Tenants

Matthew 21: 33-46, page 24
“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. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’
So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
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.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read 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’?
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. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.
Sermon
We went to the zoo, and I was watching a young boy lag behind the rest of his family. The boy’s dad kept yelling to him to keep up, but it wasn’t working. Then the dad says, “You mean they just let that gorilla roam around loose in here?”
There’s a big difference between looking at animals when there’s a fence separating you from them and finding a gorilla sneaking up behind you, and I think it’s the same as the difference between listening to one of Jesus’ parables from a safe distance and listening to one of Jesus’ parables suddenly realizing that it’s you he’s talking about.
Chapter 21 of the Gospel of Matthew concerns the temple – in verse 12 Jesus enters the temple and cleanses it by overturning the tables of the money changes saying, “My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you are making it a den of robbers.” In verse 18, a fig tree represents the temple, and Jesus curses it for not producing fruit, then the chief priests and the elders ask him “by what authority do you do these things”?
He doesn’t answer directly – instead he tells them a story.
He could have just said, “I am God’s son, the rightful heir to this temple over which you claim lordship, and, having used it to honor yourselves rather than honor God, I have been sent here to put things right.”
But he doesn’t say that. Instead he tells them a story – there was a vineyard and the tenants entrusted with the care of that vineyard didn’t respect the messengers sent by the owner. They beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Then more were sent, but to no avail. Finally the owner said, “They will respect my son,” surely they will respect my son, so I’ll send him. But they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him as well.
“Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” Jesus asks them.
Assuming this was just a story, they gave him the clear answer: “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 harvest time.”
But it wasn’t just a story, and suddenly the gorilla that was behind the bars in the zoo is sneaking up behind them as they answer his question before they realize he’s not talking about a vineyard at all. He’s talking about them.
Now, from our perspective this is a pretty good trick. Jesus doesn’t have to come out and tell them they’re doing wrong – they’ve done it for him. He also doesn’t have to threaten a punishment; they pick out a punishment that seems just, only they don’t realize their picking out their own punishment.
And that’s how Jesus is. Rather than tell you what you’re doing wrong, rather than threaten punishment, he’s more interested in your repentance than delivering a stern lecture that’s sure to go in one ear and out the other.
So say he’s trying to tell you something through this parable.
If he is he wouldn’t just come out and tell you, instead Jesus would help you realize it for yourself.
Say you were the tenant and the earth was the vineyard. If Jesus were concerned about you overstepping your bounds, using up more than your share, taking and destroying more than can be replaced, Jesus wouldn’t just tell you to change your ways, to take seriously the damage pollution is doing to the earth, to think more about the environmental impact of our way of life. Instead there would be prophets sent for us to ignore, and then innocent life lost just because we became more interested in preserving our way of life than honoring the God who freely gave us this earth as a gift.
Say you were the tenant and your school was the vineyard. If Jesus were concerned about the way you were treating your classmates, treating some with disrespect, bullying others, and using words that tore each other down rather than built each other up, Jesus wouldn’t just tell you to change your ways, to take more seriously how much damage your words can do. Instead there would be prophets warning you along the way, and then innocent life would be lost because we became more interested in feeling good about ourselves at the expense of others than honoring the God who says that Kingdom belongs to the least of these.
Or say you were the tenant and grace was the vineyard. If Jesus were concerned about your keeping grace, a gift given by God freely but kept selfishly by you, then Jesus wouldn’t just come and tell you to change your ways. Instead there would be warnings ignored, friends lost, and innocent victims hurt because you were incapable of offering others the same forgiveness that you have received.
I think it’s significant that the owner of the vineyard sends the son rather than an army. An army would have been able to seize the watchtower, fight the tenants into submission, take back the vineyard. But instead the owner of the vineyard seems intent on helping the tenants see the error of their ways.
So he sends the son – surely they’ll listen to him – surely they will respect my son.
Ours is not a God of punishment and retribution, though that would have been easier. Instead our God shows us that Christ is hurt, killed, innocently because of the error of our ways.
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.”
Will he, or will he hope that the son’s innocent blood will be enough to show the tenants that they have gone far enough?
Will God put those wretches to a miserable death, or is God after something more – not punishment, but repentance, change that you choose to make?
Choose then, today, to listen to the warnings, to be aware of the harm that you can do. For when you live your life aware of the innocent Christ who was killed by those who wouldn’t listen, you honor the God who gave you everything that you have.
Amen.