"The Son of the Vinyard Owner"
Sermon by the Rev. Anne Kennedy
Proper 22 year A
The Church of the Good Shepherd
Matthew 21:33-46

Matt has been trying to teach me to play chess.
As many of you have learned from the marriage class,
it is important to share your husband’s recreational activities
to the extent that you can bear them.
And so, having been unwilling to bear Matt’s main passions—
internet browsing and Shogun Total War playing—
I was persuaded to play chess.
Fortunately,
in spite of my general dislike of games as being a frivolous waste of time,
particularly when I loose,
it seems, from the outset that this might work out for us.
Matt enjoys very much the strategy and conquering and pillaging part—
the ‘whacking’ as he so neatly puts is, of my pieces off the board.
And I found the ordered neatness of the squares so perfectly lined up
to be satisfying,
also the smoothness of the pieces,
the solitude of thinking through all the possible outcomes of each move,
and most of all, the feeling of omnipotence—
that I, like God, controlled the destiny of my pieces,
they had to do what I wanted and go where I choose.
But then I was brought down to discomforting reality.
Having made the choice to play the game,
I did actually have to move my pieces out of the ordered safety of defense.
I had to move out across the board, taking risk after risk.
And, once out there, it is impossible not to get ‘whacked’ and possible even to loose.

Turn with me to the Holy Scriptures, to Matthew chapter 21 and watch the game unfold.
There was a master of a house.
How many of you are masters of your houses?
What Jesus means by this is someone who is the Head of His Family,
someone important who had the power and means to accomplish his desire.
This man had land and planted a vineyard—
a Beautiful vineyard.
Its ordered vines slope down the hill in perfect rows,
the sun and rain making the vines green and lush and burdened with fruit.
The master planted this vineyard and built a fence around it to keep it safe,
and he built a watchtower to make it safer.
And he built a winepress
so that when the grapes were ripe and perfect
they could be plucked and immediately pressed.

It was perfect.

The master found some tenants to work in this beautiful vineyard
and he went away to another country.

What happened next? Verse 34.
It was starting to be time for the harvest
and so the master sent his servants to collect his share of the fruit.
It’s his vineyard, his fruit.

Let’s pause a moment in the story and clarify some key points.

Who, do you think, is the Master of the House in this story?
What is the vineyard?
Who are the tenants?
Who are the servants sent to collect the fruit?

Ok, good, lets go on.

The Master’s servants arrived in the vineyard.
It was clear why they were there.
The tenants should have had the fruit ready to give to them.
But they didn’t. They seized these first three servants and killed them.

What would posses these tenants to do such a thing?

Had they fallen under the illusion that there was no Master to come back
and collect what was his?

Or perhaps they thought the Master was weak—
that they were stronger and could do whatever they wanted; t hat if they wanted the vineyard it was their right to have it?

The Master hears word of this shocking incident—
his servants have been killed—
and what does he do?

He probably had the means to get an army together
and destroy these lawless tenants.
He could have brought the law to bear even.
Does he do any of these things?

No, he makes an incredible move
He sends more servants who also are killed.

I can see the disbelief and horror
on the faces of the people listening to Jesus unfold this story.
Why on earth would anyone send more of his people to be destroyed?
These tenants are so wicked
and yet the Master keeps sending his servants into the fray.
He’s made his moves and he’s loosing the game.

What does he do next?

Right. He sends his son,
he moves his king right out into the middle of the board,
unprotected,
and this one also, they kill.

What does the Master say before sending his son?
‘They will respect my son.’
The Master’s son is the closest thing to the Master being there himself.
Who is the Son in the story?
Why did the tenants kill him?
‘Come,’ they said, ‘this is the heir. Let us kill him and have his inheritance.’
Jesus looks steadily at the faces of his friends and enemies.
And he makes his own move.
‘What,’ he says, ‘will the Master do to the tenants when he himself comes?’
Well, the tenants counted on him doing nothing,
were trying to live as if he didn’t even exist,
as if they can do whatever they like with what he had given them,
as if it was theirs to spoil.

I wondered all week what the vineyard looked like when they were done with it?
Blood everywhere,
mayhem,
destruction,
bodies piled up,
vines ruined and destroyed,
fruit fallen on the ground and wrecked.
The original beauty and order of vineyard marred.

What will the Master do?

Jesus presses for an answer.

His enemies are drawn into the game in spite of themselves.
‘He will put those wretches to a miserable death
and find other tenants who will give him the fruits in their season.’

And checkmate.

Jesus says to them—you all are the rotten miserable tenants.

God, the Lord of Heaven and Earth created everything
and gave it to you and you sinned,
you rejected him,
you took the beautiful things he gave you
and thought they were yours to ruin without consequences.
He sent his prophets—
Moses, Samuel, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist
to call you back, to tell you to repent.
Some of them you ignored,
some of them you tried to kill,
you listened to none of them.
And here I am, the Son of the Father,
his heir, and you are going to kill me also.

Matthew says the Pharisees were so angry
they wanted to kill Jesus right then but they were afraid.
They waited, they plotted.

Lest any of us condemn the Pharisees for being such awful tenants,
let me bring it home a touch further.
We are in the vineyard also, we’ve been given every good and perfect gift—
Beauty, order, the richness of creation—
Our sin has helped to spoil it.
Our sin turns us away from the Master, cuts us off from him.

Anytime I think that any of this is mine to use as I wish,
That I can act without consequences because God is so removed, surely he doesn’t care
Anytime I treat someone else as an end to my own means
Anytime I harbor anger, bitterness, resentment in my heart
Anytime I am stingy with what I have been given, thinking its mine
It is as though I myself am in the vineyard killing the prophets and rejecting the Master’s Son.

Paul said it perfectly in Philippians,
‘I have often told you and now tell you even with tears,
many (tenants) walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Their end is destruction,
their god is their belly,
and they glory in their shame,
with minds set on earthly things.
But our citizenship is in heaven, that other country,
and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body,
by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself.’

In other words, the game isn’t over.

This is the only game around and God is omnipotent,
and while he doesn’t force the pieces to do his will and desire,
he sees all the plays we make before we make them and responds, and he wins the game.

He won the game in Jesus who died, but who rose again, destroying death,
restoring the vineyard to perfection,
bringing those of us who believe in him back in to tend and care for it.
Let me pound this home for a minute.
If you’re here because this is just a nice cozy place to be on a Sunday morning,
If you think that you have time to get things in order because God isn’t really paying attention and besides, he hasn’t really done anything for you anyway—
you’ve pulled yourselves up by your own bootstraps thank you very much
Then you’re in for a shock.
Because Jesus is coming back. He’s going to straighten everything out.
And if you’ve been his enemy here on earth
he’s not going to have anything to do with you for eternity.

Fortunately God is so patient. He waits so that not one should be cut off from him.
This morning repent and turn back to the Lord, your Master.

Don’t let another minute go by before you turn to Jesus and ask him to forgive your sins
and bring you into the vineyard to do his work.
Today is healing Sunday and I hope many of you will come for prayer.
But, as Matt invited last week, if any of you have not given yourselves to Jesus, body, mind and spirit, come and do it this morning. I will pray with you as you pray yourself. Don’t let another minute go by. Its still not too late.

For everyone else who is in the vineyard working hard,

Stop this morning and enjoy the beauty and order God has given us.

Everything that we need to be full of joy and full of peace

Has been provided by God—God who is thoughtful and loving and able to accomplish his desire.

His desire this morning is to be with you, to know you and for you to know him.

Amen