Sermon | Year A - The Year of Matthew

October 5, 2008 | Pentecost 21

Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80:7-15; Philippians 3:4b-14; Matthew 21:33-46

Today’s gospel is like any clear, simple parable. First, it is a story, it is not a factual account; it is a story Jesus uses to make a point. The characters in the story are anonymous, and the setting is sparse. It is part of a long series of stories told by Jesus that will continue for a few weeks yet.

Jesus tells us a story, about an anonymous landowner. However, what we may miss on first hearing is how this story is Jesus' story. In this parable, we can imagine the landowner as a metaphor for God the Father, the First Person of the Trinity.

The Creator did a lot more than plant a vineyard, put a fence around it, dig a wine press in it, and build a watchtower; but those images show us some basic truths. God created this earth, and the land on it; God separated the water from the land; God leased the land to people; and God developed the property, with and through the work of human hands.

The story is simple. God owns the vineyard or world, and we are tenants in it, or stewards of it.

Then, we look at the history of the Israelites: God sent his holy prophets to his people, great leaders, and kings. God sent great people like King David, Moses, the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. However, the people did not listen to what the leaders said. They rebelled, and sinned, and transgressed the law – again and again and again.

Consequently, God sent his only son, saying, “They will respect my son.” Up until now, we can imagine this story – and Jesus’ place in it – with no difficulty whatsoever. The landowner’s son, of course, represents Jesus, God’s son. Here the son, like Jesus, comes to the story after a series of unsuccessful attempts to deliver a message.

Yet when Jesus tells this story, he knows – and reveals – something else about himself. Jesus predicts something more profound than his return home. Jesus predicts his death and his murder at the hands of our fellow humans.

To picture what Jesus is saying in this story, imagine a couple of things. Just imagine what it was like to hear Jesus tell this story.

Just imagine how it feels to see him drive out all who were selling and buying in the temple, to hear him say, “My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.”

Just imagine what it would be like to take part in the great procession from the Mount of Olives, with Jesus riding on a donkey, and the crowds shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”

Just imagine what it was like to sit and listen to him tell stories – prophetic stories, about himself and about us. That is the setting for this passage from Matthew’s gospel.

Today’s gospel is not about Jesus teaching on a mountainside early in his ministry, or visiting a village to cure the sick. Today’s gospel is about Jesus stopping to teach on his way to the cross. Jesus, who knows that he has come from God and is returning to God, tells us his story. Jesus tells us the story in simple, uncomplicated, ordinary terms. He wants to be sure that we do not miss the simplicity of the message.

As Jesus stops on his way to the cross, remember that Jesus is telling this story not just to some people a long time ago. As he said these words, he was saying them to us. We cannot escape this text by thinking all this was long ago.

He is telling us to remember who really is the owner of this world and our lives. The renters of the vineyard had forgotten who owned the vineyard. When we forget that Christ is the to whom we are responsible, we become like the renters of this story.

God’s story and our stories are not over yet. There is still time for change, still time for new plot lines, still time to introduce new characters. The story of salvation is not like a fairy tale; they always end with everyone living “happily ever after.” Our lives are rarely like that. Sometimes, then, knowing that the story is not yet over can be very good news.

We can ask ourselves, “What are we doing with the vineyard that God has given us? Are we wasting it, or are we tending it? Have we forgotten who the owner is?”

God loves us so much that God just keeps on telling us that – in stories, in worship, and in our everyday experiences. God loves us so much that he created us, and made this world for us to live in as his beloved friends. God loves us so much that he gave his only son to suffer death upon a cross. And God loves us so much that he made sure that this rejection, this defeat, was not the end of the story. The end of the story is yet to come, and it is more glorious and wonderful than we can imagine or understand. Amen.