The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity - October 17, 2010

The Church Season of Trinity
The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (October 17, 2010)

“The Vineyard”

Readings:   
    Psalm 27:1-9
    Isaiah 55:1-9   
    Ephesians 5:15-21
    Matthew 21:33-44

Sermon Form    Deductive

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 21st chapter of St. Matthew, especially the following verse:

Matthew 21:33-44 (ESV)

33 “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. 34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. 35 And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ 39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? 43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Jesus told this parable to convict his hearers.  And before we are too quick to roll our eyes or to quip, ‘oh there go those Pharisees, Saducces, or Sanhedrin again.’   But before we’re too quick to throw those antagonists of Christ under the bus, remember we just heard that parable read to us too.  We also are the hearers who would have called to, “put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants.”(v. 41) But we too are not alone.

The image of the vineyard is also used in the book of Isaiah, in chapter five, where we hear these words, “My Well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, and also made a winepress in it; so He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, please, between Me and My vineyard. What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it?”

It would seem to us to be pretty depressing, but in reality the Old and New Testament lessons as we know, are consistent.  God provides a perfect vineyard for His people, and His people turn away from Him. And this makes sense. The Lord made Israel His people; without Him, they never would have left Egypt. But by His power, He led them out of Egypt. He made a covenant with them: He told them that He was going to put them in a vineyard called the Promised Land, and that they were to supposed to abide by His laws. And, He promised to them that, He was sending them their Savior. The Lord of the Land would send His Son. Sounds a lot like today's parable, doesn't it?  The same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, the Lord abundantly provides, man willingly rejects God’s Word.  Literally rejects the Word, meaning Jesus Christ, just for the greed and gain of today.

Four days after this parable, the chief priests and Pharisees would have the Son of God arrested; setting aside the Law of God, they would unjustly condemn him to death. The next day, they would jeer Him as He was nailed to a cross. The Lord who gave them the Promised Land had sent His Son to them. With His crucifixion, they would boldly declare: "We're getting rid of the Son. But we're still planning on keeping the vineyard."  Five days before, the parable had enraged them for predicting they would kill the Son. Enraged, they fulfilled the prophecy and put the Son on the cross. The aftermath is a matter of history. Having rejected the Son, the officials turned all the more to trying to please God by their own efforts. This led, more and more, to an outright rejection of the Roman Empire and forty years later, Rome had enough, Jerusalem was leveled. The walls were destroyed and the vineyard was no more. The vinedressers rejected the rules and the son, but still wanted to keep the vineyard. This is how blinding sin is; this is how foolish unbelief becomes.

    And how does it play our in our world? Well, the sin of unbelief happens on a personal level, as Christians become involved in sins that they do not want to repent of and the sins become too attractive, too addictive, in some way too precious to lose.  It plays out in many ways, like; bearing grudges and refusing to forgive, tax evasion, gossip, etc. At such times, it is tempting to say, "I’ll be a Christian, but I’ll still indulge this sin. I can do both: I’ll believe in Jesus, and I can keep this sin. I will be a good Christian but I’ll certainly not give up this transgression", or maybe “I want to be a Christian, just without the rules."

What a contrast that vineyard is with the vineyard where people have heard the call of Jesus Christ, when He says, “Come follow me.”  And we follow by freely receiving God’s gift, seeing and admitting that our sin within and without, done and undone, and by asking forgiveness for our sins.  But it does not stop there, because of the mercy we’r given in the forgiveness of our sins, we are called to have mercy on others.

Today we celebrate Lutheran Womans’s Missionary League Sunday or better known as LWML Sunday.  The LWML is a group who helps other’s every single day of the week.  We celebrate these servants of Christ who do so much from what would seem such small sources.  For these women collect pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, in tiny little mite boxes, yet their contributions to help others and to advance the Gospel are amazing. Today we blessed quilts made by the hands of our own Ladies Aid/LWML group. These beautiful quilts will be shipped to those who need them for their comfort for a day.  The LWML also helps to provide scholarships to Seminarians at both the St. Louis and the Fort Wayne Seminaries, to Prison ministries, Braille Bibles, and to help in places throughout the world, a few examples are listed in a bulletin insert today just to name a few. 

We thank God for all the efforts of the LWML in the past, we thank God for all that they are doing now, we thank God for all that this organization will do in the future.  This group is truly supporting the work of God here in this church, and here in this city, and here in this state, in this country, and in the world.  They have not sacrificed giving in one place over another, rather they have found ways to support Gods work throughout the world.  This is an organization which serves in humility.

The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League exist to help equip people to proclaim the love of Jesus throughout the world. Mission grants help raise money for supporting the work of those walking in the path of Jesus around the world by helping to train pastors, equipping youth to restore homes while sharing the love of Jesus, and providing medical care in the name of the great physician Jesus Christ.

The LWML theme for Michigan this year was from the verse from Isaiah 52:7 which reads, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!"  How beautiful the feet, what an awesome thought, rather than to desire strike down the Word of God, to instead bow in His presence and proclaim the beauty of the feet of the Savior Jesus Christ who brings us salvation.  Quite an awesome thought, we thank God for our Ladies Aid/LWML chapter who offers comfort from this place to places throughout the world. 

We thank God for His Son Jesus Christ who was sent into the unkempt vineyard of this world, tangles by sin, a world who would twist the Word until it would literally ravel the Lord up and put Him upon the cross.  But there on the cross victory is gained, our mercy is won, Christ dies for you, He dies for me, He dies for the sin of the whole world.  And from that Son, sent to this vineyard, Christ conquers death for you and brings you to something greater than a vineyard of mankind.  In baptism and Holy Communion, He brings you a taste of a finer place than all that, for Jesus Christ gives to you His perfect Kingdom, which is the eternal Kingdom of God.  Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
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