Fifth Sunday in Lent 03/21/10 Text Luke 20:9-20
Fifth Sunday in Lent
03/21/10
Text: Luke 20:9-20
Title:
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our text for today, the story of the wicked tenants has been taught in the church for hundreds of years. While, at first glance it appears to be a story of justifiable wrath by the landowner it is also a story of God’s love.
This is what I mean. A little later I am going to tell the story to you again. It will not be exactly like the story in your service folder because I am going to enlarge on it and substitute meaning of the code words that Jesus was using. I hope that this will allow you to have a better understanding of the story, so that you can better know the will of God.
Let me set up the story first. Jesus had just entered Jerusalem a few days ago on a colt before adoring crowds. He is a popular teacher, for he is preaching with knowledge and love, something that the priests and teachers of the law were not doing. He was in a sense attacking the system and it needed attacking, for the Jewish religious system was corrupt. For the religious leaders it was more about keeping power and tradition than helping the people grow in their faith.
So, while Jesus was popular with the average Jewish person, burdened with the laws of the Jewish religious system and the harshness of the religious leaders, he was not popular with the religious establishment. It was a both a good time and bad time for Jesus, as he met the needs of the people while being challenged by the authorities.
That sets up the story we read about in our Gospel lesson for today, Luke 20: 9-20 which is titled in most Bibles as the parable of the wicked tenants. The man who owns the land is God the Father. The vineyard are the Jewish people. They are referred to as the vineyard many times in the Old Testament. The tenants are the Levitical priests who God put in charge of his people. The servants are those prophets that God the Father sent to the people so that they would produce the fruit of the Spirit that the Father rightfully expected from them. The son that is sent is Jesus the Son of God.
Now that you know the characters and what the vineyard representes I am going to paraphrase and expand on the story substituting where appropriate the meaning of the code words in the parable. Starting at verse 9 God through his promise to Abraham formed the vineyard that is the Jewish people. Since God was not physically present he put what we know of as the Levite priests to act on his behalf, so that the people would know God and stay true to him producing the fruit of the vine, that is the works that God expects to be produced from his people.
It came time for the harvest, but God knowing that the harvest was very poor because he knew of the sin of his people sent servants of the Word that we know of as prophets and today pastors. Their duty was to deliver the Word of God to the people, particularly the need for repentance.
Repentance is not something that people generally like to do, because it means that you have sinned and done wrong against God and his demands. But living a life of repentance is the only way for the people to bear the fruit of faith and works that they were made by God to do.
The prophets preached the Word of God and those who God had put over them to keep them in the faith ran off the prophets, then they beat and abused the next two prophets. Now it is important to know that Jesus said three were sent. In reality hundreds of prophets, maybe even thousands were sent over time. Jesus mentions three because in the culture of the time three stood for completeness. In other words God the Father made sure that they were given adequate chances to repent.
The Father loves the people so much that even though he has given them an adequate number of chances to repent he gives them one more chance. What wondrous love he has for his people, that he sends his Son Jesus Christ to get them to produce the fruit of faith and works that he made them to do.
As we know it did not work, although in the story Jesus death had not occurred yet. But they knew that Jesus was condemning them for their failure to follow God’s Word. They knew and they had to get rid of him. He was upsetting the system and if the system became too unstable they were going to lose their power and thus their wealth. Jesus had to go.
Jesus knew what was going to happen because their past behavior in beating up, chasing off, and murdering the prophets was well known. We know that he knew because on Sunday February 28 in the Gospel reading we heard Jesus saying to the Pharisees when they were trying to get him to leave the area, “It cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.” Jesus had to go to the city to die. He knew it and I believe the religious leaders that were against him knew it. His fate was sealed.
Jesus is telling them and us in this parable that he has tremendous love for those he creates to be his. He will go to extreme lengths to keep those he has chosen in his vineyard, but there will be a time when he will bring it all to an end. But, before he does that he will continue to send pastors to preach his Word. The pastor’s calling has not changed since God first created his church. It is the same calling that was given to the priests, the same one that was given to the prophets, the same one given to the apostles. It is the same calling that Jesus had when he walked the earth. It is the calling to preach the Law to sinners so that they are left with no place to go, but to God’s outstretched arms where they will find the Good news of forgiveness.
And what does that mean for you today? How does knowing of God’s forgiveness change your life? Listen to the words of Paul as they are recorded in Philippians 4:4-7, for they describe Christian life. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
If you find yourself failing in living the life Paul describes do not be discouraged, for he loves you. Amen.
03/21/10
Text: Luke 20:9-20
Title:
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our text for today, the story of the wicked tenants has been taught in the church for hundreds of years. While, at first glance it appears to be a story of justifiable wrath by the landowner it is also a story of God’s love.
This is what I mean. A little later I am going to tell the story to you again. It will not be exactly like the story in your service folder because I am going to enlarge on it and substitute meaning of the code words that Jesus was using. I hope that this will allow you to have a better understanding of the story, so that you can better know the will of God.
Let me set up the story first. Jesus had just entered Jerusalem a few days ago on a colt before adoring crowds. He is a popular teacher, for he is preaching with knowledge and love, something that the priests and teachers of the law were not doing. He was in a sense attacking the system and it needed attacking, for the Jewish religious system was corrupt. For the religious leaders it was more about keeping power and tradition than helping the people grow in their faith.
So, while Jesus was popular with the average Jewish person, burdened with the laws of the Jewish religious system and the harshness of the religious leaders, he was not popular with the religious establishment. It was a both a good time and bad time for Jesus, as he met the needs of the people while being challenged by the authorities.
That sets up the story we read about in our Gospel lesson for today, Luke 20: 9-20 which is titled in most Bibles as the parable of the wicked tenants. The man who owns the land is God the Father. The vineyard are the Jewish people. They are referred to as the vineyard many times in the Old Testament. The tenants are the Levitical priests who God put in charge of his people. The servants are those prophets that God the Father sent to the people so that they would produce the fruit of the Spirit that the Father rightfully expected from them. The son that is sent is Jesus the Son of God.
Now that you know the characters and what the vineyard representes I am going to paraphrase and expand on the story substituting where appropriate the meaning of the code words in the parable. Starting at verse 9 God through his promise to Abraham formed the vineyard that is the Jewish people. Since God was not physically present he put what we know of as the Levite priests to act on his behalf, so that the people would know God and stay true to him producing the fruit of the vine, that is the works that God expects to be produced from his people.
It came time for the harvest, but God knowing that the harvest was very poor because he knew of the sin of his people sent servants of the Word that we know of as prophets and today pastors. Their duty was to deliver the Word of God to the people, particularly the need for repentance.
Repentance is not something that people generally like to do, because it means that you have sinned and done wrong against God and his demands. But living a life of repentance is the only way for the people to bear the fruit of faith and works that they were made by God to do.
The prophets preached the Word of God and those who God had put over them to keep them in the faith ran off the prophets, then they beat and abused the next two prophets. Now it is important to know that Jesus said three were sent. In reality hundreds of prophets, maybe even thousands were sent over time. Jesus mentions three because in the culture of the time three stood for completeness. In other words God the Father made sure that they were given adequate chances to repent.
The Father loves the people so much that even though he has given them an adequate number of chances to repent he gives them one more chance. What wondrous love he has for his people, that he sends his Son Jesus Christ to get them to produce the fruit of faith and works that he made them to do.
As we know it did not work, although in the story Jesus death had not occurred yet. But they knew that Jesus was condemning them for their failure to follow God’s Word. They knew and they had to get rid of him. He was upsetting the system and if the system became too unstable they were going to lose their power and thus their wealth. Jesus had to go.
Jesus knew what was going to happen because their past behavior in beating up, chasing off, and murdering the prophets was well known. We know that he knew because on Sunday February 28 in the Gospel reading we heard Jesus saying to the Pharisees when they were trying to get him to leave the area, “It cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.” Jesus had to go to the city to die. He knew it and I believe the religious leaders that were against him knew it. His fate was sealed.
Jesus is telling them and us in this parable that he has tremendous love for those he creates to be his. He will go to extreme lengths to keep those he has chosen in his vineyard, but there will be a time when he will bring it all to an end. But, before he does that he will continue to send pastors to preach his Word. The pastor’s calling has not changed since God first created his church. It is the same calling that was given to the priests, the same one that was given to the prophets, the same one given to the apostles. It is the same calling that Jesus had when he walked the earth. It is the calling to preach the Law to sinners so that they are left with no place to go, but to God’s outstretched arms where they will find the Good news of forgiveness.
And what does that mean for you today? How does knowing of God’s forgiveness change your life? Listen to the words of Paul as they are recorded in Philippians 4:4-7, for they describe Christian life. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
If you find yourself failing in living the life Paul describes do not be discouraged, for he loves you. Amen.
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 11:31 AM
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