The Parable of the Tenants (Luke 20:9-19). Sermon at FFMC 16/10/22.

 

Jesus’ Mission: The Parable Of The Tenants

Luke 20:9-19

And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. ¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. ¹² And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. ¹³ Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ ¹⁴ 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.’ ¹⁵ And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” ¹⁷ But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone’?

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

¹⁹ The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.

 

Introduction

In the highly urbanized context of Singapore many of us have never seen a vineyard. Also, most of us have probably not been the place of a landlord.  The difficulty of picturing the events in the story can hide just how cruel and wicked the tenants in this story were. Their behaviour is so atrocious that in our low-abiding city we can scarcely imagine such a situation. The owner had the law on his side, and yet became a victim. He lost his rightful rental income, and finally, he lost his son. The tenants committed theft because they used what was not theirs for their own gain and failed to keep their side of the tenancy agreement. They assaulted the owner’s servants, and finally, they murdered the owner’s son. This is a picture of repeated, deliberate greed and wickedness.

The meaning of the parable is clear: Jesus is saying that God owns the vineyard of Israel (Isa 5:1-7, Jer 12:10, Ez 19:10). It is supposed to bear the fruit of worship and love and obedience. He sent prophets in the OT to gather this fruit. And finally He has sent his Son. “Beloved Son” (Lk 3:22) But the leaders of Israel have rebelled. Jesus knows that they will kill Him. He is predicting His death. For Jesus, this parable is not just a story. It is a picture of spiritual realites.

The punch line of the parable is in v.17-18. After the story of death of the heir there is a horrified reaction, not at the evil they have just heard. They are horrified that the punishment for the crime would apply to them.

Jesus quotes Ps 118:22. This part of the parable is also not hard to understand. In Acts 4:8-12 after being arrested for healing the lame man at the Temple, Peter interprets the second half of this parable for the Jewish leaders who had condemned Jesus just some months earlier. He says:

“Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a cripple, by what means this man has been healed, be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, but which has become the head of the corner. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. “

See Peter's interpretation:

·         v.10: the stone is Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

·         v.8: the builders are the Jewish rulers and elders.

·         v.10: the rejection of the stone was the crucifixion of Jesus.

·         v.10: the elevation of the stone to the head of the corner was the resurrection of Jesus.

·         v.12: because of this position as the cornerstone, there is salvation in no other.

So what does this have to do with us? So what’s the point of the parable? Is it simply to say that the Jewish leaders were wicked and deserving of punishment? If Jesus comes again we should Lesson learned – now we can all go for lunch!

Let me draw 3 lessons from the parable for us today:

 

1.       God owns the vineyard

God owned Israel.

God owns you and me. We are accountable to Him. We don’t get to live lives the way we choose. The lives we are living now – the places we live in, the food we eat, the clothes we wear, our work, our relationships – all don’t belong to us. We are living in someone’s vineyard. It is not our own. The owner of our lives may seem far away, but He is very real.

 

This is not a popular idea. This is why the tenants killed the owner’s son. He was a reminder that they did not own the ground they were living on. He interrupted their happy routine.

 

The messaging of this world from advertisements to Disney movies is that we should be ‘free” to “follow our hearts”, to “trust” or “believe in” ourselves and “chase our dreams” and that self-fulfilment is the highest life goal. Our world is one where people are taught to love themselves, value themselves and promote themselves.

 

At the bottom line, the message is: “I can do whatever I feel I want whenever I want to.”

 

The world says, “Follow your dreams”. Jesus says, “Follow me.”

The world says, “Fulfil yourself”. Jesus says, “Deny yourself”.

The world says, “Take all you can”. Jesus says, “Take up your cross”.

 

The Christian life is not a kind of addition or option or variation of normal life. It is not a situation where we add in Christian activities like church or Bible reading to our usual routines. It is not learning in church to be more moral and well-behaved. Jesus demands everything from us, because He does really own everything of us. You have to be a bit mad to follow Jesus. Maybe so that people will call you “fanatics”. But everything changes once you see that God owns you and God owns me. We cannot tell God to mind His own business. Because everything is His business, and there is no such thing as our own business. We are accountable to Him for the way we live. Is the vineyard of your life bearing fruit for God?

 

2. God gives us His Son

Into this situation of entitlement and individuality, into the lives of traitors and evildoers God pours grace. After 3 violent rejections, how could the landlord be so foolish as to put His Son into danger? Shouldn’t he have known what would happen? The parable tells us that God is always giving wicked sinners a chance to turn, even though He knows the cost to Himself. He is gentle, well-disposed, and full of mercy to sinners. We do not have a God who stands far off, angrily demanding obedience of us. He lovingly comes to join us in the vineyard of our lives.

 

Did God know what would happen? God has always planned to give us Himself in the person of the Son. In his Pentecost sermon, Peter says, “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” (Ac 2:23)

Jesus said “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”(Lk 9:22). The word we should take note of is ‘must’. There is purpose in that word – Jesus’ death is not a tragic accident. The death of Christ is a necessity. He comes to die for those who reject and kill Him.

 

When we ignore His loving warnings – His calls to give up our favourite sins and habits and to turn to Him with all our hearts, His first response is not angry judgment, but a full giving of Himself. He shows all the grace each one of us needs, so that no one will be able to say that God was not gracious enough, or did not give them enough chances to repent. Out of love, God gave us His Son.

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? ⁵ But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. (Rom 2:4-5)

 

 

3. Christ is the cornerstone

Lit. “the head of the corner.” It may be a large stone in the foundation, laid at the corner and determining the position of two walls. Or it may be the stone at the top of the corner binding the building together.

 

Christ is the cornerstone (Is 28:16, Eph 2:20, 1 Pet 2:7), the one who is chosen by the Father. He is the Lord, the name above every name, the Risen, glorious One.

 

There are 2 things Jesus says here about the stone:

1. It is precious. Its value is initially unrecognized (‘the builders rejected’), but it has become the most important stone in the building. Jesus has infinite worth. He is treasure! He is greater, more important, more wonderful, than everything the world can offer. We are always tempted by Satan with 2 lies: that God is not good and that sin is better. But not so – there is nothing and no one better than Jesus – He is the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation.
2. It is dangerous. The stone destroys people. There are 2 ways this destruction will occur: you can stumble/trip over it (cf. Is 8:14 “he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel”) and smash yourself against the ground, or the stone can fall on you and crush you (cf. Dan. 2:34).

 

The first way we are destroyed is by stumbling. We stumble when we are walking our own way; doing our own thing; minding our own business, and we are unaware of an obstacle in front of us. We are enjoying the vineyard –happily living there. Then something or somebody reminds us that our lives are really not in our control. This can be an unexpected health issue, or a family crisis, or a business failure. We have to give an accounting. So we are confronted by the truth - and we then trip and fall and break a leg, or a skull. There is that sense of outrage – how could this happen?! Who left that stupid stone there?!

Jesus Christ is the ultimate stumbling block. He comes in the way of your ordinary life. He is immovable and eternal. He calls us to acknowledge His presence and reality. If we ignore, reject and oppose Him it is us, not He, who will suffer. He will not be moved. Our own wrong momentum – our insistence in going our own way - will be our destruction.

 

The stone can also fall on us and crush us – this refers to future judgment (Da 2:34). The time will come when without warning; we face the full force of Jesus’ holiness and power. This will be when we die, or at His return. “He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others (v.16) God’s patience is great, but it is not unlimited. God’s mercy is wide as the sea, but it is not infinite towards unrepentant sinners.

“He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.” (Pr  29:1)

 

The point of the parable is that our attitude to Jesus is everything.  God has exalted Jesus Christ to be the point of decision – the most important decision for every man, woman and child. Our attitude to Him will determine our eternal destiny. The stakes are high. The parable of the tenants calls us to acknowledge His reality and submit to His Lordship.

 

 

Ending

Jesus’ hearers are shocked: “God forbid!” they say – this will never happen to us. We too, may call ourselves religious people, faithful Christians. Loving mothers, faithful husbands, dutiful children. Good people

 

But he looked directly at them (v.17) Jesus is looking directly at you today. The Lord comes with grace, and He tells you that He is the most important thing in the universe. Will you build your life on the Cornerstone and commit all to Him? Or will you stumble on Him? Will you be crushed? 

 

Video here