Return to the Homepage Home
 Worship Schedules, Education, Fellowship, Outreach Worship & Service
 Sermon Archive Sermons
 A copy of the Sunday Prayers of Intercession Prayers
 Pastor Lynne's monthly newsletter Pastor's Page
 Articles and tidbits from the monthly newsletter Newsletter
 This month's events as well as the monthly calendar Current Events
 Read the Sunday School News Letter! Sunday School News
 Events for grades 7 to 12 Youth
 Other websites of interest Links
  
 Login to Administer this site Admin Login

St. Luke's Zion Lutheran Church
2903 McPhillips Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba
CANADA R2P 0H3
http://www.stlukeszion.ca

Phone: (204) 339-0412
Fax: (204) 339-0412
E-mail: stlukeszionchurch@gmail.com
site design by clayton rumley

 

21st Sunday after Pentecost
Sunday, October 5th, 2008

click here for past entries

Loving God, you give us all that is needed in order to produce the fruit of the kingdom, asking us only to be open to your Spirit. Strengthen us in faith and love as we gather together today; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

At first glance, the parable that Jesus tells in today’s gospel is one of the easiest ones to understand. The vineyard seems to be Israel. The landowner seems to be God. The slaves who come to collect are kind of like the prophets who were sent to Israel and mistreated, and even put to death. The son is kind of like Jesus. And the new tenants who will be given the vineyard sound like all those – both Jews and Gentiles – who will believe in Jesus. Yet, there is always more there in the parables than such an explanation might suggest.

For one thing, the point that is emphasized in each of the parables is usually to be found in the part of the story that would have been most shocking to the hearers. In this case, wouldn’t the most shocking thing have been the conduct of the landowner? After all, he sends slaves to collect the produce at harvest time – not once, but twice. The slaves he sends the first time are beaten and stoned and killed, so he sends more slaves the second time. They also are beaten and stoned and killed.

If you were the landowner, would you really be trying again? Would you really send your son to them and expect them to treat him any differently than the others? Wouldn’t most people have tossed the tenants out after the first incident? This landowner is either extremely patient and merciful, or stupid. So what is Jesus teaching with this parable?

First of all, Jesus is teaching what God is like. God knew what was going to happen when he sent prophets to speak God’s word to the people, yet he sent them anyway. God knew what was going to happen when he sent Jesus, and yet he was sent as well. God is not stupid. However, God does have a depth of love and patience and mercy that we find hard to comprehend. We would not expect a landowner to be so patient as the one in the parable. And yet God is this patient – and more – with us.

Regardless of what we have done or how disrespectful and defiant we have been toward God, God continues to come to us and to seek us out. In fact, God values us so much that he has declared that we are worth the death of his Son. And God holds out his hands to us and waits for us to turn around – to repent – and to be healed and forgiven. This is God’s stance toward us. The question for us is always how we are going to respond.

In order to get at this question, let’s return to the parable from today’s gospel. One of the most common approaches when trying to learn from the parables of Jesus is to ask ourselves who we are in the parable. Where is it that we fit into this story? Otherwise, it becomes a story that is all about other people and has very little to do with us. And so, in this parable, who are we?

Are we the landowner who leases out the vineyard to tenants? (This is fairly unlikely, unless we think that we are God.) Are we the slaves who get sent to collect and get beaten and mistreated and even killed? (It’s conceivable that God could call one of us to be a prophet.) Are we the son who gets sent as a final attempt to collect what is right and who gets thrown out of the vineyard and killed? (We might have a Messiah complex if we answer “yes” to this one.) Or, are we the tenants in the vineyard who keep what does not belong to us and who abuse those who come to collect the harvest?

We might be tempted to think that we are those other tenants who will come later and will act properly toward the landowner. However, when we read today’s gospel carefully, we discover that the vineyard in this parable is the kingdom of God (Mt. 21:43). Now – are any of you participants in the kingdom of God? Are any of you residents of the kingdom of God?

If you’re not too sure, here are a few hints from the Scriptures: The gospel of John tells us that people enter the kingdom by being born of water and the Spirit (Jn. 3:5). Have any of you been born of water and the Spirit? If you’ve been baptized, you have! We also read in the gospel of Luke that “the kingdom of God is among you,” or within you (Lk. 17:21). It was already present when Jesus walked this earth.

And so, when God reigns in our lives – when we can say it and mean it that Jesus is Lord – we are part of the kingdom of God and seeking the kingdom of God and its righteousness (cf. Mt. 6:33). There is, of course, the fulness of the kingdom that will only be seen in eternity, yet God’s reign is already here among us. And so, we can only say that we are the “other” tenants who will act properly if we do not yet believe in Jesus Christ. Otherwise, we’re already participants in the kingdom of God and are most like the tenants who lease the vineyard in the parable.

So are we going to act with willful greed like they did, or are we going to produce “the fruits of the kingdom” (Mt. 21:43)? This gets to the heart of our response to the God who did not hesitate to send his Son in order to bring us back to him. How are we going to live, and how are we going to use what we have been given?

Some people ask the question, “How much of what is mine shall I give to God?” They are trying to figure out how much is enough. Yet, is there anything we have that really belongs to us? Your body, for example – where did that come from? Ultimately, it was created by God. The money you have – who does it belong to? You’re going to want to say, “Me, of course. I worked hard for it. It’s mine.” Yet, who gave you the life and breath and skills to be able to work for it? Doesn’t it all come from God? And couldn’t God take it all away from you in an instant if he wanted to? It’s kind of like everything we have is on loan. God is the rightful owner, but God has given to us our time, our talents and our possessions to use during our time on this earth.

The question, of course, is always how we are going to use them. Do we use them in order to get as much as we can for me, myself and I (and perhaps the odd family member)? Or, do we use what we have been given as God intended – to glorify God through service to others?

The fruit of the kingdom is things like love and joy and peace. The kingdom grows patience and generosity and faithfulness. Fruits like self-control and gentleness and kindness are found there (Gal. 5:22-23). Residents and participants in the kingdom of God are expected to produce such things. Yet, even these things do not belong to us. It is only the Holy Spirit who has the power to produce such fruit in us or in anybody else.

Thanks be to God that he not only gave us his Son, but gave us his Spirit as well! Amen.

Lectionary 27(A)      Matthew 21:33-46
October 5, 2008
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2008 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved


Previous Sermons
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
January 2003
March 0201