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“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. 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 have his inheritance.' And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore 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.” 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 21:33–43)
There is either a life of repentance and faith in Christ or there is a life of unbelief. There is either a life which trusts in Christ or there is a life which rejects Him. There is either a life which joyfully receives the forgiveness of sins or there is a life which says “No, thank you" to God. There is either a contrite and broken heart with faith in Christ or there is a hard heart of unbelief. What is your heart like?
In our text for today we learn that a master of a house planted a vineyard. He cleared out the stones. He dug up the soil, and he planted the best vine. He built a winepress in it, and he also built a tower in its midst. Finally, he put a fence around the vineyard. Notice that the master of the house did all of this work.
Israel was that vineyard, for Isaiah 5:7 says: “For the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.” God delivered them from the slavery of Egypt. He provided water and food for them during their wilderness journey. He brought them to the promised land. He gave them victory over their enemies. He helped them build the temple in Jerusalem. Notice that God did all of this work. What more could He have done for Israel, His vineyard?
God expected the Israelites to produce good grapes. He expected them to produce fruits worthy of repentance, but they did not. Instead, they rejected God. They turned away from Him in unbelief and worshiped idol gods. Isaiah chapter 5 tells us that God's vineyard produced wild grapes (v. 2). It goes on to say that God looked for justice, but there was only bloodshed. He looked for righteousness, but there was only cries of distress (v. 7). In other words, He looked for faith, but there was only unbelief.
For 1500 years God sent prophet after prophet in order to call His people to repentance. The prophets spoke the truth of God's Word. They spoke words of judgement and of grace through faith in the promised Messiah. They also warned the people of God's wrath against unbelief.
The first prophet was Moses. Although God used Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, still the people complained and grumbled against Moses. They refused to listen to him.
One time the prophet Elijah cried out to God saying, “The children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life” (1 Kings 19:10).
The prophet Jeremiah was one of the most persecuted prophets in the Old Testament. He warned the people that the Babylonians were coming to take them captive. But the people only listened to the false prophets. In the end the people seized Jeremiah and abused him.
And then there was the prophet Ezekiel. God said to Ezekiel, “I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. For they are stiff–necked and stubborn children. You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse” (Ezekiel 2:3–4,7).
The only prophet of whose death we have a record is the prophet Zechariah. The book of Chronicles records his death saying, “They stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 24:24).
So, when the owner of the vineyard sent servant after servant, this represents the sending of prophet after prophet in the Old Testament. Just as the servants were beaten, stoned, and some killed, so also the prophets were treated the same way. Just as the tenants refused to give the owner of the vineyard any fruit, so also Israel refused to give to God any fruits of repentance. They had a hard heart of unbelief toward God.
John the Baptist was also a prophet. He also called the people to bear fruits worthy of repentance, but he, too, was killed by the hand of Herod because he spoke the truth of God's Word.
Jesus once said to the Jewish leaders of His day, “Woe to you, because you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed” (Luke 11:47). In other words, the Jewish leaders supported their fathers in killing the prophets by maintaining the tombs of the prophets. Jesus also once identified Jerusalem as “one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her” (Matthew 23:37).
Earlier I asked, “What is your heart like?” Unfortunately, there is unbelief inside everyone here. We have inherited it from Adam and Eve. It doesn't like God or His Word. It rebels against His grace and mercy and it wants to live according to it's own selfish desires. It raises it's ugly head when you fight against each other and when you refuse to forgive each other. It raises it's ugly head when idols come into the home. It raises it's ugly head when there is a lack of love for one another.
Our sinful nature wants to despise preaching and God's Word. It wants to reject the servant whom God has sent. It wants to live a hard heart of unbelief.
Dearly beloved, where God's Word convicts you of sin, be honest with God and confess what your sinful nature has done. Don't ever remain in sinful pride, but humble yourself in repentance before God and receive His forgiveness. This will always be an ongoing thing for the Christian.
In our parable for today, the owner of the vineyard had one son. He sent him to the tenants saying, “They will respect my son.” But the tenants said, “This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours.” So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
If the tenants killed the owner's only son, then what will happen to Jesus, the Father's only begotten Son? He, too, will be killed. If Israel wounded and even killed the prophets in the Old Testament era, then what will happen to Jesus who is the greatest prophet of all? He, too, will be killed.
It's easy for our human nature to say, “It was foolish for the owner of the vineyard to send His only son. If the tenants beat, wounded, and killed the servants, didn't the owner know that they would do the same thing to his own son?” This is one step away from thinking that it was foolish for God our Father to send His only begotten Son into our world. Yet, it was necessary for your salvation and mine that Jesus suffer and die upon the cross. Many think that crucifixion was foolish, but it was our means of salvation.
It's also easy for us to get angry at the tenants and blame them for killing the owner's son. “They have no right to kill the owner's son,” we say. And yet, we are the tenants. Your sin and my sin was the cause of Christ's death upon the cross. Romans 5:8 says that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” In other words, even though we were sinners, Christ still died for us. Even though Jesus knew that He would perish in Jerusalem, just like many of the prophets, yet He continued to journey to the cross, because the cross was the only means of salvation for you and me.
Jesus came to His own, but His own did not receive Him. When Pilate asked the people “What shall I do with Jesus?” They cried out, “Crucify Him. Crucify Him.”
So, on the cross, Jesus was the stone which the builders rejected. It is believed that Mount Calvary was a stone quarry made out of the stones which were rejected when they built the temple. Jesus wasn't the one they wanted in their kingdom. And so they cast Him out of the vineyard — out of Jerusalem — and crucified him. There he died upon the cross. God used the cross to save you and me.
Jesus did not have a hard heart like the Israelites. He had a heart which was set on saving you and me.
Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead. The stone which the builders rejected has risen and has now become the chief cornerstone of the New Testament church. The resurrected Christ is the most important part in the foundation of the church. He is the special piece needed. He is the one whom the church proclaims, and He is the one whom the church desperately needs. Ephesians 2:20 says that the church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.”
After Jesus told the parable of the tenants killing the owner's son, Jesus asked the Scribes and Pharisees this question, “When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” In their anger the Scribes and Pharisees reply, “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.” Then Jesus looks them in the eye and says to them, “Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.”
Sure enough, God's vineyard was taken away from the Jewish leaders and given to the Gentiles. God's kingdom was taken away from Israel and given to the New Testament church. God even had the Romans destroy the temple in 70 A.D.
In our parable, the tenants tried to get the vineyard by force, but yet God has given you the vineyard not by works but by grace for Christ's sake without any merit or worthiness on your part. The tenants thought that through the death of the owner's son they could gain the inheritance. Yet, because of the death of the Father's only begotten Son, you have gained an inheritance — not land or a home — but the inheritance of eternal life.
Dearly beloved, God's vineyard is here as we gather together around His Word and Sacrament. You are in His vineyard. When you were baptized you were grafted into Christ — the true vine. You are an heir of God's kingdom. Here God washes away your sin on account of Christ. Here God blesses you with the gift of salvation through faith in Christ. Here God nourishes you with His Word. Here He gives you wine to drink which came from the fruit of the best vine — Christ Himself giving you His body and blood for the remission of all your sin.
Jesus once said, “I am the vine and you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:1, 5). Christ is the one who produces a crop a hundred fold in and through you — as you love and serve the neighbor. It's through Christ that you bear much fruit — good grapes at that. It's the Holy Spirit that works the fruit of repentance and faith in your heart.
What is your heart like? God has created a new and clean heart within you. He has done it all.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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