It is Tuesday of Holy Week, and Jesus knows exactly what is coming. He knows that in a few days, the Jews will arrest him, hand him over to the Romans, and that he will suffer, be crucified, and he will die. It is the culmination of his work. It is his mission and his goal. But he still mourns the loss of those who reject his steadfast love.
He tells a parable. And it's most certainly a re-working of the Song of the Vineyard from Isaiah 5. A man planted a vineyard. And he went to quite a bit of trouble to do so. First there are the grape vines themselves, planted carefully in the soil. We assume he had to procure the land first to do even this much.
He puts a fence around the vineyard, to protect his precious grapes and grapevines. We don't want the wild animals or some other invader getting in there.
Then he digs a winepress in it, the place where the grapes will be processed. Digging is work. This is no light chore.
Finally, for more protection, he builds a watchtower for the whole compound. Because, it seems, enemies abound. And this way you can see them coming from afar, and prepare your defenses. It's a vineyard but also kind of a compound, a fortified outpost.
Every detail shows another aspect of the man's great care and preparation for this vineyard. He spared no expense, took great effort, and did everything just right.
You'd think he would get busy growing grapes and making wine. And perhaps surprisingly, he then leases out the vineyard to some tenants, and goes far away. They are the beneficiaries, in a way, of all his hard work and preparation. You'd think they'd be grateful. You'd think they would at least pay the rent.
But when the time finally comes and the master wants some of the fruits, they treat his messengers progressively worse and worse. Finally, he sends his son, and they do not respect him either, but kill him and try to steal the vineyard for themselves. Wicked tenants indeed. You can see why the owner of the vineyard comes, he gives them what they deserve: death. And he lets out the vineyard to others.
The Lord God, Yahweh, took great pains with his people. For hundreds, really thousands of years, he prepared for this moment. He called Abraham, and made him fruitful and multiplied his descendants. Be blessed Jacob and his children, protecting them from famine in Egypt, and grew them into a nation while they were there. He saved them from slavery in Egypt in dramatic fashion. Sent the plagues. Parted the sea. Gave them his law. Established his presence among them. Fed them the whole time with daily bread, and water from a rock. Drove out their enemies before them. Destroyed the walls of Jericho. Gave them the whole promised land. Delivered them, time and again, sending judges and kings and to lead them. He sent prophets to call them to repentance, sometimes to no avail, sometimes to the death of the prophet. But as often as they strayed his steadfast love never gave up. Even through the times of discipline, even in their exile, he remained faithful. For he had made a promise.
A Messiah was to come. A seed of the woman, to crush the serpent. An offspring of Abraham, to bless all nations. A Son of David, to rule on his father's throne. The prophets foretold him – a suffering servant, to be born of a virgin, in Bethlehem.
And then, when the time was right, God sent forth his Son. He prepared for him a faithful family. He protected him from Old Herod. He saw that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature. When the time was right, he was baptized and began his ministry of preaching and healing. He did all things well. He kept the law perfectly. He loved people steadfastly. And he never wavered from his mission. He set his face toward Jerusalem and took great pains to obey his Father even unto death, even death upon a cross. He did everything necessary to prepare salvation for you, his people. That you might live and thrive in his vineyard.
And God has steadfastly taken pains with you, his dear child. Your stories are all different, but they are much the same. He has given you a body and soul, eyes, ears and all you members, and still takes care of them. He gives you clothing and shoes, house and home, all that you have. Daily bread. And more. In him you were baptized and in his word you have been instructed by faithful parents and pastors and teachers. He feeds you along the way with a holy meal that strengthens and sustains you. He forgives your sins and shows steadfast love even to you, along with a thousand generations of those who love him, of those for whom his Son has died.
Sadly, some rejected him. Along the way they rejected his messengers, his prophets. After Jesus came many rejected his apostles and evangelists. Some today continue to reject the pastors and preachers of his word. For the ancient Jews it meant destruction, and for anyone who persists in unbelief it ultimately means the same. The grapes of wrath will be revealed at the final harvest. The rejecters of the cornerstone are themselves finally crushed.
Some will always reject the steadfast love of the Father, shown in the dying and undying love of the Son. And yet somehow, through the rejection, salvation comes nonetheless to those who believe. The Stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Son that the pharisees and scribes rejected, and killed, has risen from the dead. And by his rejection, we are accepted. By his death and resurrection, we too die to sin and rise to new life. His steadfast love endures forever, even death cannot stop it or even hope to contain it.
Sadly, sometimes we also reject his steadfast love. Sometimes we have better things to do than to receive his gifts. We have better ways to try and produce fruit in other vineyards than the one he has established. Like Paul listed all his credentials as a zealous Jew, righteous and blameless under the law – or so he thought. But the steadfast love of Christ opened his blind eyes to see that all of that is rubbish. He counts it all as loss, compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. And so should we.
The vineyard is ours. The steadfast Lord has given us all good things, richly and daily, blessings physical and spiritual, human and divine. He has sent us his Son. And he feeds us and protects us and even forgives our wicked rejection of his love, ever calling us to repentance and faith. Always hiring us again for fruitful labor in his vineyard. So live and thrive in his vineyard always, giving his Son the fruits he's looking for – repentance and faith, and the good works that follow. In Jesus' name.
No comments:
Post a Comment