Jeffrey Ebert shared this story about an incident in his childhood. He wrote:
When I was five years old, before factory-installed seat belts and automobile air bags, my family was driving home at night on a two-lane country road. I was sitting on my mother’s lap when another car, driven by a drunk driver, swerved into our lane and hit us head-on. I don’t have any memory of the collision. I do recall the fear and confusion I felt as I saw myself literally covered with blood from head to toe.
Then I learned that the blood wasn’t mine at all, but my mother’s. In that split second when the two headlights glared into her eyes, she instinctively pulled me closer to her chest and curled her body around mine. It was her body that slammed against the dashboard, her head that shattered the windshields. She took the impact of the collision so that I wouldn’t have to. It took extensive surgery for my mother to recover from her injuries.
In a similar, but infinitely more significant way, Jesus Christ took the impact for our sin, and his blood now permanently covers our lives. (from Edward K. Rowell & Leadership Journal, 1001 Quotes, Illustrations & Humorous Stories for Preachers, Teachers & Writers, “Blood of Christ, pg 204)
Tonight, similar to Jeffrey’s mother, we look at the sacrifice given on our behalf. We have the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on our mind. The story is a familiar one, which we hear each year on Good Friday. Because the cross looms so large in our faith story leading up to the crucifixion, it’s as if it is happening all over again. We were not eyewitnesses to the event, yet the image of Christ crucified, is so indelibly inscribed on our spiritual memory that this comes to us, as no ordinary day. Like the car accident, we see the blood of a savior, taking the cuts, bruises, and pain, that we sinners are more fitting to receive.
Tonight, we’re going to look at another parable that Jesus taught as He looked toward the cross. We read a portion of this parable in the Matthew 21 responsive reading earlier in the service. During the week before his death, Jesus was in the temple being drilled by the Chief Priests and Elders, concerning by what authority He claimed to do what He had been doing.
Parable of the Wicked Tenants
In response, Jesus told this parable to those who were plotting his death; a damning parable, for the religious elite of Jerusalem. He told it to them in the Temple courts a few days before He was crucified. This parable is clearly a call for repentance – one last chance offered by the owners Son. But as the religious leaders turn in unbelief, this story is a pronouncement of God’s judgment on those who have unfaithfully tended God’s vineyard.
His listeners would have known Isaiah 5:1-7 where God’s kingdom is compared to an unproductive vineyard. Jesus’ story tells of a land owner who spent time meticulously preparing a vineyard which likely included tilling the soil, erecting the support fences for the vines, digging a wine press, and ensuring it was good and right for raising a harvests. He then leaves this vineyard to be cared for by tenants, with the assurances that they will share part of the harvest with the owner. When harvest time arrives, he sent servants to collect his share of the harvest. The tenants beat one of the servants, stoned another, and killed a third. Next, he sent even more servants, but they received the same violent treatment. Finally, he sent his son, sure that the violent tenants would respect him. But they even killed his son. Vainly they hoped somehow to get his inheritance.
Like Nathan confronting a sinful King David, Jesus asked the religious leaders what the vineyard owner would do to the tenants, when he came to confront them in person. They responded by saying that he would kill the evil tenants and lease the vineyard to others who would rightly share the harvest. Jesus quotes Psalm 118:22-23 about a rejected stone becoming a cornerstone. He tells them that the kingdom of God will be taken from them and given to others who bear fruit. It is a masterful use of story and question, leading his listeners to condemn themselves.
Matthew tells us that the Chief Priests and Elders understood the parable. They were the violent tenants. The vineyard, or the kingdom, was not his or hers to own. It belonged to God, and they were its stewards. The servants they had beaten, stoned, and killed were the prophets sent to Israel to prepare them for the Messiah. And the vineyard owner’s son in the story? He was Jesus himself, the Son of God. Soon, he knew, they would kill him. Through this short story, Jesus pronounces judgment on the religious establishment of Israel. Over and over, the religious leaders rejected the prophets, the prophecies, and the warnings of God. In its place, they made their own religion of good works and self-righteous as though they could stand before God with their own holiness. They took over the vineyard as if it was their own and not God’s.
Blood Purchased the Vineyard
What stands out in this parable, is the violence toward the Son. Jesus came bearing the truth. He embodied the truth about God, about humanity, about sin, and about love. He was “the truth” (John 14:6). Yet the stewards of the truth responded to him with jealousy, injustice, and terrible violence.
Our Lord Jesus purchased that vineyard with His own blood on the cross of Calvary. In actuality, the vineyard is not just the world of the Temple leaders, but the entire sinful world around us. God has carefully planted the vineyard that is His Church. It is precious in His eyes. By His Spirit, and through His Word, the Church faithfully proclaims repentance from sin, and forgiveness, through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. This one Holy and Apostolic Church, which trusts in Christ alone for its salvation, cannot fail to produce the sweet grapes of faith. In Jesus Christ, it pleases God. This is true of the one Church of Jesus Christ that is found throughout the world, united in the true Spirit of Christ.
The Church Around Us
The story of the evil tenants is not just a story for the Pharisees and Church Elders of old. It's a message for us today as well. Even after so many years of his parable delivered to His people, people still kill people, beat them and stone them, in the name of religion. People still die for the truth. People still die in the name of the one on the cross. In just the past few months, Muslim terrorists have captured hundreds of Christian men, women, and children in Syria, Iraq, Libya, and this morning in Kenya. In several incidents, Christians were killed for their faith. Some were even beheaded, and videos posted on the Internet. Some were asked if they would “suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from this Christian faith?” They have suffered, and they have died. Martyrs are not only reserved for the history books.
While it’s true that many faithful have been willing to risk it all for their faith in Jesus Christ, and the truth that He proclaimed, it has not always been true of the institutional church. The physical organizations, churches made up of concrete and steel and created by people, have not always been faithful to God. This was the case even as the first church organizations were established. The Apostle Paul wrote these words to the churches in the region of Galatia, he wrote, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ, and that you are turning to a different gospel – which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned.” Martin Luther faced much the same thing when he condemned the Roman church for its abuses and rejection of God’s free grace found in Christ alone, according to God’s Word alone. Throughout history wicked tenants have been throwing God, His servants, and even Christ out of the vineyard. This is true in our day also. God calls us to be vigilant lest we suffer the same fate of Israel, have the vineyard of God’s grace wrenched from our hands, and suffer the destruction of our souls.
There is even a movement within many churches today, to replace the religion of God, with the religion of men. In so doing, God and His Son are rejected. There is a perverse movement within churches to affirm and accept behaviors that are clearly condemned by God: cohabitation, adultery, divorce, abortion, and homosexuality. There is a movement within churches to embrace all religions as true. There is a movement within the churches to talk less and less about repentance and sin, because these subjects offend people. Finally God’s Word and its authority are rejected. The list goes on and on. In all these things God is rejected. God’s Law is rejected. And God’s Son, Jesus Christ, is rejected. All these things are happening in churches that call themselves Christian. The consequences today are as they were for the Pharisees and Chief Priests, rejection by God and destruction of the soul.
But, there is good news in this parable, and the Good Friday story. Even though we are not always faithful, God is faithful toward us. He calls us to examine ourselves and our confession of faith. These must be judged according to His Holy Word. To clarify our understanding, we also see the Lutheran Confessions as a correct explanation of God’s Word. Though we are unfaithful at times, when we repent and turn to Jesus Christ in faith, God forgives us. The sacrifice has been paid. The vineyard is ready for us.
Conclusion
The good news on this Good Friday, is that God remains faithful to His vineyard. He has sown the vines of repentance and faith. He has planted us in the good soil of our baptism. He has cared for us by watering us with His Word and the sacrament of the altar. He continues to send faithful workers that build upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. “The stone, which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Though He was despised, rejected and crucified for us. This was the Lord’s doing, so that we might be saved, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Faithful to His Word, and empowered by His Spirit, we bear the sweet fruit of faith and fulfill God’s expectations of us, as we trust in Jesus. (Partially based on a sermon from Mark Berlin, “Grape Expectations”, https://sermons.logos.com/submissions/61692#content=/submissions/61692)
In the story of Jeffrey’s mother, we heard of a mother taking the brunt of the car accident so that her son would be protected. She substituted herself for the violence and pain that he would have received otherwise. It was a true act of love. Like Jeffrey’s mother, Jesus took the punishment that we would have received, and allowed the violence, abuse, and pain to course through his body instead. Jeff’s mother saw it coming and took action. Jesus, knew he would be rejected in the vineyard, and did the same.
And that’s really the story for tonight. Good Friday is a story of sacrifice made on our behalf. A story of substitution, a story of sacrifice, and above all, a story of love. Jesus is the chief cornerstone of the church, where his sacrifice shows love for us all.
Amen.
