Göttinger Predigten
Göttinger Predigten im Internet hg. von U. Nembach
16. Sunday after Pentecost, 10/02/2011
Sermon on Matthew 21:33-46, by Andrew Smith
33 "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.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
The sermon for today is from the Gospel reading.
The kingdom teaching of Jesus is coming to a head. The Gospel reading for today is a continuation of the conflict between Jesus and the temple authorities in Jerusalem that we witnessed last week. This parable comes right on the heels of the parable about the good son and the wicked son; they're a pair illustrating the iniquity of the Jewish ruling establishment. And as we get started this morning, we need to note one thing. This is not anti-Semitism. Jesus is Jewish and Matthew (Levi) the evangelist was Jewish too. Matthew is recording the profound disagreement Jesus has with the Jewish rulers because of their leadership of the people away from God, not because they're Jewish. I want to make that point clear. It's a little bit of a challenge for us to see the context for this conflict. This is Matthew chapter 21. At the beginning of the chapter Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem and this conflict with the Jewish rulers in right in the middle of Passion Week. It's a matter of a couple days before Jesus is crucified. We're used to remembering all this on Palm Sunday and throughout Holy Week not toward the end of the season after Pentecost so I want to make the point. But it's important for us to see that this is really the climax of Jesus's teaching ministry and that we are just a couple days away from Jesus' death on Good Friday. The kingdom teaching of Jesus is reaching its zenith.
The parable itself is rather clear. Jesus tells of a man who had a new vineyard and leased it to tenants and who subsequently endured an astonishing sequence of evil deeds against his rights on the property until the climax of the parable, when the tenants killed his own son. This brought about a full and final punishment of the sinful tenants. Jesus' parable was a very clear warning to the Jewish leadership who were plotting Jesus' end. Usually in parables Jesus exaggerates to make a point. The exaggeration in this parable is clearly the longsuffering of the vineyard owner. No human owner would put up with the first rejection much less multiple rejections. Jesus is telling this story to highlight the compassionate and longsuffering ways God acts toward sinners, not the way a businessman would act to protect his investment. The leaders perceive rightly that Jesus is teaching about them but they do not see this as a warning to stop rejecting the One sent by God, His own Son. Jesus teaching is very clear: not all will enter the kingdom of heaven.
This is an important teaching for us to understand especially in our context today. I think in many ways, Christianity has become something of a watered-down set of expectations, the chief goal of which is "above all, be nice." I think we've lived for years in this religion we've constructed for ourselves that I might call, the "I'm a good enough religious person" religion. I'm a good person. I do good things. I come to church, at least sometimes. I sing in the choir. I pray, at least occasionally. I read Scripture, of course not every day but hey, I'm not one of those religious nuts. I got confirmed! That's worth something, right? At one point I learned the catechism, of course don't ask me about it now. I could go on but I think you know the kind of people I'm describing. As the comic character Pogo once famously said, "We have met the enemy and he is us." We've been listening to the kingdom teachings of Jesus all summer and one thing that has been working on me the whole time is how much that kind of religion, we might better call it cultural Christianity, just doesn't measure up to what Jesus actually taught. Jesus came from heaven to bring with him the active reigning of heaven back to earth. Throughout His ministry, Jesus has radically reordered the world by His presence, His actions and His Word. At the climax of His ministry, He confronted the religious leadership of the temple in Jerusalem that all they stand for is contrary to the nature and purpose of God Most High. Those who would reject Jesus and the kingdom He came to bring will ultimately exclude themselves from the Kingdom. Those who would reject Him are excluded from God's kingdom and are consigned to the only other option: an eternity apart from God in hell. That is a message that doesn't sound nice to our ears that have been trained to the tune of religious pluralism and yet it is the clear teaching of Jesus.
The clear teaching of Jesus is that the kingdom of heaven has come, even now already. So what does that mean for us? In the church we are perennially challenged to differentiate between what is truly kingdom work and what are the things we do because we like to do them. Church suppers are great and they serve a need to get to know people in the congregation, but are they truly kingdom work? Not properly so. Congregations all around the country are in the middle of budget planning for 2012 if they haven't completed it already. Budgeting is planning for where ministry will happen. Does our budget accurately reflect the kingdom work to which we've been called by our Lord or does our budget look little different from that of another social group in the community. Of course the pastor's job is not normally to set budgets but rather follow after Jesus and preach the kingdom of heaven. That's our salvation itself-the kingdom of heaven has come, even now already.
I should also note the flip side to the "I'm a good enough religious person religion" and that's the "I'll never be a good enough religious person religion." Jesus very clearly says no repenant sinner is ever turned away, even repentant tax collectors and prostitutes, even the even a repentant I'm a good enough religious person who realizes they're not good enough. In His great wisdom and mercy, God used the murder of His own Son to work salvation and He used the rejection of Israel's leaders to hasten the extension of the Kingdom of heaven even to Gentiles. The kingdom teaching of Jesus has come to a head and it is truly the Good News Jesus has come to bring; to us has been given the kingdom of heaven. Thanks be to God. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus. Amen.