Pentecost 17

November 2, 2014 in Sermon by R0s3m@ry

Matthew 21:33-46

33 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. 34 When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. 35 But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. 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 get his inheritance.’ 39 So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 Now when 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 lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.” 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 amazing in our eyes’? 43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. 44 The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.” 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. 46 They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

“The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls,” Jesus said. He was providing commentary on the psalm about the rejection of the cornerstone he had just cited. Jesus referenced that psalm to summarize the parable he had just told about the wicked tenants. Perhaps a bit of context will help. The telling of this parable happened at the Temple, a bastion of religious life, a Jewish equivalent of the Vatican. Jesus had just ridden into to town on a donkey at the so called triumphal entry and wasted no time honking off just about every religious person within ear shot. The question then becomes why? Did he have a martyr complex? Did he thrive on controversy? Was he a “type A” personality that just loved a good fight? Well we know that Jesus didn’t want to die. He prayed for that cup to pass. We know that he grew increasingly weary from all the controversy and was often found seeking solitude. Certainly willing to stand up when challenged but also gentle and humble so probably not one to enjoy fighting. So why, why be so controversial? The answer is he was compelled to speak God’s truth to unbelievers and that is always dangerous if self-preservation is the goal. Well retirement wasn’t Jesus’ goal and so he thundered away with the message. He tells us that everything belongs to God. In his parable the vineyard, the fence, the wine press, the watchtower the wine and the profit belonged to the landowner who, in the parable, represents God. That fact seems to be lost on the tenants especially when they kill the landowner’s son in an attempt steal the inheritance, to take what belongs to God. The point Jesus is making is that God is the one calling the shots. He is the boss. It is his world. Said theologically, God is sovereign and in control. So what, everybody knows that. The problem is that the sovereign God doesn’t stay away. He doesn’t stay out there on the backside of the moon being God in a general way.He interferes. Just like the landowner in the parable claiming what belongs to him, God inserts himself into his world. He won’t stay in the far off country. He plops himself down right in the middle of all our little projects and our hopes and dreams and our lives. He just waltzes in and he starts dictating how it is going to be and he says crazy things, wild things, things like that man you crucified, the cornerstone you rejected, is your only hope. Jesus is the one who takes your sin away not your best effort. Jesus is one who makes you righteous not your cultivation of virtue and avoidance of vice. Your hope of the resurrection is not in a reward for doing the right thing instead it is in Jesus. And here’s the kicker, this is the one that just drives us up the wall. This is the one that makes us kill the heir. Jesus chooses you, you don’t choose him. Interesting, don’t you think? The one rejected is our salvation. So taken together we can see that our fate belongs to God not us. And what do you suppose happens when our kingdoms run up against Christ’s kingdom? Broken to pieces and crushed is the word Jesus uses to describe the rubble of our kingdoms when we encounter this Jesus. Yet, Jesus gives us another picture of God in this parable. One that is equally wild and crazy. Just like the landowner, God is incredibly stubborn. He refuses to just leave us alone even though that is what we want and deserve. He won’t abandon his world and he won’t abandon us. He just keeps at the task of telling us that he is sovereign and in control and has chosen to be your God. He just inserted himself in your life there at the font and made you his. He calls you on the carpet with bread and wine that calls you a sinner and then forgives your sin. He keeps sending you preachers with a one track mind and only one message to speak and that is why I say the stone that the builders rejected, the chief cornerstone, the heir that was murdered, is for you. He is Christ and he is your salvation and for his sake you are forgiven unconditionally by the Father. The kingdom of God is yours and all of this was and is the Lord’s doing. Isn’t that amazing? Amen.