21st Sunday after Pentecost (October 5, 2008)

“Laboring in the Vineyard”
Matthew 21:33-46

INI

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

There were many big stories in the news this past week. The biggest probably wasn’t the vice-presidential debate between Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin. It probably wasn’t the guilty verdict of O.J. Simpson, on trial for armed robbery and kidnapping. And it probably wasn’t the Twins losing a one-game playoff to the White Sox for the American League Central Division title. As I’m sure most of you are aware, the big item of interest has been both the House and Senate of Congress passing a bill that will distribute 700 billion dollars towards shoring up the nation’s economy. The passing of that bill happened in a way that I found very intriguing. First of all, there was a lot of division among lawmakers as to whether or not the bailout bill was a good idea. But unlike usual bills, this division was not along party lines. There were Democrats and Republicans both in favor of the bill…and there were Democrats and Republicans both adamantly against it. Among the people of the United States, polls showed a real reluctance towards the bailout—and much of the criticism seemed directed at lawmakers, of both parties, and whether we could trust their judgment on this very important matter.

Now I know very little about economics, so I don’t know if the bailout is good or bad. But the reaction of the public toward the bailout has a very close connection to the appointed Holy Gospel for this morning. In November, as you and I will do this November, Americans elect officials to serve in government offices. And as you and I do that, we do it with the hope that those elected will remember that they serve the people—not their own best interests. In Matthew 21, Jesus tells a parable about tenants hired to work in a vineyard. But the tenants lose sight of the fact that they are merely tenants and desire to take over the vineyard for themselves. They forget that the vineyard belongs to a Master who desires to see its fruit. They forget to the point of killing all of those who come into the vineyard on the Master’s behalf.

Yes, I think we’re all very well aware that the vineyard…that God’s kingdom…is a rather dangerous…even deadly place. As the Old Testament prophets were put to death…as the Pharisees sought to put the Son…Jesus Christ to death…there’s the threat of death and destruction for you and me too. Mention the name of “Jesus” out in public and you will see that it’s a name that draws fire and hatred from people. Look across the landscape of American Christianity today and you’ll see a culture of hearing what people want to hear, or as St. Paul terms it, “having itching ears that desire to be scratched.” Even in churches…people don’t want to be told that there is truth. People don’t want to be told that there is sin. People don’t want to be told that alongside the God who is loving, merciful, and forgiving…is also a God who is just, righteous, jealous, and intolerant of sin. Such things incite violence in the vineyard. The vineyard can put you to death.

But as Jesus reminds us in the Gospel of Matthew, there is much more to the vineyard than you and I would often give it credit for. But perhaps our eyes become so fixed on the danger that is found in the vineyard, that we forget the other qualities that the Parable of the Wicked Tenants teaches us. Maybe you’ve had days…weeks…even months or years where your view of the vineyard…of God’s kingdom…of the Church…was limited strictly to the flaws of those within the vineyard…the wicked tenants who want to kill the messengers…evil people intent on making God’s kingdom their own kingdom…doing it all their own way. Each of us knows all too much how easy it is for our focus to be consumed by all the things we see wrong with the vineyard…when all the while the vineyard has no flaws because it belongs to the Master.

The wicked tenants saw what you and I can easily forget—that the vineyard is valuable. This kingdom that you and I have been placed in was worth them killing over. The vineyard was something they wouldn’t give up. And so it is with God’s kingdom…that which you and I have been sent to work in. It is valuable and precious to the master…people covet it…they want it for themselves. Many people want it for themselves, for their own glory and satisfaction. And yet the Master views it as valuable for an entirely different reason. He knows the vineyard bears fruit. No, the problem is not with the vineyard, but with the sinful, wicked people within the vineyard. But the vineyard bears fruit. The vineyard does what it is supposed to do. The kingdom of God is wherever the Word is rightly preached and the Sacraments are rightly administered. Where those Means of Grace are found, the vineyard bears fruit. Sins are forgiven. Faith is granted and strengthened by the Holy Spirit. People are covered in the blood of Christ. The wicked tenants can’t change that…they can’t stop that fruit from being produced. No one that you and I encounter in the vineyard can stop the Holy Spirit and the fruit it produces.

Not only is the vineyard valuable…but it still remains in the Master’s control. He still has the power to cast out the wicked. He still has power over it because it belongs to him. The Son that he has sent into the vineyard to be killed…the stone the builders rejected…he is now the capstone. His Son is Lord of the vineyard. And he gives the vineyard to whomever he wills. He takes it away from the wicked…he hands it to others. And all the while, the vineyard bears the fruit of the Spirit that the Master desires. It never stops producing that harvest he has ordained it to give. He has paid the price…invested in the vineyard with the blood of his Son. Those within the vineyard who produce that fruit are more valuable than all his other possessions combined. He is the one in control…he is the one who has chosen to pay the price and make the investment.

Now we’ve been talking in terms of vineyards here…but each us finds our cross-section with the vineyard in the places we’ve been called to serve…our various vocations where we’ve been sent into the vineyard to tend to the vineyard’s fruit. Jesus first spoke this parable to Pharisees and scribes who were keeping the vineyard from the Master. Their self-proclaimed righteousness that they inflicted upon others proved they were no better than the godless people before them who put the prophets to death. And yes…they would be the ones who would put the Son of the Master to death…when they incited the crowds to yell, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

But that Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, has become the capstone…he was put to death that he might be exalted and that the vineyard might be given to others. Servants continue to be sent into the vineyard—and though you and I often feel like the vineyard is putting us to death. There is still one who reigns over that vineyard. His Father, the Master of the vineyard, has given Christ the vineyard. “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’” Even so today as we work within the holy vineyard of the Church, God makes sin and death a footstool for all of us as we hear those precious words of absolution that we hear every Sunday morning. Through the words given to us by Christ himself, sin is put asunder as surely and certainly as if Christ were saying it himself. For we are reminded that God’s people, as the Small Catechism reminds us, should “first…confess our sins, and second, that we receive absolution, that is, forgiveness from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven.” Who could ever question whether or not the vineyard is truly fruitful? Our very own Augsburg Confession confirms the fruitfulness of the vineyard when it says, “In order that we may obtain this faith, the ministry of teaching the Gospel and administering the sacraments was instituted. For through the Word and the sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Spirit is given, and the Holy Spirit produces faith, where and when it pleases God, in those who hear the Gospel.” Who would ever dare say that those who work the vineyard work in vain? The fruit of forgiveness, life, and faith is alive and well in this vineyard with which we’ve been entrusted.

Though the Church…the vineyard…sometimes seems out of control and ready to put us to death, “the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” Jesus is the Lord of the Church. The vineyard still works. The vineyard still bears fruit. Our work is never in vain. Today, as we do on the first Sunday of October every year, we observe “LWML Sunday.” And on this day, we highlight the work that the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League does to support the spreading of the Gospel throughout the world. Some might consider this a “fruitless effort,” as though the world is beyond hope. But Jesus reminds us that the vineyard still works. There is still a harvest to be gathered. Though the vineyard is a dangerous place filled with perils that threaten to take away our hope, the Church is valuable…and it is in God’s possession…his control. Christ is the Son of the vineyard Master who comes to be killed and yet also become our Lord. The Church is built on that blessed truth—that the Son of the Master was put to death. And the Son of the Master now lives to reign over the Church. What a blessed comfort that this vineyard in which we work is not ours. It still bears fruit for the one who planted it. In Jesus’ name…Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.