April 3 2022
Lent 5 April 3 2022
Old Testament: Isaiah 43:16-21 “Behold, I am doing a new thing”
Psalm: Psalm 130 “Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord”
Epistle: Philippians 3:8-14 (4b-7) “I count everything as loss for the sake of Christ”
Gospel: Luke 20:9-20 “The stone which the builders rejected … has become the cornerstone”
Sermon Text: Luke 20:9-20
Sermon Title: “A Question of Authority”
Grace to you and peace, from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
“Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the Gospel (and) the chief priest and the scribes with the elders, came up to Him and said to Him, ‘Tell us by what authority You do these things and who gave you this authority’”? (Luke 20:1-2) Let’s be clear, they were not asking an honest question for they did not want to hear anything that Jesus had to say to them. So, knowing their hearts are hardened towards Him, “Jesus said to them … I will not tell you by what authority I do these things”. (Luke 20:8b)
Most of the religious leaders of the Jews had already determined to reject Jesus and they were simply looking for ammunition or information to prove themselves right. They didn’t want to know the truth about who He is and what He came to do. Jesus’ authority was unmistakable, and this became clearer and clearer the more He spoke. “And Jesus began to tell the people this parable” (Luke 20:9a) which we find out in a bit, “they perceived that He had told this parable against them”. (Luke 20:19)
You see, the proclamation of the Word of God is always rejected by some, even some who are in the house of God; and it doesn’t matter how winsome or friendly or persuasive the preacher may be. Remember the teaching of the Small Catechism, “I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in my Lord Jesus Christ or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me …”. Remember also Jesus’ own words from earlier in Luke’s Gospel, “for others, I speak in parables, so that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand”. (Luke 8:10b)
Hear again the parable of the wicked tenants; “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But, the tenants beat him and sent him away empty handed. And he sent another servant, but they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty handed. And he sent yet a third. This one they also wounded and cast out”. (Luke 20:9b-12) Jesus has just summarized hundreds of years of Jewish history in a few sentences.
“Then the owner of the vineyard said, what shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him. But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, this is the heir. Let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours. And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do”? (Luke 20:13-15)
For the record, the vineyard owner is God the Father, the tenants are the religious leaders, the servants are the prophets and preachers of God Word and the beloved Son is Jesus. The vineyard is the church And the vineyard doesn’t belong to the tenants, the religious leaders. It also doesn’t belong to the vineyard itself, the people in it. Neither has the right to do as they please. The vineyard belongs to Jesus. Both pastor/teacher and people follow Him.
The point of the parable is not in the least how “productive” or “unproductive” the vineyard was; for evidently there was some outward fruit to be collected, but rather the point is the sinful actions of the caretakers. So, we have the longsuffering Father, (who has every right to strike down/punish sinners immediately) instead, repeatedly sends out (calls) men to call the church and the world to preach repentance and faith in the one true God.
We have the religious leaders/authorities who for the most part, reject those sent by the Father to proclaim this message; who insult and persecute the messengers which is still quite common in the church today. Then the patient Father sends His beloved Son, whom they kill; thinking to have the Father’s vineyard all to themselves. If we get rid of Jesus (His Word), we can do as we please.
The scribes and the Pharisees will soon fulfill this prophesy against Jesus, as Jesus is falsely accused, arrested, mocked, beaten, crucified, died and was buried. They treated the Fathers’ beloved Son as a blasphemer, a common criminal. They did not seem to know or care to know, that the beloved Son, Jesus; did this voluntarily for them and for all of mankind. His death atoned for the sins of all people who have lived or ever will live; even for those who would not ultimately believe in Him. As Jesus said of them earlier, “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wing, but you would not”. (Luke 13:34b) It is not Jesus’ fault that they rejected Him and refused to come to Him; for “He offered up Himself, once for all”. (Hebrews 7:27b)
Now we hear the conclusion of the parable. Remember the question asked earlier, “what will the owner of the vineyard do to them” (Luke 20:15b) who rejected every attempt at being reconciled to God? Jesus said “He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others. And when they heard this, they said; Surely not”! (Luke 20:16)
So, they argue with Jesus. No Jesus! What You are saying will not happen. We have the temple (the church) and the holy city of Jerusalem; nothing will happen to us. Yet, less than 40 years later, the temple and the city of Jerusalem would be totally destroyed by the Romans. Those who remain stubbornly opposed to Christ and His Word will (in the end) receive no good news; no matter how much they plot and scheme; they will lose everything and remain under God’s eternal judgment.
“Jesus looked directly at them and said, What then is this that is written (Psalm 118:22) the stone that the builders rejected, has become the cornerstone? Everyone who falls on that stone, will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him”. (Luke 20:17-18) Jesus is being rejected by Israel, the “church” of His day, but that will not keep the Father from exalting Jesus above all things. “At the name of Jesus …
He was rejected, but He is the cornerstone of the church. All authority in heaven and earth is His and all who reject Him will be crushed, will perish eternally. Yet, despite all opposition to the Gospel by Satan and his allies, God will build His church on the death and resurrection of His beloved Son; Jesus Christ our Lord. All (we) who trust in Him alone for the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life, will be raised up on the last day to be with Christ forever.
We see in the final verses of our text today how hardened the hearts of the scribes, chief priests and Pharisees, the leaders of the church, actually were; how completely they had rejected Jesus. “They sought to lay hands on Him at that very hour, for they (rightly) perceived that Jesus had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. So, they watched Him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere; that they might catch Him in something He said, so as to deliver Him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor”. (Luke 20:19-20) They only pretended to listen to Jesus, so that could destroy Him.
So, how does this apply to us? For one thing, God continues to send servants/messengers calling (each of) us back to Him, calling us to daily repent of our sins; calling us to faithfulness to His Word and to works of love towards our neighbor. The question is, will we listen humbly to the Word of God, or will we resist it and rebel against it? The parable today serves as a permanent warning to us in the church; not to let the Word of God go in one ear and out the other; not to harden our hearts towards our Lord, but rather to humbly receive His teachings and doctrines; “to not despise preaching … but hold the Word sacred and gladly hear and learn it” as we are exhorted to do in the Small Catechism. For the Lord our God says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his ways and live”. (Ezekiel 33:11a)
We know from the Word of God that every single one of us are born sinners. At the beginning of the service, we confessed that we have sinned against God “in thought, word, and deed and that we cannot free ourselves from our sinful condition”. (LSB, Divine Service IV, page 203) Knowing that we have no righteousness of our own by which we can bargain with God; Why then would you resist the long-suffering Father who has sent His only begotten Son in the flesh; to die on the cross so that you could be reconciled to God? The prophet Ezekiel declares to us; “Turn back from your evil ways; Why will you die, O house of Israel”? (Ezekiel 33:11b)
The good news/Gospel this morning is that God has not (yet) punished us or destroyed us as we all deserve, rather that punishment was put upon Jesus. He died (atoning for all the sins of the whole world) and rose bodily from the dead, (showing His authority over all things) that we might not die eternally. He has made us His children through the waters of Holy Baptism; working saving faith in us through the means of grace; through the water and the Word; forgiving our sins and giving us the promise of eternal life.
As we heard in the psalm this morning, “If the Lord would mark (keep a record of our iniquities) … who could stand”? (Psalm 130:3) The answer is none of us. “But with Him there is forgiveness, that He may be feared”. (Psalm 130:4) He continues to strengthen us in our faith through the gifts we receive here in Word and Sacrament. Therefore, as God’s people, we “wait for the Lord … and in His Word we hope”. (Psalm 130:5) Amen.