please. Everyone would feel as they please. We would never preach Christ crucified. We would scratch itching ears, telling people what they want to hear.
We would have seminars from the pulpit on how to have better marriages, how to be a better worker, how to manage your time better. We would teach that it doesn’t matter how much you sin, God is always going to just forgive you. We would never teach you that it matters what you do, what you say, what you think, you can do anything you want. We would never preach Christ crucified for the forgiveness of your sins. It wouldn’t matter. If you can do whatever you want, then Christ actually doesn’t matter at all.
But, we don’t. God has sent to you prophets, messengers of God’s mercy and patience, He has sent to you men who tell you the truth of the Owner of the vineyard. He has sent these men to point out that God will indeed get the fruit that He desires or else He will come with recompense in His hand. If we don’t give God the fruit of the vineyard, He will condemn us.
Now, to some people, this will make a great difference. It will change how we live. We live in peace with one another, overlooking offenses, taking the sins of others against us in stride. We ourselves will repent of our sins and we will be willing to easily extend the right hand of fellowship and forgiveness to those who sin against us.
But to some, it makes no difference at all. They will refuse to forgive. They will refuse to be forgiven. They will want to stand in the place of God, even in the place of the messengers of God and they will preach any message that makes sure that people aren’t offended in their sin, that makes people feel good, that makes themselves feel good.
We know what happens to such people. What do you think? The text tells us:
The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.Do you think that these men were then treated well by God because Jesus offended them? Do you think God allowed their unrepentant hearts any more mercy? No. Peter tells them they are blood guilty. They literally condemned and killed the Son of God. If we then do the same, what is our end? It ain’t good. Jesus says it will crush us.
So, what do we do? I mean, really, what hope do we have? Don’t I always want my own way and not the way of God? Don’t I always desire to be Lord of the Church? If all of us are honest with ourselves, we should admit that, yes, this is what we want. We think we know best. Yet our Lord teaches us another way.
He teaches us the way of peace. He teaches us to do as He commands. He commands that we forgive one another of our sins. He commands that we be baptized for the forgiveness of sins and that we might receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, who will guide us into all truth. He commands that we eat His true body and blood so that we are forgiven and strengthened unto life everlasting. These are His commands, and these are the ways of His peace. These are the ways of His mercy. These are the ways of His patience.
When we repent of our sins, when we remember our Baptisms, when we eat the Supper worthily, this is what God desires we give back to Him. He doesn’t want extravagance. He wants what He has already given us. He wants the fruit of the vineyard He gave to us. He wants what the Church brings out of us.
The Church is where the Word of God is rightly taught and the Sacraments are properly administered. That’s in our Confessions. We should have all been taught that in our new member classes. We should have all learned that as we study what it is this church believes, teaches, and confesses. God gives to the people, the tenants of His Church, even the vines that produce that work, He gives His life-giving Word, the same Word that with the water washes you clean, the same Word that with bread and wine strengthens you, the same Word that through the mouth of an unclean man forgives you all of your sin.
God doesn’t expect you to work tirelessly for the fruit of the vineyard. He gives it to you so that it is easy. He gives you Jesus, He gives you Jesus’ cross and resurrection, He gives it to you through His gifts, so that by a mere touching of them, by truly even being in the place of God’s mercy, it flows out of you like water from a spring.
And God gives to you more and more mercy, more patience even, so that you can continue on receiving His gifts and giving back to Him repentance so that He gives you more of His gifts. This is what the Son was crucified for: that you might repent and be forgiven. In Jesus Christ, in all of His gifts, you are forgiven.
The tenants who reject the Lord’s gifts, the Lord’s mercy, the Lord’s patience, the Lord’s commands, there is no hope for them. No hope at all. But, that’s not you, is it? You have been placed in the Church so that God gets from you what He desires. Don’t be the bad tenant. Be the one who is like the Son. Be meek, mild, be forgiving, for you are forgiven. God has had mercy on you, to bring you to this place, so that you produce all the good desires from you.
Christ Jesus was crucified for you. He is risen for you. He did this to bring you to Himself, in a world where the dead, denuded Son now lives forever and ever. He did this so that you would indeed be the good tenant, receiving all the wonderful gifts, mercy, and patience from God. You have that here today. Welcome to the Vineyard. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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