9/28/08 - Pentecost 20 - Matthew 21:33-43

TEND THE VINEYARD
- It is ready to produce
- It is all for the Lord

A parable is a unique literary device in the history of language. Because a parable isn’t just a cute tall tale. It’s more than a fable that contains a “moral of the story.” And it’s not an indecipherable anecdote that is left up to each reader’s own interpretation. A parable in Scripture has a very specific function unlike any other part of speech because it is an earthly story with a spiritual meaning. And that is unique in and of itself, but there are also some other interesting characteristics when it comes to biblical parables. A parable in Scripture is only spoken by Jesus, in each parable some of the people and places and things clearly match up with people and places and things in our own lives, and a parable only has one main point. That is the most important thing to remember with parables: Jesus spoke a parable to explain one spiritual truth. And so it is essential that we understand what the spiritual truth is in every parable of Scripture.
The Holy Spirit has presented us today with a parable that Jesus spoke a day after Palm Sunday. Jesus was standing in the temple courts talking to the crowds, specifically to the chief priests and elders. And there he tells them the Parable of the Tenants. I won’t read through this entire parable again since we just read through it in our gospel lesson, but we do have to establish what the main spiritual truth is of this earthly story. And to do that, we must understand who the characters of the story are supposed to signify.
First of all, who does the landowner represent - as it is with almost every parable that contains a landowner? [God the Father] And who are the tenants of his vineyard? [We are the tenants when this parable is applied to our lives; but specifically in this context Jesus was speaking to the chief priests and elders] Who are the servants whom the landowner sent to gather the fruit but were beaten, killed, and stoned? [The prophets] Who, of course, was the landowner’s son whom the tenants murdered? [Jesus] And most importantly, do you remember what the vineyard itself is associated with? [The kingdom of God] The kingdom of God had been given to the tenants in order to produce fruit. That is the main point. And so the main application of this parable that we are to remember this morning is this: TEND THE VINEYARD: It is ready to produce fruit and its fruit is sweet.
Of course, if we are the tenants and we are to tend the vineyard of the kingdom of God, we better know what the kingdom of God is. In general, the kingdom of God always refers to the place where God rules. He does rule in heaven, of course, but heaven can’t be the kingdom of God in this parable because we do not yet physically possess it. But we do possess faith. And our hearts are the place where God rules through the faith he has given us. This is very clear not only from the context of this parable, but faith is spoken about as the kingdom of God in many other parables of Scripture. And so here the kingdom of God of which we are tenants is faith in our Savior. And we are supposed to tend that vineyard that we have been blessed with faithfully.
But how? How are we to tend - to work, to cultivate - faith so that it produces fruit? According to the parable, it shouldn’t be that hard. Because look at what the Landowner has done for our vineyard before he ever gave it to us: “He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower.” Now these particular aspects of the parable don’t necessarily match up with specific things in our lives, but the point is clear: the Lord has set up the kingdom of God in our hearts in such a way that it’s ready to produce. He protects and guards the vineyard of our faith with the Word and Sacraments. He keeps the devil at bay through prayer. He gives us the opportunities to grow in our faith with worship services and Bible classes and the written Scriptures in every one of our homes. You could even go as far to say that the Lord has even provided the sun, the water, and the seed for the vineyard we are responsible for. Our vineyard is ready to produce fruit - the fruit of faith. And that fruit of faith would include patience, kindness, generosity, dedication, truthfulness, compassion, selflessness, love. And the Lord has made sure that everything is available for our vineyard to produce those fruits.
So why are those fruits so hard to come by at times? If the Lord has built up, supplied, and provided our vineyard with everything it needs to produce fruits of faith, why do we so often fail to produce that fruit? I’ll give you two reasons why my vineyard of faith produces less fruit than it should: laziness and neglect. I am lazy by nature and so my vineyard, my faith, the kingdom of God I have been given, suffers for it. Because cultivating my faith so that I am more patient and kind to others takes work. Taking care of my faith so that I am more generous and dedicated to the Lord takes work. Tending to my faith so that I am more truthful and compassionate towards those who still need to hear about their Savior takes work. Providing my faith with the proper nutrients so that I am selfless and filled with love takes a lot of work. Because that means I not only have to be in God’s Word constantly - reading it, studying it, understanding it - but I also have to be constantly applying it to my life in every situation. “What does God say? What does God want? How can I please him, thank him, praise him, and give him glory?” That takes work. It takes getting my hands dirty. It takes getting out into the sun and meticulously checking every plant. It takes pulling the weeds. It takes applying the herbicides and pesticides of God’s Word to keep the devil and this world and my own sinful nature from eating away at my faith. It takes daily care. It takes constant attention. And I’m too lazy to do that well. Sometimes I’m too lazy to do it at all.
But it’s not just laziness, it’s also neglect. Because sometimes I am hard at work - just not in my vineyard. I tell myself that I have a busy life: plenty of things to do as a pastor and plenty more things to do as a father and husband. My life is filled with writing and reading and studying and researching and teaching and preaching and administrating and advising and disciplining and playing and providing. Some of that can be fruits of my vineyard, but much of that is outside of my vineyard. And so at times I neglect the vineyard of my faith because I’m too tired or too busy or I simply forget about it. Neglect and laziness. The two things that dry up my vineyard and keep it from producing the fruit that it should.
And I’m not alone, am I? Laziness and neglect contaminate your vineyard too, don’t they? It’s a struggle for every Christian, but that doesn’t mean it’s OK. In fact, it’s just the opposite of “OK.” Because listen to what Jesus says to the teachers of the law and the elders who were not producing fruits of faith. “I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” The Lord does not mess around with lazy and negligent tenants. He cares about the vineyard he gives you. And he does not take the size of its crop lightly. He expects fruit. And a lot of it. He has given your vineyard everything it needs to produce the fruit of faith, and he holds its tenant responsible. If our duty as tenants were based on production, not one of us would have a vineyard left. The Lord would have taken it away long ago and given it to somebody else. Because a vineyard that produces little or no fruit is a worthless vineyard. A faith that does not produce the patience and kindness and generosity and dedication and truthfulness and compassion and selflessness and love that it should is a fake faith. A kingdom of God that doesn’t produce fruit is not God’s kingdom at all. The fruit you produce indicates what kind of tenant you are.
We are horrible tenants of the vineyards under our care, aren’t we? We are nowhere close to putting in the time and the effort that our vineyards deserve. And by all rights, we should have that vineyard taken away. It’s a depressing thing when we have failed our Master, isn’t it? It’s discouraging to know that we have not and cannot produce the fruit that he expects. And so in comes the cross.
Were you paying attention? “And so in comes the cross.” In every story, in every chapter of Scripture, in every book - Old Testament or New - everything comes back to the cross. Whether it’s explicitly stated, implied, hinted at, assumed, or not even mentioned at all, the cross of Christ becomes the focus. It has to be. The cross has to be where we end up when we talk about our sins because the cross is where our sins are paid for. The cross has to be where we end up when we talk about our failings because that is where Christ has won the victory. The cross has to be where we end up when we talk about the law because the cross is where the law and gospel meet. And so as we consider how worthless we are as tenants of the vineyards under our care, we must consider how worthy Christ is as the Savior of the people under his care.
Our worthlessness was why Jesus did what he did. Our laziness was why Jesus worked tirelessly on this earth and prayed constantly and preached and healed and helped almost without a break. Our laziness with our faith prompted Jesus to be a workaholic for our forgiveness. And our neglect was why Jesus cared so much, why he spent so much time for rebellious sinners, why he became our substitute, why he died on that cross. Our negligence with our vineyards prompted Jesus to be thoughtful and caring and scrupulous and attentive and watchful and meticulous when it came to the details of our salvation. Jesus and his cross fixed the problem we have made for ourselves. Jesus and his cross took our checkered past and wiped it clean. Jesus and his cross replaced our pitiful work record with his perfect work record. And so Jesus and his cross are not only our salvation and forgiveness, they are also our motivation. We are not tending our vineyards to earn a pay check because we already have been given the riches of heaven for free. We are tending the vineyard of the kingdom of God under our care to please the one who has given it to us in the first place.
We work to produce fruit for the Lord. Out of thanks for his forgiveness and praise for his love. Because he has not only given us the vineyard of faith undeservedly, he promises to forgive us when we fail to produce the fruit he expects! He forgives us before it ever happens because he knows it will happen. Even though he has set up our vineyards to produce fruit he knows we will be too lazy and negligent at times to do it right. But our mistakes with the kingdom of God here will not keep us from the kingdom of God in heaven. Because the kingdom of God in heaven is not given based on our performance here on earth. It is based on Christ’s performance here on earth. And that is already said and done. You will go to heaven because Christ has bought your way in with his blood. You do not have to worry about that at all. Heaven is guaranteed - even for a tenant like you. Even for a lazy and negligent tenant like me.
But until the Lord takes us there, we still have vineyards to tend. You still have been blessed with a vineyard to tend to and to take care of and to cultivate. Do that to the Lord’s glory for what he had done for you. Immerse yourself in the Word. Read it, study it, understand it, and apply it to your life in every situation so that your faith will produce the fruit that the Landowner desires. The patience and kindness, the dedication and generosity, the truthfulness and compassion, the selflessness and love. Those are the fruits of faith that the Lord loves to see because those are the fruits of faith of a thankful Christian. And they are only produced through the nutrients of the Word. So keep working. Keeping tilling the ground. Keep watering the plants. And keep giving that fruit away to every one you see. That makes your Landowner happy. That pleases your Savior. Faithfully tend your vineyard. Because it’s not only good for your faith and for the benefit of others, it’s for the glory of your loving and living Lord.
Amen.

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” - Rev. 5:12