Christ Lutheran Church: Welcome

DOING the Parable - October 5, 2008

DOING the Parable

Matthew 21:33-42

October 5, 2008

Rev. Dave R. Garwick

The front of the bulletin says, "Finally he sent his son to them." That is a line out of the Gospel Lesson which is the Bible Focus for today. So that is what I want us to concentrate on for a few moments. Again, this was a parable that Jesus taught about,

"...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. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. The tenants seized his servants; the beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Com, let's kill him and take his inheritance.' So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" "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." Jesus 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?" "Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed." When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew He was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest Him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet."

So this parable, like the one before it and the one that follows it is what is called the "Judgment Parables". They all end on a sharp point - a warning of judgment. Not really very happy stuff at all. Kind of a downer. Not the kind of thing you want to get up and come to church for.

Of course, you can dismiss this whole thing if you want to by figuring that when Jesus said this, He was warning the Jewish religious leaders of His day for rejecting Him. So, I suppose I could say, "Don't take offense at this - nothing personal at all."

Except that you've then got to ask yourself why then we would read this at all, if it really has nothing to do with us. Maybe it DOES have something to do with us after all. But how could that be? Jesus was warning the religious leaders about rejecting Him. I know for a fact that many of us do NOT reject Him. For many of us, Jesus Christ IS our Lord and Savior. So, I think it might be a bit of a stretch to say that these warnings about rejecting Jesus have much to do with many of us at all.

...not to suggest that any of us who accept Him are perfect followers at all - far, far from it. Maybe the best of us are closer to the ones He chose as His apostles - who did follow...with lots of stumbles along the way. Especially the apostle Paul himself who admitted in the Epistle Lesson that he himself was far from the mark.

But the truth is that in our congregation, there really are TWO congregations. There ARE those here who do NOT yet fully accept Jesus as Lord and Savior - who pick and choose what they like about Him, who openly and deliberately do not submit to His authority when they dislike it, who really do not think of what they do as sins so much as personal choices. Eternal destinies may well depend on taking Jesus' warnings here very seriously. But there is another congregation within our congregation. These people take Jesus very sincerely, try to follow Him closely. But some of the people in this group live by the fear of the Lord so intensely, that they allow their sins to drive them away from Jesus' love in fear and shame, who cannot accept the forgiveness that Jesus died to win for them.

This same parable of Jesus' warnings is also a message for these people. And this is the part of the parable that most catches MY attention. It's the part about God's mercy even to the worst of sinners. After the landowner's first messengers had been beaten, stoned and killed - what did that landowner do? Any typical landowner would have retaliated or at the very least would have taken precautions. In fact, it was not uncommon in those days for such landlords to hire squads of professional assassins to remove such troublemakers.

But no - THIS landowner sends a SECOND group of messengers. (Imagine being selected for THAT mission!) And, wouldn't you know it - the very same thing happens to them. So NOW what does the landowner do? Does he send an even larger group? Oh no...this time he sends one poor guy all by himself: no less than his own son: "Maybe they will respect my son."

Right. You know what happens. And I daresay that that lone son also knew exactly what was going to happen to him.

My point is this: if you are one of these people who thinks that he has messed up so badly, that you have disappointed God too much...look at how Jesus himself described the Father who plays the landowner here: slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love...time and time again. Mercy upon mercy upon mercy.

And if that parable itself doesn't do it for you, consider this: at the very moment that Jesus was telling this parable, He himself was DOING this parable as the Son being sent by the Father to the worst of sinners. whom on the cross He begged the Father to forgive.

Jesus did not come to just TELL this parable but to DO this parable...for the worst of sinners, the worst of tenants. Whether you are one who takes Jesus so lightly or one who takes Jesus so seriously...this parable's for you.