God’s vineyard warning!

All the preparations had been made for a fun filled Fall break. The hotel with the swimming pool, candy and snack filled vending machines and cotton-candy-cloud-cashmere-cozy towels was booked. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks with only favorite foods, even the unhealthy ones were on the menu. And all the family would be together with all the screens locked away so they could soak up every minute. With all of this in place, one of the Fall breakers managed to complain each night to different family members until the last day when in the face of the one who planned the fun filled Fall break the complaint was made. So, the complainer was placed in the corner with water and crackers while everyone else enjoyed a wonderful last meal complete with appetizers, extravagant fruit filled and little umbrella drinks and desserts. Keep in mind then, the complainer brought on being left out of all the good things.

Good things come with warning labels. Strangely enough, there are many good things that come with warning labels. A good thing like holding a baby, comes with warnings about how to hold the head, how to position the body in your arms, what volume to speak at, what blankets and materials of blankets to use, etc. so that it seems like it might not be good to hold this new gift of life. Vitamins and medicines also have warning labels though they are meant to heal. A vineyard with the soil cleared of rocks, planted with the best vines, a watchtower and a winepress is a good thing that ought not need any warning about sour grapes or a bad vintage, but in our Old Testament reading from Isaiah 5, the grapes do go bad. God painted the picture of a good vineyard that one would expect to produce good wine and serve as the backdrop of a romantic getaway, but the grapes go bad. Nothing more could have been done for the vineyard, so the bad fruit was not from the one who planted the vineyard. Instead, it was the grapes that went bad as we read in Isaiah 5,

7 The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

The LORD had given Israel and Judah everything good going back to his promise to Abraham and Sarah of the Savior who would come from their descendants, whom God grew into a great nation in Egypt, freed from their slavery, gave them the written Word, preserved them in the desert, established in the promised land and grew into a powerful nation, but they repeatedly rejected God to follow pagan idols giving up love for God and love for one another becoming a people of injustice, bloodshed, distress and death. The wicked, sinful hearts of the people produced the need for a warning to turn back, or they would be burned up like bad vines.

The grape does not fall far from the vine. The descendants of those warned by God through the prophet Isaiah 700 years before Jesus’ ministry heard Jesus give the same warning in our Gospel reading from Matthew 21. Jesus told a parable to the Jewish leaders about a vineyard like the one in Isaiah 5. The vineyard had been prepared with everything good, so a taste of the crop ought to have been the envy of any sommelier worth their silver spittoon. Tasting the fruit was delayed though as we hear in Jesus’ parable,

33 … Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. 35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. 38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

The first murderous interaction in this parable is enough to cause anyone pause, but the escalation is unimaginable. Sending the second wave of servants without the authorities or a detachment of soldiers sounds foolish enough, but sending the son all alone was reckless endangerment.

The multitude of questions about the vineyard owner’s metal capacity or flippant or cruel sending of his son to the murderous tenants are only eclipsed by the shock of such wicked tenants guilty of premeditated murder. Jesus told this parable to the Jewish leaders to expose them as the same as what was seen in the time of Isaiah:

And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

Isaiah 5:7

They heard this parable days before they worked up the crowds in Jerusalem who were there to celebrate Passover to scream their premeditated plot for Jesus, “Crucify.” Yet, when Jesus asked them about the parable, this was their response,

40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

Justice was their response, but they were the wicked ones who rejected the Son whom the Father sent. They were the ones who like the tenants ought to have been ready with good fruits but instead produced only bad. Though they were so well read in the Scriptures, they did not believe them as Jesus then pointed out,

42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? 43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.

Rather than rejoice in their Redeemer, the Pharisees wanted the kingdom of God for themselves through their own self-righteous works, but their loveless hearts gave no glory to God and no help to the poor, needy, orphaned, widowed and all whose consciences were weighed down by the shame and guilt of sin and fear of judgment.

We bring God’s judgment for producing bad fruit. God prepared the world for us with everything we need for life. He is our Creator and still preserves us as we read in Matthew 5,

45 … He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Without distinction, God continues to preserve this world even though so much of it is rotten. Before the preservation of this world ends on Judgment Day, God wants us to hear the warnings given to the Pharisees so that we are not sent to hell. When we do not respect the messengers God sends to us who share the Word of God with us which can be our parents, grandparents, pastors, Sunday school teachers, Christian friends, etc. we kill the messengers. When we do not welcome Jesus into our daily lives by avoiding reading, hearing, meditating on and applying Scripture, we leave Jesus buried in the grave. When we disregard our daily need for repentance and forgiveness, we disregard the reality of Judgment Day and hell for those who are still in their sins. The vineyard was prepared with all good things, but the fruit was bad.

The vineyard produced bad fruit, but the Son’s blood made it good. Jesus’ parable shocked the Jewish leaders in many ways, but the key takeaway, the sweetest sentence and words to be savored by all were in Matthew 21,

37 Last of all, he sent his son to them.

We would never do what this vineyard owner did. If we were with him while he considered what to do after the first two waves of servants had been mistreated and murdered, we would tackle him to the ground with our hand over his mouth to prevent him from telling his son to go. Jesus told the parable in this way to show how much God loves us. Then, he quoted from Psalm 118 written about one thousand years before he told this parable to show this was the way God would save us, Matthew 21,

42 … “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

The Lord did this to save us. God intentionally sent Jesus to be rejected and suffer crucifixion to spill his blood covering over our sins and giving us his righteousness so that we are now seen as good. And the result of all of this is recorded in our New Testament reading from Philippians 3,

20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Because of Jesus, we will not be thrown out of the kingdom, but we are citizens of heaven. On Judgment Day, our bodies scared by sin, will be transformed into good and glorious bodies. For all God has prepared for us, we eagerly wait for Jesus to return and bring us to heaven.

God produces good fruits through his people. As we take the warnings from Jesus’ parable about the wicked tenants to heart, we are driven back to our Redeemer. We were bought back from the compost pile and put in the cornucopia of Christ. We guard our hearts from rejecting Jesus and losing our place in the kingdom by welcoming the messengers God has put into our lives to bring us his Word like our parents, family, pastor, teachers and friends. We continue to produce the good fruits of thanksgiving by spending time with Jesus every day in his Word hearing, reading, meditating and applying it to our lives as it shows us our sins, shows our Savior, shows us what to avoid and shows us what to pursue. We remain ready for the day when Jesus returns when we place our good fruits at his feet to his glory to join him in heaven at the promised land feast of milk and honey blessed. The sight of the vineyard owner’s son is meant to refresh the weary and oppressed.

All the preparations had been made for a fun filled Fall break. With the hotel, food and quality time planned, one of the Fall breakers managed to complain, so the complainer was put in the corner while everyone else enjoyed a wonderful last meal. The complainer brought on being left out of all the good things, and the same will happen to us if we reject all God has done for us. God gave every privilege to his people Israel with the promise of the Savior, but they rejected Jesus when he came. Yet, God worked through Jesus’ rejection and death to save the world. Redeemed by Jesus, may we produce the good fruit of his kingdom, and take to heart God’s vineyard warning. Amen.