Sermon for the 5th Sunday in Lent, March 13, 2016
NKJ Luke 20:9-19
15b … Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 "He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others."
And when they heard it they said, "Certainly not!"
17 Then He looked at them and said, "What then is this that is written: 'The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone'? 18 "Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder."
19 And the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people—for they knew He had spoken this parable against them.
Some warnings are just plain obvious. “Do not iron clothes while wearing them!” We laugh, but at the same time, that’s a warning that we need to pay attention to, isn’t it? We laugh, but seriously, that warning is there for a reason. It’s there because somebody at some point in time actually tried ironing their clothes while wearing them—and got terribly burned!
Some warnings are obvious, even when they’re spoken in parables. Since His arrival in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday the chief priests, scribes, and the leaders of the people had become so blinded by their hatred of Jesus that they were already seeking ways to destroy Him (Luke 19:47). Yet even though they hated Jesus, Jesus still loved them. Even just a couple of days before His death, Jesus wanted to warn the religious leaders—as well as the people—that what they were planning to do would bring grave consequences. So Jesus spoke this parable. And the interpretation of this parable was plain as day for everyone who was paying attention. The warning was basically: “Don’t be a dumb vinedresser!”
- Forgetting the Landlord owns the place.
“A certain man planted a vineyard” (v. 9). A few short words—but imagine how much work that was! In Matthew and Mark we’re told that besides planting the vineyard, he put in a hedge around it, dug a winepress, and even built a tower! This was a nice vineyard! So what did the man do with his nice new vineyard? He rented it out to some vinedressers and went away to a far country for a long time (v. 9b). The vinedressers lived and worked in the vineyard. Then when it was time to harvest the grapes, the owner sent a servant to collect some of the fruit as rent—as a token of thanks for being allowed to live and work in this beautiful vineyard (v. 10).
The vineyard illustrates God’s grace. In Psalm 3:8 we’re reminded that “Salvation belongs to the LORD”. God is the landlord; He owns it all—He does all the work! The tenants were the people of Israel, brought into His kingdom of grace under the promise of His free gift of salvation. The only fruit that the Lord sought was that of a repentant, thankful heart that trusted in Him. So the Lord sent His servants, His prophets, to proclaim His Word to the people in order to collect that fruit of faith.
But what happened when the landlord sent his servant to collect the rent? Jesus tells us that “the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed” (v. 10). Why? Because they believed that this vineyard was theirs—that they were the owners, that they deserved to keep all the fruit for themselves. So when the owner’s servant comes and reminds them that they in fact do not own the vineyard, well, you see what happens.
And you see this in Israel’s history. Many in Israel thought that they were the owners of their lives, that they were the ones responsible for all their blessings, that they could put their faith in themselves. So when the Lord’s prophet reminded them that the LORD was the true owner of their lives… they didn’t want to listen.
But is it really that surprising? When we have great success at work, when our business survives despite the bad economy, when our children turn out great, do we give God his due or do we hold on to all the fruit ourselves? It’s human nature to take the credit. And not just with our earthly blessings, but with heavenly ones too. You ask people why they’re going to heaven, and often times the answer you get is all about “What I’ve done” or “What I believe.” But the truth is that we can’t claim credit for any of those things—God’s done all of them for us! And so we have the first part of Jesus’ warning laid out for us: Don’t be a dumb vinedresser, forgetting the Landlord owns the place! The vineyard is His—we’re just the tenants! Don’t forget that!
- Rejecting the Landlord’s mercy.
For when we forget that this grace we live in each and every day is God’s gift, it becomes that much easier to really start taking that grace for granted. Once you forget that the Landlord owns the vineyard, then it’s no big deal to reject the Landlord’s mercy.
The landlord in the parable is merciful beyond belief! If it were my vineyard, I would have called the cops and had the tenants evicted right then and there at the first attack. But what does the owner of this vineyard do? He sends another servant! And then even a third one! And when the servants come back empty-handed, what does the landlord do? “I will send my beloved son. Probably they will respect him when they see him” (v. 13). What?! He’s going to send his own son, his beloved son?!
Yet the response to that mercy is the same every time, isn’t it? The second servant is treated even worse than the first. And the third servant is treated worse than the second! (v. 11-12). Then the vinedressers see the son. And they reasoned it out that if they killed the son, then the son’s inheritance—namely, the vineyard—would finally be theirs for keeps (v. 14). “The landlord will finally be off our back for good!” So when the son came, they tossed him out of the vineyard and killed him (v. 15). They keep rejecting his mercy!
When Jesus told the parable, the meaning was obvious—especially to the chief priests who were listening. They knew Jesus was talking about them. He was warning them that if they carried out their plan, they wouldn’t just be killing a man; they’d be killing the Son of God. Yet the warning only made them want to kill Jesus even more. They sought to arrest Jesus that very hour (v. 19). In their pride and arrogance they believed that with Jesus out of the way, they’d get to keep their place, their kingdom, their temple—their future.
And yet as we look ahead to Holy Week, we’re reminded that it’s not just the chief priests who rejected God’s mercy and killed the Son of God. We did it too. When you don’t think you have to listen to what God says about certain sins—when you say, “I don’t need forgiveness for those things,” you’re rejecting God—rejecting His mercy, rejecting His grace. But why do we do that? The truth is we all have the irrational idea that if we can just “get God off our backs,” things will be better for us. It’s called sin—our rejection of God that nailed Jesus to the cross and caused Him to suffer for us in the first place.
The father in the parable seemed hopelessly naïve, sending his son like that. Did he really know what he’s doing? God the Father knew what He was doing when He sent His Son and allowed Him to be taken outside the vineyard—outside the city of Jerusalem—and killed, offered up as the sacrifice that paid for all the sins of the world. He did all of that for us out of love! Don’t be a dumb vinedresser. In light of the love of God, don’t reject the mercy and grace that your Landlord freely offers you. Embrace it with both arms!
- Facing the Landlord’s judgment.
Because when you do that—when you forget the Landlord’s ownership of your life and reject His mercy, that’s when you wind up facing the Landlord’s judgment. “The stone the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,” Jesus said (v. 17). And, “Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls it will grind him to powder” (v. 18). Because the tenants killed his son, the owner’s going to come and kill them and give the vineyard to others. The Jewish leaders would lose their precious little nation; Jerusalem would be destroyed by the Romans within one generation after Jesus’ death. But that wasn’t the worst that would happen. Those who sent Jesus to the cross would face the same consequence as anyone who rejects the Son of God: of being pulverized by the very Stone they rejected; having the same Jesus whom they killed sitting in the seat of judgment over them at the last day.
Thankfully that’s a future you and I don’t have to look forward to! The stone the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone! The same Jesus who was rejected and killed rose again from the dead! And because He died and rose again, God has forgiven all your sins and adopted you as His children! You and I are the “others” Jesus was talking about! He has given us the inheritance—the inheritance of everlasting life with Him.
That doesn’t mean we’ll never sin. There will certainly be times when we fall upon our Cornerstone and are broken by His truth over the things that we’ve done. But isn’t it better to be broken than to be a dumb vinedresser who rejects God’s mercy in Christ and winds up being crushed into powder? “Broken” means “able to be fixed”—put back together by the Holy Spirit in the forgiving comfort of Christ crucified. That Gospel message is the water that sustains us in the wilderness (Isaiah 43:19), that makes us ready, as Paul says, to know Christ and lay hold of our eternal future with Him (Philippians 3:10,14).
Some warnings are pretty obvious. But hopefully it’s just as obvious that the Lord will keep you firmly in His everlasting love. He will hold you close to Himself in His Word. And He will always lead you back to the hope you have in the Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.