The Vineyard Is Now Yours :: Matthew 21:33-44
On account of this, I tell you that the Kingdom of God ... will be given to a people producing its fruits (v 43).
1.
Please now open your (Lutheran Service Book) to page 324, and join me in confessing our faithful doctrine on the Second Petition of the Lord’s Prayer. As the Head of the Family should teach it in a simple way to his household, what is the Second Petition? Thy kingdom come. What does this mean? The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also. How does God’s kingdom come? God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.
2.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, God has been very good to you. Very, very good.
The Lord God Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, has created the very best for you. He gave us paradise, and it is very good. He hedged it in to protect us, and it is very good. He gives us food and drink, house and home, land and animals, and it is all very good. He has given and continues to give to us the fruits of the kingdom ... thanksgiving, praise, songs of joy ... and it is very good. He has revealed himself to be extraordinarily generous in all that he says and does. He has entrusted to us his Word and Sacraments to remind us of his gifts. He continues to serve us in his Divine Service.
Life in the vineyard has never been better, has it?
The question, therefore, arises ... if God has been so generous and good to us ... so gracious ... why on earth do so many people reject him and his servants so often, acting like they own the place ... ignoring his perfect law that protects us and is good for us ... ignoring his calls to bear fruit in keeping with repentance ... ignoring the wisdom he sends to us?
There is a growing number of people in the world who aren’t interested in enjoying anything that our Creator offers. They aren’t interested in his invitations. They aren’t interested in his provisions and protections. They are interested only in themselves ... only in protecting the status quo ... only in creating themselves in their own image.
That’s the malady that we’ve been diagnosed with in today’s parable from Matthew 21. Jesus is giving us a not-so-veiled portrayal of Israel and its people ... of you and me ... because we are Israel. The kingdom of God, he says, is coming even without our prayer, and when it comes, it won’t be peaches and cream for those who continue to reject him.
A WICKED END IS COMING FOR THE WICKED ... AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES BECAUSE THEN THE KINGDOM OF GOD WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU
This is our theme.
3.
There are at least two things we need to consider as we explore our Gospel reading for this Twentieth Sunday after Trinity. First is the fact that Jesus is telling us a parable. Second is the context in which Jesus is giving this to us.
Although parables are not normally easy to interpret, the Holy Spirit makes this one much easier to handle: Jesus and the people tell us what it means, unlike most of them. Contextually, this parable was spoken on the Last Tuesday before the Last Supper. Today Jesus is in the temple, and his authority is being questioned. The chief priests and Pharisees are challenging Jesus. Who do you think you are, they are asking. What makes you think you can change tradition? Why do you think you are allowed to forgive sins and make the people whole (21:14-15, 23)?
So Jesus answered with three parables. This is the second of the three. It begins: A man was the master of a house who planted a vineyard and set a fence around it. And he dug in it a winepress, and he built a watchtower, and he rented it out to farmers and went abroad. Then, when the season of the fruits drew near, he sent his slaves toward the farmers to receive his fruits (vv 33-34).
Who is the master of the house? Who or what is the vineyard?
Though Jesus doesn’t give us a direct answer to the first question, scripture makes it easy to figure out. The master is God himself. He is the Lord of the Vineyard, the creator in Genesis 1 and 2. He has prepared every detail here. We see it first in the Garden of Eden ... which is a vineyard. We see it again with the temple of Jerusalem and Mount Zion, the place where heaven and earth meet. Our Lord has fenced his vineyard with his perfect law that protects you. He keeps watch over you from his tower. He waits patiently for you to produce his fruits that bless the unending feast. He shows concern for you. He provides for you. He nourishes you. No expenses are spared. The Lord really asks only one thing: Be fruitful and multiply.
4.
But we always want more ... we want it our way, in our time. We think we own the place.
Alas, Jesus said, When the tenant farmers received his slaves, they beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again, the Master of the House sent other slaves, more than the first. And they did to them likewise. Then later he sent to them his son, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But the tenant farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves: ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And having taken him, they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him (vv 35-39).
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the world has been mistreating the prophets, apostles, and pastors of God’s people from the beginning. They all have come and continue to come proclaiming the Good News, which is free. But the world wants no part of it.
Consider first the lives of Amos, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. Amos was tortured by King Amaziah. Isaiah was sawn in two. And the people stoned Jeremiah. Still other [prophets faced] trials of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment (Hb 11:36). And then came John the Baptizer, a prophet like no other, who was beheaded.
But our Lord of the Vineyard is unlike all the gods of the world. He remains compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in covenantal love (Ex 34:6). He ultimately did the unthinkable: He sent his only begotten son. They will respect Jesus, right?
Our Lord Jesus, the Son of God came in the fullness of time, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons (Gal 4:4-5). But the world still wants more. They aren’t interested in hearing the Good Word. They aren’t interested in his invitations to come to the feast.
So we killed him. Jesus was cast out of the vineyard. He was beaten, and scourged, and cursed, and crucified. The only Son of God was given only the wages of your wickedness. Jesus then carried your wickedness to his cross so that the Lord’s wrath would be poured out upon him.
Therefore, Jesus asks, when the Lord of the Vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenant farmers? They said to him, he will cause a wicked end to the wicked ones and rent out the vineyard to other farmers who will give him the fruits in their seasons (vv 40-41).
5.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is our call to repent. A wicked end is coming for the wicked who refuse to receive Jesus.
The people in Noah’s day didn’t want to wait for the Lord. Instead, they scoffed that he would wash away their sin. And so they were drowned. The people of Israel didn’t want to wait for the invitation to enter the Land of Milk and Honey. Instead, they scoffed that the Lord would provide daily bread and the cup of salvation. More than that, they refused to lift up their eyes to the bronze serpent, the cross. And they died in the wilderness. The mockers will [continue] mocking, according to their own sinful lusts .... They will say, where is the promise of his presence? (2 Pt 3:1-4).
So, in the name of Jesus, repent, every one of you, and believe the Gospel.
6.
The Lord of the Vineyard has come and is still coming, giving the kingdom to those who produce its fruits. It is being given to you in Word and sacrament, which really are one and the same thing. God’s kingdom is being given to you in the water of baptism, which works the forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe. It is being given to you in his Word of absolution, which is just as valid and certain as if Christ our Lord dealt with us himself. And it is being given to you in the Lord’s Supper, which is for the forgiveness of sins. The Kingdom of God is constantly coming to you in the person of Jesus, who delivers these fruits of paradise that he purchased with his own blood. Jesus has lived for you, suffered for you, died for you, rested for you.
And now He is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!
The Lord made this happen, and it is marvelous in our eyes (v 42; Ps 118:22-23).
God has chosen you and entrusted his vineyard to you. Let us therefore respond to his love and mercy by letting our light shine before men so that all may see the glory of living in his vineyard so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity ... in Jesus’ name.