Anatomy of A Disaster

21^st Sunday After Pentecost

Rev. Steven D. Spencer – Pastor Messiah Lutheran Church, Salem, OR

Matthew 21:33-46

33 " Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 34 "Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. 35 "And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36 "Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. 37 "Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' 38 "But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.' 39 "So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 "Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?" 41 They said to Him, "He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons." 42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD's doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes'? 43 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. 44 "And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder." 45 Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. 46 But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.

This is a unique and significant time in Matthew's gospel. Over the next few weeks our gospel readings will take us through some dynamic and challenging lessons that come from the time in Jesus' life when the chips were down. It is crunch time!

Our reading takes place when Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. This will be His last week on earth. Conflict with religious leaders has been heated during his whole ministry but now it erupts into an inferno. He must be done away with. He must either give up in His teachings and go back to the carpenter's shop -- or lose His life! If we didn’t know the rest of the story, it would be a novel described as a "page turner" or a movie that keeps us on the edge of our seats waiting to see what happens.

As we move toward the end of this church year, Matthew points us to some penetrating questions.

* Is religion always a good thing -- or can it be a barrier to God?
* How can I know that my faith -- religion -- is authentic?
* What is it God really wants from me?
* What does it take to follow Christ today?

The gospel readings between now and the end of this church year spell out an Anatomy of a Disaster a Spiritual Disaster. Those who should have been leading the celebration of the coming of Christ, end up calling for his crucifixion instead. What should have been the bright light of joy and freedom became a cloud of darkness over the holy city of Jerusalem. Hearts that should have been open and accepting were obstinate and hostile. Those who considered themselves closest to God became enemies of Christ. "Spiritual disaster" is almost an understatement.

Never has there been a more appropriate time to pay attention to St. Matthew's words. With our reading for today, the whole movement Jesus established is coming to the climax of His earthly mission. The "Official" church is fully engaged in a plot to terminate Jesus.

The drama begins as Jesus uses his favorite teaching method, the parable, to drive home a point that will turn Jerusalem inside out over the next few days. Namely that the Pharisees and those who are in leadership of God's people are not serving the Lord but are actively working against God by serving self!

In today's reading, Jesus tells the unbearable story of a renegade group of vineyard workers who decide to keep the harvest for themselves. They reject and mistreat the owner's representatives and wind up killing the owner's son in the mistaken belief that this will enable them to steal the harvest.

"Not smart!" That’s what most people would think. Who would be foolish enough to believe they could get away with such a dim-witted scheme?

Jesus asks, "What do you suppose the vineyard owner will do when he comes to town?" The chief priests and elders who have gathered to challenge Jesus respond, "He will put those miserable wretches to death and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at harvest time!" “Bingo!”

Jesus hammers home the obvious; it’s the religious leaders of the time that are the renegade tenants. They’re stunned!

As you can imagine this doesn’t sit well with the Pharisees and priests. If it weren't for Jesus' popularity, they would have arrested Him immediately. They’re feeling slandered, they consider themselves to be the faithful servants of God. Yet this parable of Jesus is shows they are not the faithful servants of God at all. They’re thieves! They’re guilty of stealing from God! This is unimaginable for these officials who have lived a life devoted to religious principals. Now Jesus says they are stealing from God.

True enough -- the big sin seems to be that the tenants in the parable mistreat and even kill those who come to represent the vineyard owner -- and they kill the owner's son, but the essential sin is that they desire to take what rightfully belongs to the owner. The owner is God! The owner's son is God's Son! This is a thunderous accusation.

There’s a minute shift in the conclusion Jesus makes in His story. "... the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom." God is looking for "fruit of the harvest." The chief priests, Pharisees and religious leaders are not producing any "kingdom fruit." And so they are stealing from God. If they claim the role of servants of God and do not produce "kingdom fruit", they are stealing from God. How? Authentic servants are by definition those who "bear fruit." Jesus said to his disciples, " I appointed you to go and bear fruit..." (John 15:16)

How does all of this speak to you and to me? We don't steal from God. We don’t reject or mistreat God's messengers. Do we?

The key to Jesus' parable is that God's people are called to produce "the fruits of the kingdom." If we claim that we are God's people and do not produce this "kingdom fruit," we are impostors at best and thieves at worst. Now -- someone comes along and suggest that we cannot be God's people if we do not produce "kingdom fruit."

This begs the question. "What is kingdom fruit?" Or to put it another way -- what does God want from us?

There are two significant clues to what God wants in these verses from Paul's writings:

"... the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. [Rom. 14:17]

"... the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. [Gal. 5:22]

God wants us to produce the qualities of Jesus Christ in the midst of our community. We are called by God to be a place where people find -- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Do you see, do you understand?

When people came to the temple or took at look at the Pharisees -- they didn’t see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness or any of these things. They saw rules and regulations, which became a barrier to God instead of a showing a relationship that started with God and ended with God. The church is to be a place where people can come to find release from their sin. But instead they only found more rules and regulations that tied them down in sin. No grace!

And so, Jesus' parable, as harsh as it may have seemed to those people way back then, just might rattle our cages a bit today too. It calls us to take a look within. Jesus’ words should call you to do a bit of self-examination. They cause me to do a bit of self-examination.

Is our church a place where people find these qualities? “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control." Do people find release from their sin here? I would hope so.

Imagine if a church was known for its conflict, its judgmental attitudes, and its high moral expectations. People whose lives were in turmoil and pain wouldn’t be drawn to such a place, would they? There wouldn’t be a mass of people flocking to join the church of conflict and high moral expectation. God probably wouldn’t have much of a harvest in that place. It may seem harsh, but could we not say that a group, which called itself a church and yet was known for these negatives qualities, was stealing from God by not sharing God’s fruitful harvest of grace.

Jesus said, "The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom,"

Let’s take this down to a personal level.

Does my life reflect the "fruits of the kingdom?" Do I have a reputation for, "Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control?" Do I forgive as I have been forgiven? -- Ouch! --

Of all the things I want my life to be about -- and I trust of all the things you want your life to be about -- stealing from God is not one of them!

Until I did some deep reflection on this parable, I had never thought of myself as anything but a faithful servant (or "tenant") of God vineyard, His kingdom.

Now I have some questions. And that's a good thing. I hope you have some questions to ask yourself. Questions that go something like this:

Is my life in a place where God is able to grow love, joy, patience and all those things that make up the fruit of the kingdom? Do I share forgiveness as freely as I have been given it?

Once we’re able to look at ourselves individually in light of Jesus' powerful parable -- we can bring the question of faithfulness in the vineyard to our life together as a church.

For those leaders of the church in Jesus day the answer was simple, repent. Turn away from the theology of works righteousness, the theology of self. But where are we to turn. Notice in our parable it was the owner of the vineyard that provided all. He provided was necessary to produce the fruit. The error came in not recognizing the giver of the gift and returning a portion of the fruit. God has given us everything. We are to turn away from self and turn towards God.

For through the life, death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, He has paid the price for your sin. Through the waters of baptism God gives you His Holy Spirit. And the fruit of the Spirit is: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control and eternal life.” Through the hearing of God’s Word you grow in faith. And by receiving the Lord’s Supper on a regular basis your faith is refreshed and your sins are forgiven. You see it all starts with God and ends with God. In the words of the hymn we’ll sing shortly: We give Thee but Thine own, Whate’er the gift may be; All that we have is Thine alone, A trust, O Lord, from Thee.

The Lord has shared the fruit of His love as demonstrated on the cross. He has given everything for you. What does He ask of you? Simply remember He is the owner of it all! Trust Him, He is still in control.

When we lived in Puyallup, Washington I was on the board of Stewardship and a wonderful lady always gave 10% of her income. I knew her well and also knew she really couldn’t afford to do it. So I asked her one-day why do you give a tenth? She quoted Malachi 3:10 "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows”. But she surprised me with what she said next. “You can never out give God. Giving isn’t financial it’s spiritual. The Lord wants to bless us and even encourages us to test Him and His blessing power. Ever since I started trusting Him and taking Him at His Word He has always provided a way!” She’s right.

God is in control and has given us His all. He established the vineyard and the vines. He created this earth and still controls it. And when the people of this world turned evil and tried to become their own Gods, He sent His son as a sacrifice to make you His own. He sent His son so that you can know without a doubt that all your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And you can share that forgiveness with others in the name of Jesus, Amen and amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, AMEN!