Rent and Rebels
Sermon
Preaching the Parables
Some time ago I paid a good price for a rosebush to be placed on our patio. At the time of the purchase, it had several beautiful pink roses which were a delight to my Barbara. Since that time there have been no roses. Every day it does not rain I water it. It gets sun the entire day. Every month I give it rose food according to directions on the box. The bush appears healthy. The leaves are green. Fresh shoots are plentiful. The only problem is - no roses! We want roses. We bought the plant to have roses. What good is the bush if it will not produce roses?
There is a similar situation in today's parable of the rebel tenants. The owner provided a vineyard and furnished it with fence, tower, and winepress. He rented it to vinedressers who agreed to pay rent either in money or in fruit. But, he received no rent. He got no benefit from his investment year after year. He sent servant after servant to collect the rent but the vineyard workers beat them up. In desperation he sent his only son thinking that the workers would respect him. Instead they killed him.
As everyone has a right to expect a return on his/her investment, God, above all, has a right to get the fruit of righteousness from his people. What should be done with a plant that does not produce roses? What did God do with a people that did not pay the rent due him?
Context
Context of the Setting
Jesus had entered Jerusalem for the last time with a triumphal procession involving the waving of palm branches, throwing down garments, and shouting hallelujahs. He drives money-changers out of the temple. Upon returning from Bethany the next day, he curses a fig tree for being barren. His enemies raise a question about his authority. He responds with two parables: the parable of the two sons and the parable of the rebel tenants. Jesus came to the capitol city to be accepted as King but in this last week of his life he was rejected and murdered. This is the fulfillment of Psalm 118:22-23 - the rejected stone.
Context of Parallel Accounts: Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19
Matthew's account of the parable differs significantly from Mark and Luke:
1. Matthew has the owner send servants (plural) only twice to represent the former and latter prophets; Mark and Luke have the owner send only one servant three different times before he sends his son.
2. Matthew refers only to "his son," but Luke has the owner of the vineyard refer to "my own dear son."
3. When Jesus asks, "What will he do to these servants? Matthew has the listeners answer, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death ..." But, Mark and Luke have Jesus give the answer. By having the people reply, Jesus has the people pronounce their own sentence. Their answer incriminates them.
4. Matthew refers to the owner of the vineyard as a "householder," but the other two Evangelists speak of the owner only as a "man." A householder implies that he was the owner of the vineyard as God is the creator-owner of his world and people.
5. According to Mark and Luke, the son was killed by the tenants and his body was then thrown out of the vineyard. In contrast, Matthew says they first threw the son out and then killed him. This refers to Jesus having been crucified outside the city walls.
Context of the Lectionary
The First Lesson. (Numbers 27:12-23) Today's Lesson is the next to last in a series of fifteen on the life and leadership of Moses. The time has come for a successor to Moses to be inducted. Joshua has been chosen and before the gathered people, Eleazer, the high priest, by the laying on of hands, inducts and commissions him to be Moses' successor.
The Second Lesson. (Philippians 3:12-21) This is the third in a series of four Lessons from Philippians. Paul does not feel he has attained the goal but, forgetting the past, he presses on toward the goal of Christ and urges his people to imitate him as he imitates Christ.
Gospel. (Matthew 21:33-43) The parable of the rebel tenants. This parable is the fourth in a series of five consecutive parables. (Pentecost 17-21) It is also the second in a series of three with the same theme: rejection of Jesus by those expected to accept him. (Pentecost 19-21) Some New Testament scholars contend that this parable was the last Jesus told. It was the parable that initiated the process that led to Jesus' destruction.
Psalm. (Psalm 81:1-10) The Psalm, in keeping with Lesson 1, refers to God's deliverance of the people from Egypt.
Prayer of the Day. We pray for forgiveness for questioning God's ways with us and ask for faith to acknowledge him as our Lord.
Hymn of the Day. "God Calling Yet" In keeping with the parable, God, the vineyard owner, keeps calling us to himself:
"God calling yet; shall I not rise?
Can I his loving voice despise?
And basely his kind care re-pay?
He calls me still; can I delay?"
Context of Related Scriptures
2 Chronicles 24:20-22 - The killing of the prophet Zechariah.
Psalm 118:22-23 - The stone rejected by the builders.
Isaiah 5:1-7 - Wild grapes.
Jeremiah 2:29-32 - "You have all rebelled against me."
Hosea 11:8 - God's love cannot let go.
Micah 6:6-8 - What God requires.
Matthew 23:37-39 - Killing the prophets.
Hebrews 11:36-38 - Persecution of the faithful.
Philemon 20 - "I want some benefit from you."
Content
Characteristics of the Parable
1. A Parable of Judgment. This parable was the match that started the fire that eventually killed Jesus. He aroused their hatred to the point of starting the procedure that resulted in his death. At the close of the parable they recognized that he was talking about them (v. 45) and were going to arrest him if it had not been that they feared the wrath of the people who supported Jesus. What was in the parable that enraged them?
A. Jesus claimed to be the son in the parable, the son killed by the tenants. It was a clear claim to be the Son of God which they considered to be blasphemy, something worthy of death.
B. In the parable Jesus accused the religious leaders of his day of being the killers of the prophets and of the Son. They were portrayed as men of greed who refused to pay the rent and took over the vineyard as their own. They are therefore accused of being murderers and thieves. Such severe criticism would naturally cause extreme hostility.
C. Jesus had nothing but death and doom for his opponents. The tenants would be "wretches to a miserable death" and their position would be given to others who would produce fruit for God.
2. A Parable of Allegory. There is always an exception to a rule. The rule is that parables should not be interpreted allegorically. Each parable is supposed to deal with one main point or truth. Today's parable is an exception, Jeremias said: "The whole parable is evidently pure allegory." An allegorical interpretation is necessary to understand the parable. The religious leaders understood it allegorically, for they knew he was talking about them. The vineyard is Israel. The owner is God. The tenants are the religious leaders. The servants are the prophets. The son is Jesus. The parable says, in Israel the religious leaders refuse to give God his due. Repeatedly God has sent prophets to collect the rent of righteousness, but the tenants kill them. Now God's Son appears. Hoping to take over the vineyard, the religious leaders take the Son out of the city and crucify him.
3. A Parable of Love. There is no other parable, not even the Prodigal Son parable, that speaks so thoroughly of God's love as the parable of the rebel tenants. His love is seen in giving Israel the vineyard and supplying all that is needed for producing grapes and juice. Moreover, God's love is a patient and persistent love. He will not give up his rebellious people. Time after time he sends his servants to persuade his people to render obedience, but they are beaten and abused. As one last, desperate effort, he sends his only son whom they kill. It is a parable of a desperate God who is yearning, longing, and seeking his people to return to him. Through Hosea, God asked, "How can I give you up?"
4. A Parable of Rejection. In spite of God's wooing efforts over the ages, the tenants reject the prophets and kill the Son. It is like last Sunday's parable in which the one son said he would go to work in his father's vineyard but did not go. In today's parable the tenants are saying no to God. But, the rejection falls also on the tenants. When the owner returns, he has the tenants put to death and the vineyard turned over to others who will pay the rent. It is a solemn message of judgment involving death and rejection for the disobedient religious leaders.
Precis of the Parable
Hear another parable. A landowner planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. Then he rented it out to tenants and took a trip. When the time of harvesting grapes came, the owner sent his servants to get his portion of the grapes. The tenants beat one, killed one, and stoned a third servant. The next time the owner sent more servants, but they received the same treatment. Finally, thinking they would respect his son, the owner sent his son to get the rent. But, when the tenants recognized the son, they decided to kill him so that they could take over the vineyard as their very own. So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. At this point, Jesus asked his listeners, "When the owner comes, what will he do to these tenants?" They answered, "He will certainly kill those evil men and rent out the vineyard to others who will pay the rent when it is due." Then Jesus asked, "Have you not read where the Bible says that the stone rejected by the builders became the cornerstone? Likewise, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to people who will produce fruit."
Thesis: If God's people fail to render the fruit of righteousness, God will replace them with those who will.
Theme: God's love knows no limits.
Key Words in the Parable
1. "Householder." (v. 33) He is more than just another man. He is the landowner; he owns the vineyard; it is his private property. It reminds us that God is the owner of our vineyard world. This is our Father's world.
2. "Planted." (v. 33) The householder not only owns the vineyard but provides for it. He built a fence around it to keep animals and thieves out. A place was dug for a winepress. He had a tower erected to provide housing for the vinedressers and to serve as a lookout for possible invaders. The parable is saying that God has not only created us but supplies us with everything we need to produce fruit. His providence shows his love for us.
3. "Tenants." (v. 33) Who are we? We are tenants in God's vineyard. We are tenants by virtue of God's covenant with us. He chose us as his tenants and made a contract with us. He provided the land, the vineyard, and the equipment. Our part is to tend the vineyard, harvest the fruit, and return to him his portion. Sometimes we forget we are tenants, for we act as though we were the owners. We are only renters and we owe God the rent of faithfulness and service.
4. "Servants." (v. 34) The servants came in two groups: the former and latter prophets. They were sent by God to his tenants to get his portion of the harvest. The tenants receive the servants with brutal treatment. God's representatives are persecuted even to the point of death.
5. "Inheritance." (v. 38) When the tenants saw the son coming for the rent, they planned to kill him because he was the heir. Then, they figured they would take over the property. How could this be? At the time of Jesus, the law stated that if tenants did not pay rent for four consecutive years, they could claim ownership of the land. Today this is known as "Squatters' Rights." In the time of Jesus an owner could prevent squatters from taking over the land by coming to the land and by making a formal protest. In the parable the owner sent his son who as heir was part owner.
6. "Death." (v. 41) The ultimate price of disobedience is death. "The wages of sin is death." No one can get away with murder with God. Though he is a God of love, he is also a God of justice. His wrath is experienced by all who disobey and rebel against him by failing to render what is due him. What does God require of a tenant: "to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God"?
Contemplation
Insights
1. Give God his due. God has a right to expect some returns from his people just as the landowner had a right to expect rent from his tenants. How high is the rent? Micah asked, "What does the Lord require of you?" His right to expect returns is based upon who he is and who we are. God is the landowner, the creator, and father of us all. Moreover, his right is based upon us as tenants. We live on his land. We use his land. The vineyard is his. For his goodness we owe him the fruit of righteousness and service.
2. Free to work. God is no taskmaster! In the parable the vineyard owner plants the vines and furnishes the vineyard with fence, press, and tower. Then he becomes an absentee owner. The parable tells us God is like that. He has givan us the earth and the necessary tools to produce and then lets us have the full authority and responsibility to develop it, to care for it, to cultivate the crop, and to bring in the harvest. He lets us use our initiative, inventiveness, and creativity to produce the largest possible harvest.
3. A desperate God. The love of God shines brightly through this parable. We can see his love in giving and supplying the vineyard - his creation and providence. His love is expressed in his patience and faithfulness. Again and again he sends his servants, the prophets, to call his people to repent and to return to him for salvation. He tolerates humanity's resistence, rebellion, and refusal to return what is due him. Finally as one last desperate effort, he sends his only son in the hope he will be respected and obeyed. The tragedy is the cross but even through the cross, God "draws all men" to him, for Christ died for the sins of all humanity.
4. Inevitable judgment. Rebellion has its price. When the rules of the game are broken, there are penalties. It is a law of life rooted in the justice of God. Is there no penalty for beating up the landowner's servants and killing his son? When the father returns to his vineyard, the murderers are killed and the vineyard is given to other tenants. Jesus is teaching us that God the Father is coming as judge of the nations and evildoers will receive their due reward: death and removal. There is no happy ending to this parable. How could there be? Justice must be satisfied.
5. Premeditated crime. There is no excuse for the tenants' sin. They refused to pay the rent. They slugged the owner's collectors of the rent. At the coming of the son, the tenants plotted to kill him to get the vineyard for themselves. They said, "Let us kill him." So it was with Jesus. On his own initiative Judas bargained to betray his Master. Caiaphas claimed Jesus' death was the expedient thing to do. The Pharisees and Herodians held a consultation how they might destroy him. (Mark 3:6) This is the story of humanity's inhumanity to God: rebellion, refusal, rejection, revolution.
6. The love of money. Why did the tenants rebel against the owner? Was it not the love of money, the root of all evil? Greed for the material things of life was at the heart of their rebellion. Year after year they refused to give the owner his share of the produce. They wanted the whole harvest. Because they coveted the vineyard for their own possession, they killed the son. Jesus portrayed the Pharisees as lovers of money. For gold God can be rejected, so the parable says.
Homily Hints
1. When God Can Do No More. (21:33-39) Time after time God reached down to his people as the owner sent servant after servant to collect the rent. His very last effort was to send his son. There is no more God can do, because he is in his son - "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself." (2 Corinthians 5:19) In what way did God do his utmost for the world?
A. God's final and perfect revelation in his Son.
B. God's final act of deliverance through his Son.
C. God's final appeal to humanity. (John 12:32)
2. A One-track-mind God. (21:33-39) God has a one-track mind. He has but one purpose: to bring humanity back to him. This is taught in the parable when the owner of the vineyard sends servant after servant and finally his son to get a response from the tenants. Consider God's efforts over the ages -
A. Put mankind in the garden of Eden - sin caused ejection.
B. Entered covenants - broke the terms.
C. Provided messengers - killed the prophets.
D. Sent his Son - crucified.
3. A Contrast of Response. (2 1:33-43) The parable shows us a contrast of God's attitude to mankind and humanity's attitude toward God. It is the contrast of privilege and obligation.
A. God's humanity to man - privilege.
1. Creation - providence - salvation.
B. Man's inhumanity to God - obligation.
1. Refusal to pay rent.
2. Rejection of prophets.
3. Crucifixion of Son.
4. Personnel of the Parable. (21:33-43) The parable is an allegory. We see the nature of the persons in the parable.
A. God the owner - love in creation, providence, patience.
B. Christ the son - redemption.
C. People the tenants - rebellion.
D. Church the new tenants - fruit of repentance.
5. How Much Is the Rent? (21:33-43) Since God is the owner of the vineyard and we are the tenants, we ask how much rent God asks of us. The parable does not specify an amount, only a return is expected. The rent may be - too high?
A. Fruit of righteousness - godly living.
B. Fruit of service - obedience.
C. Fruit of self - commitment.
6. Will the Church Be Replaced? (21:41-43) Because the tenants refused to pay the rent and killed the owner's son, they were replaced. So it happened - the Gospel was given to the Gentiles. If the church does not produce fruit for God, she also is in danger of being replaced by those who will send the rent to God. What fruit does God want from today's church? Some possibilities -
A. A world of peace.
B. Freedom from hunger, poverty, and illiteracy.
C. Conservation of natural resources.
D. Evangelization of the world.
Contact
Points of Contact
1. The parable of the rebel tenants has a point of contact with the people of the congregation in the popular misconception that we humans own the world. The tenants in the parable forgot they were only tenants. Consequently, they failed to return the rent to the owner. They acted as though they owned the vineyard, and were determined to secure it for themselves. Many forget that God is God, that he is the owner of our world and of ourselves by virtue of his creation and that we are only stewards and renters. As tenants we have the obligation to care for the vineyard and to produce a harvest for God.
2. Another point of contact between people and parable is the subject of money. The tenants in the parable were materialistic. They refused to share the harvest with the landowner. By their greed for the property they were driven to murder the son. The love of money continues to produce evil: crime, stealth, and murder. Mahatma Ghandi once said to his fellow countrymen, "You will understand your Western friends much better if you remember that no matter what they say in creed or in church, money is their real god."
3. This parable touches the lives of our church people when it comes to returning to God his share. In the parable the tenants failed repeatedly to pay the rent. For years the owner received no return on his investment. God is the landowner and the vineyard is the nation. The tenants are his people who are in covenant with God. In the covenant God provides the vineyard and its furnishings. The tenants promise to return a portion of the harvest. Often church people sing, "We give thee but thine own," but do we? What does God ask of us as his share; is it not a tithe? It is a question of stewardship, not only of money but of non-material elements such as justice and mercy toward mankind. Instead of a return of ten percent, many give only one or two percent of treasure, time, and talent.
4. Most of our pew-sitters think they must seek and find God for their lives. For many, a Christian is one who chooses Christ. It is the opposite. Christ chooses us. He came to seek and save the lost. The parable emphasizes the patient and persistent effort God has made over the ages to win people baok to him. God is ever trying to get his people back to the Garden of Eden where he and his people may live in peace, harmony, and joy. The parable portrays God as the "Hound of Heaven" who is ever in search for his rebellious tenants.
Points to Ponder
1. Did it happen? In verse 43, Jesus tells the religious leaders that the Kingdom of God would be taken away from Israel and given to a nation which will produce the fruits of the kingdom. Because Israel failed to produce the fruit of righteousness and rejected Christ, has Israel lost its place as God's chosen people? Because the Jews refused to accept the Gospel, the Apostles gave it to the Gentiles. Does this mean that Christians should attempt to evangelize Jews? Does a Jew need Christ to enter the Kingdom of God?
2. In the parable the tenants killed the son. The son represents the Son of God. The chief priests and Pharisees recognized themselves as the tenants of the parable. Because the religious establishment plotted, planned, and promoted the death of Jesus, can the Jews be held responsible for the cross, or is it fair to blame only the religious leaders?
3. Is the church next? If Israel were removed from the Kingdom of God because of failure to produce for God, is the church facing the same fate? If it happened once, why can it not happen again? Will God turn to another people to have his will carried out? What are some of the fruits that God is expecting from the contemporary church?
- A world of justice and peace.
- A society free of drugs.
- A clean-up of sexual immorality.
- Elimination of world hunger, poverty, and illiteracy.
- Conservation of natural resources.
- Evangelization of the world.
Illustrative Materials
1. Greed. The title of an autobiography: "All I Want Is Everything."
In 1988 Florida introduced a lottery. During the first week people bought $95,000,000 worth of lottery tickets. An observer remarked, "The lottery plays on people's greed." and "Greed is the lottery's biggest player."
In 1987 there was a nationwide survey of college freshmen consisting of 210,000 students. Seventy-six percent of them indicated that being financially well off was the most important goal of life.
2. Modern Martyrs. The editor of the World Christian Encyclopedia claims that one in every 200 evangelists, pastors, and missionaries is being killed on the mission field. In 1915, 700,000 Armenian Christians in Turkey were killed. In 1933 Stalin's forces caused the death of ten million Christians in the Ukraine.
3. Church Replaced? Annie Dillard writes in "Teaching a Stone to Talk": "I have been attending Catholic Mass for only a year. Before that, the handiest church was Congregational. Week after week I was moved by the pitiableness of the bare linoleum-floored sacristy which no flowers could cheer or soften, by the terrible singing I so loved, by the fatigued Bible readings, tha lagging emptiness and dilution of the liturgy, the horrifying vacuity of the sermon, and by the fog of dreary senselessness pervading the whole, which existed alongside, and probably caused, the wonder of the fact that we came ..."
4. Failure to Respond. When Clare Booth Luce was seventy-five, she was asked, "Do you have any regrets?" She answered, "Yes, I should have been a better person. Kinder. More tolerant. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I remember a girlhood friend of mine who had a brain tumor and called me three times to come and see her. I was always too busy, and when she died I was profoundly ashamed. I remember that after fifty-six years."
5. Faithfulness of God. As Cromwell was dying, he asked, "Tell me, is it possible to fall from grace?" After a moment his chaplain answered, "It is not possible." Cromwell said, "I thank God, for I know I was in grace once."
In gratitude for being saved from a plague in 1633, Oberammergau has put on the passion play every ten years for the past three hundred thirty-six years.
There is a similar situation in today's parable of the rebel tenants. The owner provided a vineyard and furnished it with fence, tower, and winepress. He rented it to vinedressers who agreed to pay rent either in money or in fruit. But, he received no rent. He got no benefit from his investment year after year. He sent servant after servant to collect the rent but the vineyard workers beat them up. In desperation he sent his only son thinking that the workers would respect him. Instead they killed him.
As everyone has a right to expect a return on his/her investment, God, above all, has a right to get the fruit of righteousness from his people. What should be done with a plant that does not produce roses? What did God do with a people that did not pay the rent due him?
Context
Context of the Setting
Jesus had entered Jerusalem for the last time with a triumphal procession involving the waving of palm branches, throwing down garments, and shouting hallelujahs. He drives money-changers out of the temple. Upon returning from Bethany the next day, he curses a fig tree for being barren. His enemies raise a question about his authority. He responds with two parables: the parable of the two sons and the parable of the rebel tenants. Jesus came to the capitol city to be accepted as King but in this last week of his life he was rejected and murdered. This is the fulfillment of Psalm 118:22-23 - the rejected stone.
Context of Parallel Accounts: Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19
Matthew's account of the parable differs significantly from Mark and Luke:
1. Matthew has the owner send servants (plural) only twice to represent the former and latter prophets; Mark and Luke have the owner send only one servant three different times before he sends his son.
2. Matthew refers only to "his son," but Luke has the owner of the vineyard refer to "my own dear son."
3. When Jesus asks, "What will he do to these servants? Matthew has the listeners answer, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death ..." But, Mark and Luke have Jesus give the answer. By having the people reply, Jesus has the people pronounce their own sentence. Their answer incriminates them.
4. Matthew refers to the owner of the vineyard as a "householder," but the other two Evangelists speak of the owner only as a "man." A householder implies that he was the owner of the vineyard as God is the creator-owner of his world and people.
5. According to Mark and Luke, the son was killed by the tenants and his body was then thrown out of the vineyard. In contrast, Matthew says they first threw the son out and then killed him. This refers to Jesus having been crucified outside the city walls.
Context of the Lectionary
The First Lesson. (Numbers 27:12-23) Today's Lesson is the next to last in a series of fifteen on the life and leadership of Moses. The time has come for a successor to Moses to be inducted. Joshua has been chosen and before the gathered people, Eleazer, the high priest, by the laying on of hands, inducts and commissions him to be Moses' successor.
The Second Lesson. (Philippians 3:12-21) This is the third in a series of four Lessons from Philippians. Paul does not feel he has attained the goal but, forgetting the past, he presses on toward the goal of Christ and urges his people to imitate him as he imitates Christ.
Gospel. (Matthew 21:33-43) The parable of the rebel tenants. This parable is the fourth in a series of five consecutive parables. (Pentecost 17-21) It is also the second in a series of three with the same theme: rejection of Jesus by those expected to accept him. (Pentecost 19-21) Some New Testament scholars contend that this parable was the last Jesus told. It was the parable that initiated the process that led to Jesus' destruction.
Psalm. (Psalm 81:1-10) The Psalm, in keeping with Lesson 1, refers to God's deliverance of the people from Egypt.
Prayer of the Day. We pray for forgiveness for questioning God's ways with us and ask for faith to acknowledge him as our Lord.
Hymn of the Day. "God Calling Yet" In keeping with the parable, God, the vineyard owner, keeps calling us to himself:
"God calling yet; shall I not rise?
Can I his loving voice despise?
And basely his kind care re-pay?
He calls me still; can I delay?"
Context of Related Scriptures
2 Chronicles 24:20-22 - The killing of the prophet Zechariah.
Psalm 118:22-23 - The stone rejected by the builders.
Isaiah 5:1-7 - Wild grapes.
Jeremiah 2:29-32 - "You have all rebelled against me."
Hosea 11:8 - God's love cannot let go.
Micah 6:6-8 - What God requires.
Matthew 23:37-39 - Killing the prophets.
Hebrews 11:36-38 - Persecution of the faithful.
Philemon 20 - "I want some benefit from you."
Content
Characteristics of the Parable
1. A Parable of Judgment. This parable was the match that started the fire that eventually killed Jesus. He aroused their hatred to the point of starting the procedure that resulted in his death. At the close of the parable they recognized that he was talking about them (v. 45) and were going to arrest him if it had not been that they feared the wrath of the people who supported Jesus. What was in the parable that enraged them?
A. Jesus claimed to be the son in the parable, the son killed by the tenants. It was a clear claim to be the Son of God which they considered to be blasphemy, something worthy of death.
B. In the parable Jesus accused the religious leaders of his day of being the killers of the prophets and of the Son. They were portrayed as men of greed who refused to pay the rent and took over the vineyard as their own. They are therefore accused of being murderers and thieves. Such severe criticism would naturally cause extreme hostility.
C. Jesus had nothing but death and doom for his opponents. The tenants would be "wretches to a miserable death" and their position would be given to others who would produce fruit for God.
2. A Parable of Allegory. There is always an exception to a rule. The rule is that parables should not be interpreted allegorically. Each parable is supposed to deal with one main point or truth. Today's parable is an exception, Jeremias said: "The whole parable is evidently pure allegory." An allegorical interpretation is necessary to understand the parable. The religious leaders understood it allegorically, for they knew he was talking about them. The vineyard is Israel. The owner is God. The tenants are the religious leaders. The servants are the prophets. The son is Jesus. The parable says, in Israel the religious leaders refuse to give God his due. Repeatedly God has sent prophets to collect the rent of righteousness, but the tenants kill them. Now God's Son appears. Hoping to take over the vineyard, the religious leaders take the Son out of the city and crucify him.
3. A Parable of Love. There is no other parable, not even the Prodigal Son parable, that speaks so thoroughly of God's love as the parable of the rebel tenants. His love is seen in giving Israel the vineyard and supplying all that is needed for producing grapes and juice. Moreover, God's love is a patient and persistent love. He will not give up his rebellious people. Time after time he sends his servants to persuade his people to render obedience, but they are beaten and abused. As one last, desperate effort, he sends his only son whom they kill. It is a parable of a desperate God who is yearning, longing, and seeking his people to return to him. Through Hosea, God asked, "How can I give you up?"
4. A Parable of Rejection. In spite of God's wooing efforts over the ages, the tenants reject the prophets and kill the Son. It is like last Sunday's parable in which the one son said he would go to work in his father's vineyard but did not go. In today's parable the tenants are saying no to God. But, the rejection falls also on the tenants. When the owner returns, he has the tenants put to death and the vineyard turned over to others who will pay the rent. It is a solemn message of judgment involving death and rejection for the disobedient religious leaders.
Precis of the Parable
Hear another parable. A landowner planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. Then he rented it out to tenants and took a trip. When the time of harvesting grapes came, the owner sent his servants to get his portion of the grapes. The tenants beat one, killed one, and stoned a third servant. The next time the owner sent more servants, but they received the same treatment. Finally, thinking they would respect his son, the owner sent his son to get the rent. But, when the tenants recognized the son, they decided to kill him so that they could take over the vineyard as their very own. So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. At this point, Jesus asked his listeners, "When the owner comes, what will he do to these tenants?" They answered, "He will certainly kill those evil men and rent out the vineyard to others who will pay the rent when it is due." Then Jesus asked, "Have you not read where the Bible says that the stone rejected by the builders became the cornerstone? Likewise, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to people who will produce fruit."
Thesis: If God's people fail to render the fruit of righteousness, God will replace them with those who will.
Theme: God's love knows no limits.
Key Words in the Parable
1. "Householder." (v. 33) He is more than just another man. He is the landowner; he owns the vineyard; it is his private property. It reminds us that God is the owner of our vineyard world. This is our Father's world.
2. "Planted." (v. 33) The householder not only owns the vineyard but provides for it. He built a fence around it to keep animals and thieves out. A place was dug for a winepress. He had a tower erected to provide housing for the vinedressers and to serve as a lookout for possible invaders. The parable is saying that God has not only created us but supplies us with everything we need to produce fruit. His providence shows his love for us.
3. "Tenants." (v. 33) Who are we? We are tenants in God's vineyard. We are tenants by virtue of God's covenant with us. He chose us as his tenants and made a contract with us. He provided the land, the vineyard, and the equipment. Our part is to tend the vineyard, harvest the fruit, and return to him his portion. Sometimes we forget we are tenants, for we act as though we were the owners. We are only renters and we owe God the rent of faithfulness and service.
4. "Servants." (v. 34) The servants came in two groups: the former and latter prophets. They were sent by God to his tenants to get his portion of the harvest. The tenants receive the servants with brutal treatment. God's representatives are persecuted even to the point of death.
5. "Inheritance." (v. 38) When the tenants saw the son coming for the rent, they planned to kill him because he was the heir. Then, they figured they would take over the property. How could this be? At the time of Jesus, the law stated that if tenants did not pay rent for four consecutive years, they could claim ownership of the land. Today this is known as "Squatters' Rights." In the time of Jesus an owner could prevent squatters from taking over the land by coming to the land and by making a formal protest. In the parable the owner sent his son who as heir was part owner.
6. "Death." (v. 41) The ultimate price of disobedience is death. "The wages of sin is death." No one can get away with murder with God. Though he is a God of love, he is also a God of justice. His wrath is experienced by all who disobey and rebel against him by failing to render what is due him. What does God require of a tenant: "to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God"?
Contemplation
Insights
1. Give God his due. God has a right to expect some returns from his people just as the landowner had a right to expect rent from his tenants. How high is the rent? Micah asked, "What does the Lord require of you?" His right to expect returns is based upon who he is and who we are. God is the landowner, the creator, and father of us all. Moreover, his right is based upon us as tenants. We live on his land. We use his land. The vineyard is his. For his goodness we owe him the fruit of righteousness and service.
2. Free to work. God is no taskmaster! In the parable the vineyard owner plants the vines and furnishes the vineyard with fence, press, and tower. Then he becomes an absentee owner. The parable tells us God is like that. He has givan us the earth and the necessary tools to produce and then lets us have the full authority and responsibility to develop it, to care for it, to cultivate the crop, and to bring in the harvest. He lets us use our initiative, inventiveness, and creativity to produce the largest possible harvest.
3. A desperate God. The love of God shines brightly through this parable. We can see his love in giving and supplying the vineyard - his creation and providence. His love is expressed in his patience and faithfulness. Again and again he sends his servants, the prophets, to call his people to repent and to return to him for salvation. He tolerates humanity's resistence, rebellion, and refusal to return what is due him. Finally as one last desperate effort, he sends his only son in the hope he will be respected and obeyed. The tragedy is the cross but even through the cross, God "draws all men" to him, for Christ died for the sins of all humanity.
4. Inevitable judgment. Rebellion has its price. When the rules of the game are broken, there are penalties. It is a law of life rooted in the justice of God. Is there no penalty for beating up the landowner's servants and killing his son? When the father returns to his vineyard, the murderers are killed and the vineyard is given to other tenants. Jesus is teaching us that God the Father is coming as judge of the nations and evildoers will receive their due reward: death and removal. There is no happy ending to this parable. How could there be? Justice must be satisfied.
5. Premeditated crime. There is no excuse for the tenants' sin. They refused to pay the rent. They slugged the owner's collectors of the rent. At the coming of the son, the tenants plotted to kill him to get the vineyard for themselves. They said, "Let us kill him." So it was with Jesus. On his own initiative Judas bargained to betray his Master. Caiaphas claimed Jesus' death was the expedient thing to do. The Pharisees and Herodians held a consultation how they might destroy him. (Mark 3:6) This is the story of humanity's inhumanity to God: rebellion, refusal, rejection, revolution.
6. The love of money. Why did the tenants rebel against the owner? Was it not the love of money, the root of all evil? Greed for the material things of life was at the heart of their rebellion. Year after year they refused to give the owner his share of the produce. They wanted the whole harvest. Because they coveted the vineyard for their own possession, they killed the son. Jesus portrayed the Pharisees as lovers of money. For gold God can be rejected, so the parable says.
Homily Hints
1. When God Can Do No More. (21:33-39) Time after time God reached down to his people as the owner sent servant after servant to collect the rent. His very last effort was to send his son. There is no more God can do, because he is in his son - "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself." (2 Corinthians 5:19) In what way did God do his utmost for the world?
A. God's final and perfect revelation in his Son.
B. God's final act of deliverance through his Son.
C. God's final appeal to humanity. (John 12:32)
2. A One-track-mind God. (21:33-39) God has a one-track mind. He has but one purpose: to bring humanity back to him. This is taught in the parable when the owner of the vineyard sends servant after servant and finally his son to get a response from the tenants. Consider God's efforts over the ages -
A. Put mankind in the garden of Eden - sin caused ejection.
B. Entered covenants - broke the terms.
C. Provided messengers - killed the prophets.
D. Sent his Son - crucified.
3. A Contrast of Response. (2 1:33-43) The parable shows us a contrast of God's attitude to mankind and humanity's attitude toward God. It is the contrast of privilege and obligation.
A. God's humanity to man - privilege.
1. Creation - providence - salvation.
B. Man's inhumanity to God - obligation.
1. Refusal to pay rent.
2. Rejection of prophets.
3. Crucifixion of Son.
4. Personnel of the Parable. (21:33-43) The parable is an allegory. We see the nature of the persons in the parable.
A. God the owner - love in creation, providence, patience.
B. Christ the son - redemption.
C. People the tenants - rebellion.
D. Church the new tenants - fruit of repentance.
5. How Much Is the Rent? (21:33-43) Since God is the owner of the vineyard and we are the tenants, we ask how much rent God asks of us. The parable does not specify an amount, only a return is expected. The rent may be - too high?
A. Fruit of righteousness - godly living.
B. Fruit of service - obedience.
C. Fruit of self - commitment.
6. Will the Church Be Replaced? (21:41-43) Because the tenants refused to pay the rent and killed the owner's son, they were replaced. So it happened - the Gospel was given to the Gentiles. If the church does not produce fruit for God, she also is in danger of being replaced by those who will send the rent to God. What fruit does God want from today's church? Some possibilities -
A. A world of peace.
B. Freedom from hunger, poverty, and illiteracy.
C. Conservation of natural resources.
D. Evangelization of the world.
Contact
Points of Contact
1. The parable of the rebel tenants has a point of contact with the people of the congregation in the popular misconception that we humans own the world. The tenants in the parable forgot they were only tenants. Consequently, they failed to return the rent to the owner. They acted as though they owned the vineyard, and were determined to secure it for themselves. Many forget that God is God, that he is the owner of our world and of ourselves by virtue of his creation and that we are only stewards and renters. As tenants we have the obligation to care for the vineyard and to produce a harvest for God.
2. Another point of contact between people and parable is the subject of money. The tenants in the parable were materialistic. They refused to share the harvest with the landowner. By their greed for the property they were driven to murder the son. The love of money continues to produce evil: crime, stealth, and murder. Mahatma Ghandi once said to his fellow countrymen, "You will understand your Western friends much better if you remember that no matter what they say in creed or in church, money is their real god."
3. This parable touches the lives of our church people when it comes to returning to God his share. In the parable the tenants failed repeatedly to pay the rent. For years the owner received no return on his investment. God is the landowner and the vineyard is the nation. The tenants are his people who are in covenant with God. In the covenant God provides the vineyard and its furnishings. The tenants promise to return a portion of the harvest. Often church people sing, "We give thee but thine own," but do we? What does God ask of us as his share; is it not a tithe? It is a question of stewardship, not only of money but of non-material elements such as justice and mercy toward mankind. Instead of a return of ten percent, many give only one or two percent of treasure, time, and talent.
4. Most of our pew-sitters think they must seek and find God for their lives. For many, a Christian is one who chooses Christ. It is the opposite. Christ chooses us. He came to seek and save the lost. The parable emphasizes the patient and persistent effort God has made over the ages to win people baok to him. God is ever trying to get his people back to the Garden of Eden where he and his people may live in peace, harmony, and joy. The parable portrays God as the "Hound of Heaven" who is ever in search for his rebellious tenants.
Points to Ponder
1. Did it happen? In verse 43, Jesus tells the religious leaders that the Kingdom of God would be taken away from Israel and given to a nation which will produce the fruits of the kingdom. Because Israel failed to produce the fruit of righteousness and rejected Christ, has Israel lost its place as God's chosen people? Because the Jews refused to accept the Gospel, the Apostles gave it to the Gentiles. Does this mean that Christians should attempt to evangelize Jews? Does a Jew need Christ to enter the Kingdom of God?
2. In the parable the tenants killed the son. The son represents the Son of God. The chief priests and Pharisees recognized themselves as the tenants of the parable. Because the religious establishment plotted, planned, and promoted the death of Jesus, can the Jews be held responsible for the cross, or is it fair to blame only the religious leaders?
3. Is the church next? If Israel were removed from the Kingdom of God because of failure to produce for God, is the church facing the same fate? If it happened once, why can it not happen again? Will God turn to another people to have his will carried out? What are some of the fruits that God is expecting from the contemporary church?
- A world of justice and peace.
- A society free of drugs.
- A clean-up of sexual immorality.
- Elimination of world hunger, poverty, and illiteracy.
- Conservation of natural resources.
- Evangelization of the world.
Illustrative Materials
1. Greed. The title of an autobiography: "All I Want Is Everything."
In 1988 Florida introduced a lottery. During the first week people bought $95,000,000 worth of lottery tickets. An observer remarked, "The lottery plays on people's greed." and "Greed is the lottery's biggest player."
In 1987 there was a nationwide survey of college freshmen consisting of 210,000 students. Seventy-six percent of them indicated that being financially well off was the most important goal of life.
2. Modern Martyrs. The editor of the World Christian Encyclopedia claims that one in every 200 evangelists, pastors, and missionaries is being killed on the mission field. In 1915, 700,000 Armenian Christians in Turkey were killed. In 1933 Stalin's forces caused the death of ten million Christians in the Ukraine.
3. Church Replaced? Annie Dillard writes in "Teaching a Stone to Talk": "I have been attending Catholic Mass for only a year. Before that, the handiest church was Congregational. Week after week I was moved by the pitiableness of the bare linoleum-floored sacristy which no flowers could cheer or soften, by the terrible singing I so loved, by the fatigued Bible readings, tha lagging emptiness and dilution of the liturgy, the horrifying vacuity of the sermon, and by the fog of dreary senselessness pervading the whole, which existed alongside, and probably caused, the wonder of the fact that we came ..."
4. Failure to Respond. When Clare Booth Luce was seventy-five, she was asked, "Do you have any regrets?" She answered, "Yes, I should have been a better person. Kinder. More tolerant. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I remember a girlhood friend of mine who had a brain tumor and called me three times to come and see her. I was always too busy, and when she died I was profoundly ashamed. I remember that after fifty-six years."
5. Faithfulness of God. As Cromwell was dying, he asked, "Tell me, is it possible to fall from grace?" After a moment his chaplain answered, "It is not possible." Cromwell said, "I thank God, for I know I was in grace once."
In gratitude for being saved from a plague in 1633, Oberammergau has put on the passion play every ten years for the past three hundred thirty-six years.
