In the Name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and may our Lord and Savior sanctify you in the truth, for His word is truth. Amen

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (2011)

God’s Earnest Plea to His People Rev. Toby Byrd

Matthew 21:33-46 (ESV)

"Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. [34] When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. [35] And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. [36] Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. [37] Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' [38] But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.' [39] And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. [40] When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" [41] They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons."

[42] Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures:

" 'The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

this was the Lord's doing,

and it is marvelous in our eyes'?

[43] Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. [44] And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him."

[45] When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. [46] And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.

In the Gospel Reading for today, we find that it is still Tuesday of the last week of our Savior’s life and Jesus is still in the temple responding to those who have challenged His authority. After accusing them of not doing the will of God by failing to seek the way of righteousness shown them by John the Baptist, Jesus doesn’t wait for an answer but immediately begins another parable; that of the tenants in the vineyard. Although the setting is a vineyard and those who tend it, the implications for the nation of Israel and the Church are clear.

The parable of the Tenants paints a vivid portrait of the past, the present, and the future of Israel in striking colors. It foreshadows the unmistakable judgment that threatens the people of Israel. Weaving His tapestry, our Lord shows how the people of Israel, deluded and deceived by their leaders, are gradually led to a perverted and obstinate life which trust solely in themselves and makes them blind to God’s grace and gifts.

The portrait our Lord paints sternly and yet lovingly speaks to the Jews and to His people of all time, including us. Therefore, let us prayerfully hear and penitently heed God’s Earnest Plea to His People.

Once again our Lord relies on a familiar setting, a vineyard, in telling this parable. A landowner had purchased land necessary for planting a vineyard. After having planted the root stock, he builds a fence around it to protect it from foraging animals, he digs a winepress in which to press and store the fruit of the vine, he builds a watchtower in its center and then he leases the vineyard to sharecroppers and goes into another country.

In the same way, God had bought and planted Israel as His vineyard (Is. 5:1-7). To ensure her safety, He gave her the Law as a fence to protect her from the ravages of the world. He built a temple in her midst from which His precious forgiveness of sins could flow like the fruit of the vine, and He gave her a watch tower of prophecy from which she could scan the horizon for the Messiah.

Now, if you know anything about grapes, it takes a minimum of three years before new vines begin to produce a harvestable fruit. Therefore, during this time the “master of the house” was away in another country trusting that the sharecroppers were caring for His vineyard.

In the same way, God had made an agreement, a sacred covenant at Mt. Sinai with the people of Israel. After establishing His covenant with His people, He settles them in the Promised Land across the Jordan, allowing them to be self-governing through judges and kings while entrusting them to care for His vineyard.

This scenario also describes the Church in our day. God has made us, our Church and our Synod a part of His vineyard. His holy, inspired, inerrant Word is the fence which separates us from the ravages of the world. The sweet nectar of the Means of Grace, baptism, holy communion, and the Saving Word of the Gospel flow freely in our midst and He has granted this vineyard a phenomenal growth; from a mere handful of German immigrants in the mid-nineteenth century to a body of more than two-million communicant members today. Today, we no longer look from the tower in hopes of seeing the Messiah who is to come; instead the Messiah, who has come, looks down upon us from the Altar of the Cross as our crucified Lord reminding us of His sacrifice that redeemed us from sins grasp. Moreover, He has ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of, there, waiting to come once again, on the Last Day.

As we wait for His return, He expects us to tend His vineyard, to cultivate the vines and keep out the weeds and pests which can destroy the crop. However, our reliability as vine-keepers leaves much to be desired. With each passing day we can hear Him pleading with us, asking, “Why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 18:31 ESV). Do you knot know that my desire is that you should, “be saved and . . . come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4 ESV). However, when we look at the state of the Church today, it’s apparent than many, in their rebellion and wickedness close their ears and hearts to His plea; their self-righteous and selfish attitudes tear down the fence of God’s Word and allow the Church to come under attack from within and without.

Look around and you cannot help but see that much of God’s vineyard is overrun by weeds, thorns, and thistles, producing no fruit at all. The unfaithful tenants of these barren and lifeless parts of God’s vineyard have long since lost interest in cultivating His fruit. Instead, their desire is to claim the land as their own, growing their own brand of vines; vines that produce only a bitter and lifeless fruit.

Such tenants are those who follow liberal-progressive church leaders who deny the inerrancy and the validity of God’s Word, replacing it with the corrupted word of the world. As such, they bring the world into the church, corrupting its holiness. In direct conflict with the Word of God, they allow women, homosexuals and lesbians to occupy the office of the ministry; furthermore, they corrupt the Church by endorsing the marriage of same sex couples, by approving abortion, encouraging divorce, and by condoning fornication. Not satisfied with corrupting the Church through sexual sins they willingly worship with those who deny the Triune God, even those who teach that murder of non-believers of their false gods is an acceptable practice. Thus they place the one and only true God on the same level with false gods in the eyes of the world. Through these and other perversions of holiness, they deny the Sovereignty of God, placing themselves above God as they claim ownership of His vineyard, the Church. Just as the Jews cast our Lord out of the vineyard and crucified Him, so, too do these liberal, progressive church leaders and followers. By their corruption and willingness to deny sin as sin, they crucify our Lord once again in the eyes of the world.

Moreover, the perverse practice of these liberal-progressive church leaders encourages the world to attack the Church. Through their denial of God’s Word as the guiding light of the Church, the fence that God established to protect His vineyard is torn down. No longer protected, the vineyard is easily assaulted by outside forces eager to destroy the vines that produce God’s fruit of eternal life. Led by their desire to be their own gods, liberal, progressive church leaders form unholy alliances with liberal politicians to pursue an agenda that is contrary to God’s Word. Such alliances then produce secular laws and regulations that are in direct conflict with God’s Word and the Church; laws such as denying the teaching of Creation in our schools while supplanting it with evolutionary theory as the curriculum standard, laws which deny prayer in school, laws that deny public associations of Christian children in the schools, laws which punish school children when they say “God Bless you” or express their belief in God, and laws which attack any association between the Christian Church and the government. Furthermore, many elected officials purposely denigrate those who profess faith in Christ Jesus as being nothing more than foolish, uneducated boobs, incapable of discerning the good motives of liberal elites.

The world hates the Church and when the Church invites that hatred into its confines by destroying the fence God has provided to protect it, the world and Satan have their way with the Church.

Through all of this though, God is still away expecting His vineyard to be tended by loving, caring, vinedressers whose only desire is to produce an abundant crop for the Lord. Moreover, He tells those who are faithfully attending His vineyard “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (2 Cor. 6:14-16 ESV). Moreover, we know, a day will come when the Owner of the vineyard will return and ask, “I have sent you my servants and my Son to collect what is mine. Where is My Fruit?”

Jesus asks His enemies, “When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" (v. 40). They replied, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons” (v. 41). The chief priest and scribes didn’t know how right they were. They could not perceive of the impending destruction God would bring on the kingdom, nor could they perceive the Church that would arise from the very one they desired to murder; our Lord, Jesus Christ. Whoever denies Christ, the Cornerstone, will be broken, but whoever stubbornly stands against Christ and the progress of His kingdom will be crushed. The aged Simeon reminds us of this truth when he said, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed” (Luke 2:34 ESV). It is therefore more than merely perilous to be careless in our attitude to God’s Cornerstone, our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Jesus declares in unmistakable terms that the Kingdom of God shall be taken from the Jews as punishment and be “given to a people producing its fruits” (v. 43). What was true for the Sanhedrists is also true today to all who desire to stand against our Lord Jesus, His Church, and the Gospel preached in His name. He will take it away from them and give it to those who will faithfully tend His vineyard and give Him the fruits in their season.

Though the Jews were rebellious, and even though there are many today within the Church who are also rebellious, and there are those outside the Church constantly attacking her, God maintains a remnant of faithful believers. Our Lord Jesus promises that His Church shall never fall to Satan; Regarding our faith, He tells us, “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18 ESV).

Oh, to be sure, we, too, are rebellious; children of wrath, but God had mercy upon us and came to our rescue, changing us from unrepentant sinners into repentant sinner/saints. It is entirely His doing through the life, death, and resurrection of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus, who was thrown out of the vineyard and slain by the wickedness of men, has become the Redeemer of all mankind! Moreover, out of His love for us, God’s Son, rejected by men, became God’s Cornerstone. On Him alone the great Architect of the Church builds with living stones, every believer, a holy temple in the Lord, for a habitation of God through the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, He places His Son as the Gate of the vineyard through which those distributing God’s life sustaining fruit can proclaim His Holy, Saving Word of the Gospel to a world dying of sin. It is a gate through which believers, mature and immature, can invite others to enter the vineyard and receive the gifts of the fruit of life; eternal life in heaven.

God has purchased the Church with the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, He has placed a protective fence around it with His Saving Word of the Gospel, and He has placed us in His Church to preserve and distribute the holy fruit of the Gospel, His Means of Grace, to those who have need of its healing powers.

Therefore, we pray that God would preserve us from the folly of standing stubbornly against Christ, succumbing to our desire to make ourselves the owner of God’s vineyard. We pray that He would help us to remain firm in His Word, guiding us in our work of the Church and in our personal lives to rely solely on Christ, God’s Cornerstone, who is the founder and perfecter of our faith. Then we shall be both living stones in His temple and faithful laborers in His vineyard. Help us, Holy Spirit, to heed this day and every day, God’s Earnest Plea to His People. Amen.

May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.