october 8 2023
October 8th 2023
Old Testament: Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm: Psalm 80:7-19
Epistle: Philippians 3:4b-14
Gospel: Matthew 21:33-46
Sermon
Text: Philippians 3 or Matthew 21
Sermon Title:
Grace to you and peace, from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
In the Old Testament reading this morning, the prophet Isaiah tells a parable of the vineyard of the Lord, “My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it with choice vines … and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes”. (Isaiah 5:1b-2) “What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it … why did it yield wild grapes”? (Isaiah 5:4) “The vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the House of Israel and the men of Judah”; (Isaiah 5:7a) and the Lord pronounced judgment on them because “He looked for justice … and for righteousness … and found none”. (Isaiah 5:7b)
Our Lord Jesus continues/updates/expands on this parable in the Gospel text this morning with His Parable of the Tenants, which also ends in a similar manner. In both parables, the Master did everything necessary for a bumper crop and so there was no reason for it to be unfruitful. He “planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower in it and leased it to tenants (to care for the vineyard) and went into another country”. (Matthew 21:33)
The time of the harvest soon arrived and “when the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And his tenants took his servants and beat one and killed another and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first. And they did the same to them”. (Matthew 21:34-36) Jesus minces no words here (or ever). The hardness of the heart of His hearers is clear. Theirs’ is not an ignorant hated, but a calculated, intentional hatred of God/Christ and His Word. This shows that the tenants/religious leaders, had different “religious” beliefs than their master and those he sent.
The servants of the master in the parable are the prophets and preachers of Israel, who were routinely ignored, beaten, stoned, and killed for their faithfulness to the Lord. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Micah, Habakkuk, and Amos all were martyred, along with countless others. As Jesus lamented “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wing, but you would not”. (Luke 13:34) Sadly, we often do the same today, shamefully treating those whom God, our master has sent to gather in the harvest.
Now the master who owns the field/vineyard does the unthinkable. After all that has happened to the servants he has sent, he decides to send his beloved son. “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 have his inheritance. And they took him out of the vineyard and killed him”. (Matthew 21:37-39)
Two things here, first the utter arrogance of the tenants, in thinking they could just take over the vineyard from the rightful owner and gain the inheritance. We look at them and wonder how they could think such a thing, and yet we see this all too often today, as the unbelievers treat the messengers of God with utter contempt; thinking that the world/church is theirs for the taking and that they will never have to answer to God; who owns everything. This is the delusion that many in our world live under; but one day, they will be rudely awakened to this reality.
Second, we see the love of our master and Lord, who continues to send prophets and preachers to call all sinful, rebellious people to repentance and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; that their sins would be forgiven and that they would have the hope of eternal life. As we heard last Sunday from the prophet, “I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord; so turn and live”. (Ezekiel 18:32) That is why God, the master, sent His beloved Son to die for the sins of the whole world. The Lord is issuing this strong warning, so that some may repent and believe the Gospel, and be saved from eternal destruction; which awaits all unbelievers.
For those who, like the tenants in the parable, persist in their unbelief, Jesus asks; “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 let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons”. (Matthew 21:40-41)
Jesus’ question forced the Pharisees to pronounce their own judgment for rejecting Jesus. Their rejection of the promised Messiah, will lead to the inclusion of others, specifically the Gentiles, as we heard last Sunday, “the tax collectors and prostitutes go into the Kingdom of Heaven before (instead of) you”. (Matthew 21:31b)
So, what are these fruits that Jesus speaks of here? They are the good works that the Christian, the one who has true faith in Christ, is to produce in their lives; in their various vocations, by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit works all these things (true repentance, faith in Christ, and good works) in us “when and where He wills” through the preaching of the Word and the sacraments.
“It is God alone, from whom we receive all that is good, and by whom we are delivered from all evil … we are not arrogantly to seek other ways and means than God has commanded”. (L. C. 1st Commandment, 368:25, 27) Saint Paul calls this so-called righteousness, based on our own works, “rubbish”. (Philippians 3:8)
Apart from true faith in Christ, “Apart from the Ten Commandments (the Word), no deed can be good or pleasing to God, no matter how great or precious it may be to the world”. (L. C. Close of the Commandments, 407:311) As Jesus said elsewhere, “a diseased (bad) tree (one without faith in Him) cannot bear good fruit”. (Matthew 7:18) And the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans, “Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin”. (Romans 14:23b)
“For a person must be acceptable to God … before that person’s works are pleasing to Him”. (Formula, S D IV, 552:8) This saving faith, which enables us to do good works pleasing to God, “comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ” (Romans 10:17b) Paul calls this, “the righteousness of God that depends on faith”. (Philippians 3:9b)
“For Jesus said to them, Have you never read in the Scriptures; the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes? Therefore, I tell you the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits”. (Matthew 21:42-43) Here Jesus is quoting from Psalm 118; which is a Messianic Psalm, which means that Jesus is referring to Himself.
The closing verses indicate that the Jewish leaders knew that He was speaking this and the other parables against them. Jesus concludes with these words, “And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him”. (Matthew 21:44) Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for the forgiveness of sins is for all people, but those who reject Him, will be in Jesus’ own words, “broken to pieces and crushed”. (Matthew 21:44)
“When the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking about them. (and He clearly was talking about them) And although they were seeking to arrest Him, they feared the crowds, because the people held Him to be a prophet”; (Matthew 21:45-46) yes, and even more than a prophet, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, and God’s only begotten Son as we will see next Sunday.
These words of Jesus are very hard for many to bear, as have been the parables and teachings of the previous few weeks. The warnings against apathy and unbelief are becoming stronger and stronger as Jesus nears the cross. But, we need to remember that Jesus uses such warnings to jar us out of our complacency and false comfort, in hopes of drawing His hearers to repentance and faith; so that they will not receive God’s curse and wrath, but rather His grace and blessing.
Therefore, rebuking unbelief and sin is part of the calling of every pastor in Christ’s church. Many think it is the job of the pastor to inspire, or entertain, or at least not make people feel bad; but this is found nowhere in Scripture. Rather, a pastor is to care for the souls of people, by applying God’s (sometimes bitter) medicine, for the sake of healing.
When we are physically sick, we are willing to try almost anything in order to be healed or to keep it from getting worse; and if a doctor informs us that we are sick and prescribes a certain medicine for healing, most are willing to take it. How many patients will curse their doctor for giving them the bad news? Don’t they/we rather take their medicine, even if it is bitter and causes temporary discomfort? And if the doctor knew you were sick and didn’t tell you, wouldn’t that make you angry?
Yet, the pastor is often treated just the opposite. When he informs someone of their sin; spiritual sickness and the need for repentance, he is often chastised as being unfriendly and judgmental. When he tries to apply God’s Word to the situation (the balm/medicine that is needed) he often rejected. Yet if the pastor knows the sickness and refuses to warn, (as he is often encouraged and even pressured to do) he is like a doctor who would let a patient die, rather than prescribe a bitter medicine of healing/correction. Therefore, those who tell pastors not to use the Word of God to rebuke, correct, and exhort church members to holy living are also sinning.
Again, God’s warnings through His Word and representatives, are for the sake of the Gospel; so that repentance and saving faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ would follow; “so that we may gain Christ, and be found in Him; not having a righteousness of our own that comes from the law, but … the righteousness from God that depends on faith in Christ”. (Philippians 3:8b-9) Amen.
The peace of God …