Matt. 21:28-44
For those who drive by our church on a regular basis they’re probably asking why don’t those people change that marquee…for the past 9 months it has said the same thing…studying in the book of John…the reason we don’t change it is because we’re still in the book of John.
This morning we’re continuing on in our study of the book of John by being in Matthew…for whatever reason John records nothing from Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Sunday to the institution of the Lord’s Supper on Thursday… however…both Matthew and Mark do share some of what Jesus said and did during those three days…and this parable is one of the things Jesus said.
As Jesus begins His last week in His earthly body…each one of the gospel writers gives information that is not found in one single account.
Matthew records six parables Jesus gives during that week…each parable is describing a different facet of the kingdom of God…but with each one focusing on one specific element…on what a life of faith as Jesus’ disciple looks like.
There’s no mention of what is required for eternal life…these parables assume you are already a believer…Jesus is not talking about how to get into the kingdom of God…He has already established that…in these parables Jesus is defining 1) the expectations on how we are to live our life while on earth…and 2) the blessing associated with that when we do.
It’s still Tuesday of Passion Week…He’s in the Temple complex…surrounded by the 12 apostles…probably the 72 who were sent out earlier…and possibly by any of the converts the 72 may have converted.
In addition, He’s surrounded by the religious leaders who are not there to hear about the kingdom of God…they’re there to catch Jesus in a trap so they can drag Him before Pilot and charge Him with making remarks unfavorable to Pilot or Rome.
This parable is a continuation of the conversation from the previous Sunday after Jesus cleared the Temple…the religious authorities—the chief priests and elders—asked Jesus:
‘By what authority are You doing these things and who gave You this authority?’ [Matt. 21:23]
Jesus refuses to tell them where He derives His authority but knowing their thoughts, He tells these parables that reflect the leaders’ true feelings.
Here’s what’s interesting…when those who were challenging Him didn’t get the first parable, He’d give them a second one.
Today’s parable is the second one addressed to the chief priests and elders who challenged the source of Jesus’ authority (21:23-27).
Rather than read the entire text I’m going to walk us through the events that make up this parable…the parable begins with a situation that was business as usual in Roman-occupied Palestine.
A landowner (God) established a vineyard (Israel) complete with a fence, a winepress, and even a watchtower.
He then returned to his own country as was often the case leaving tenants (the Jewish religious leadership) in charge of overseeing the vineyard (Israel) including harvesting the fruit.
This would be a sharecropper arrangement where the tenant would keep a certain percentage of the fruit and would give the rest to the landlord… business seemed to be working as usual until he sends his servants (the prophets) to harvest the crop:
When the harvest time approached, he (the vineyard owner) sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit [34]
It’s interesting that Matthew refers to the harvest as fruit…for Matthew producing fruit is the evidence of a genuine life of faith…this goes back to my original statement regarding the purpose of these three parables.
Jesus is talking about how we conduct our life is the evidence…it’s the fruit…that proves that our decision regarding becoming a Christian was genuine.
This parable is not about unbelievers…He’s not talking about those wretched heathens…He is directing His remarks to those who profess to be believers.
After sending the slaves—the meaning in the Greek is not like what we consider a slave to be…it’s δοῦλος … one who gives himself up completely to another’s will… (representing Israel’s prophets)—when the landowner’s servants arrive to collect his portion of the harvest everything comes apart [34-36].
The vine-growers (he left in charge) took his slaves (who came to harvest the crop) and beat one, killed another, and stoned a third
This is exactly the scenario that occurred to God’s prophets when He sent them to preach repentance to Israel.
They were rejected and killed by the very people claiming to be of God…the owner of the vineyard then sends another delegation of slaves to collect the rent…which God did…don’t know how he thought things would be any different the second time around…and they weren’t.
Those slaves were treated even worse than the first…but now he has a better idea… at this point, the story takes on an exaggerated conclusion…there’s not a common-sense conclusion to this parable so stay with me.
In real life the landowner would have sent soldiers to punish the tenants…but this is a story of God’s grace…and the exaggeration is appropriate to show God’s grace.
The situation becomes even more critical…instead of sending in some type of armed enforcement…or sending in a third set of slaves…the landowner sends his own son (Jesus), believing that they will surely respect him.
The son (Jesus) being the father’s heir and official representative, acts with the same authority as the father and is entitled to the same respect as these tenants would show the father…But the tenants see an opportunity here;
When the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and seize his inheritance. So they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him [v. 39)]
Two quick observances:
1) how ridiculous is the notion that if they kill the son they will somehow get the son’s inheritance.
2) not understanding why these thugs who have abused two previous sets of slaves will somehow respect the owner’s son
It’s a little confusing…like I said the story takes on an exaggerated conclusion…a parable doesn’t have to fit reality at every point…Jesus is telling this story to make a point.
Jesus asks his audience…not the believers that were gathered around Him…but the chief priests and elders:
Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? [40]
The answer should be obvious, but what Jesus is doing is forcing the religious leaders to declare their own miserable fate: condemning themselves for their own blatant disobedience…they said to Him:
He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time [41].
As evident in their answer…they unknowingly pronounced judgment on themselves as they tell Jesus how they…being the unfaithful tenants should be treated.
It’s important to know that earlier Jesus already pronounced judgement on them.
12But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, [Matt. 8:12]
Jesus then tells them the consequences:
Therefore…The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruit of it
This is the key verse in this whole parable…there are a number of interpretations regarding who Christ is talking to;
…the most natural assumption is that the kingdom would be taken from them…the Jews…and given to another nation just as the parable suggests.
…Another belief is that Jesus is referring to the Church – the Body of Christ…that God is finished with Israel and has transferred all their promises to Christians.
…And lastly some believe that Jesus is referring to the last generation of Jews – the day that is coming when all of Israel as a nation will repent of their sin, turn from unbelief to faith in God’s Anointed.
Now a natural reaction could be ‘who cares’ but in that statement, ‘given to a nation’ Jesus is unveiling something that has been kept secret for thousands of years…the revealing of the mystery of the church.
With respect to God taking the kingdom away and giving it to another nation… there are those who believe that the other ‘nation’ spoken of is the United States.
There are those who think that we somehow have a favored status with God because we sing ‘God Bless America’ at the seventh inning stretch at a baseball game.
I’m not sure how anyone can remotely think with over 62 million abortions since 1973 and the Church’s open defiance of God’s commandments regarding same-sex marriage and LGBTQ ordinations that we’re bringing forth fruit of righteousness.
And simply singing “God Bless America” at the seventh inning stretch at a baseball game doesn’t place us in the favored status category with God.
This parable does mention a ‘nation’ …but in the Greek that word can mean a number of things …a race, a people, a nation; even referring to heathen nations.
The word has a wide range of interpretation but only one real meaning is applicable
in this context…rather than ‘nation’ …people is a more accurate translation.
What we have is a ‘already…but not yet’ scenario in that statement…God did take away the Gospel from the Jews…that’s the already part…BUT…He does not, nor will He, take it out of the world.
He has already given it to another ‘nation’…that’s the already part…but…not referring to a geographical territory but referring to all the peoples of the world… not one particular people or nation but people collectively…there will always be a remnant of people to proclaim God’s word.
As believers in Christ we are not a nation…we are a body of believers from many
nations…Jesus is saying that there will be a new people of God made up of all peoples of the world who will temporarily replace the Jews.
Adopting the idea that America is God’s special nation is not found in Scripture.
Regarding the idea that the Church has replaced Israel…is also bad theology…for generations preachers and theologians have used this verse as a proof-text to show that the Kingdom of God has been taken from Israel and given to the church…that is called ‘replacement theology’.
Replacement theology is a frightening trend in the church today…the belief that the Lord has written off the Jewish nation and replaced it with the church as the sole recipient of God’s promises…that’s bad theology.
Just said that Jesus is indicating there will be a new people of God made up of all peoples of the world who will temporarily replace the Jews…with respect to Israel…they are the ‘not yet’ portion of the parable.
Some believe that when Jesus wept and mourned…only days before His crucifixion over Israel, it was because His people had missed their day of visitation.
Because of unbelief Jesus said…the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given temporarily to a people producing the fruit of it… He was referring to those Jews who were living at that time…that was done in the book of Acts.
At His second advent, when He returns to set up His kingdom in Jerusalem…a redeemed Israel will call on their Messiah to save them and welcome Him back to their land.
It is that final generation of His chosen people Israel, who will complete the good work that God started when He brought them out of the land of Egypt and adopted them as His firstborn son.
On the surface this parable seems to be rather simple…but the application is twofold:
…First, although this parable is directed at believers who have some knowledge of who Jesus is…it is applicable to those who aren’t …it’s possible to be like the Jewish leadership who refused to know Jesus as Lord and Savior and miss Him completely…they were aware of a coming Messiah but failed to recognize Him when He came.
People will blindly and ignorantly go through their entire life and never come to the realization that Jesus the Messiah has come…never realizing the need to recognize and confess their sins…never accepting Him as the only One who can save them from the penalty of sin.
…Second, if you’re a believer, I want you to see the importance of why Jesus is emphasizing what a life of faith as His disciple looks like…for TWO REASONS
I have said all that so I can say this…here’s the takeaway…this is worth the price of admission.
FIRST…God’s intention is to bless you…it is part of His character…He can’t help Himself…God always blesses obedience…but He can only do that as we become obedient to Him…as we use our spiritual gift and fulfill our God given purpose.
SECONDLY…as we grow in knowledge of what the Bible says…we will grow in spiritual maturity…as a result God blesses us.
BUT…without obedience and spiritual growth there is no blessing…on that day… when God discusses your Christian life on earth with you…He will hand out rewards based on how we lived our life while on earth…the intent of these parables.
I don’t want you to say…this is it…this is all…and have God respond back… your lack of rewards is because you didn’t do anything…your rewards are based on how you conducted yourself while on earth…you didn’t do anything.
My ‘job’ as a preacher…as a Pastor I have a responsibility to share with you the truths from Scripture that will cause you to want to be more Christ like.
I don’t tell jokes…I don’t give illustrations…I don’t tell stories…I want you to know to the best of my knowledge what God expects from you…so God can bless you in this life…and in the life to come.
Earlier I said…God always blesses obedience…God is the only person who can say ‘always’ about…we don’t have the power to be that constant…but with God obedience always brings blessings.
…He will bless you in ways that you don’t realize until you get into heaven
…He’ll bless you in ways that will surprise you
…He’ll bless you in ways you never expected or anticipated.
It’s important to remember that in all of these parables Jesus is drawing our attention to one specific point…how we conduct our life is the evidence that proves our decision was genuine…and therefore what is expected of us when we claim Him as Lord and Savior.
As Christians we need to be aware of how God manages His people…He’s telling us in this parable…He will not allow us to lackadaisically go through life not using the gift He has given us.
Just as God set aside the nation of Israel because of its poor stewardship of His kingdom, He will not hesitate to chasten those in His church who fail to be faithful stewards of the gifts He has loaned us.
“For the time— (καιρός) referring to things “coming to a head”— has come for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17).