Sunday Sermon - Matthew 21:33-46

This is probably way too long for a blog post but here it is anyway. I think this is going to become a Monday staple unless there is a revolt. Let me know what you think….

Jeff…
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33“Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 34“Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. 35“And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36“Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. 37“Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38“But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39“So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?” 41They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.” 42Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

‘The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
This was the Lord’s doing,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’?

43“Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. 44“And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” 45Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. 46But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.

We will look today at another confrontation between Jesus and the religious elite of Jerusalem during the Passion Week. As we look at these verses let us not forget that these are the final days before the cross, you can sense the urgency and grit in the words of the Savior as He makes one last appeal to those that were called to do the work of the Father.

Jesus describes a simple scene that would be very common to the hearers because vineyards were common on the hillsides of Palestine in that time. A landowner buys a piece of property and prepares in it a vineyard. The vineyard would be self sufficient having it’s own “wine press”, the crops simply needed to be harvested and converted within the vineyard. The landowner also took great care to insure the safety of the vineyard; the “hedge” would consist of stone or briars to keep wild animals and thieves out and the “tower” would be used as a lookout post, shelter and a place for storage. In today’s vernacular – this is a “turnkey” operation. It simply needed workers to care for it which the landowner himself found having “leased it to vinedressers”. These men would reap the benefits of the vineyard provided by the landowner and would simply pay him a certain percentage of the harvest as rent. To be sure the work was hard and required constant diligence by the vinedressers to insure a healthy crop but the vinedressers were dependant upon the landowner for their livelihood.

An unbelievable scene is described next. The landowner sends a string of representatives to the vineyard to collect his due. Instead of recognizing the landowner’s authority these representatives are beaten, stoned and murdered. Do not miss the patience of the landowner here - he continues to show the vinedressers grace and mercy in spite of their actions. Finally the landowner sends his son saying “They will respect my son”. In the culture of the day, sending your son was the same as you coming yourself. There would be no confusion as to what the wishes of the landowner were.

The response of the vinedressers however shows that there was no misunderstanding on their end, “This is the heir, come let us kill him and seize his inheritance”. They knew exactly what they were doing, in a very short time they had forgotten the provision of the landowner and wanted the vineyard for themselves. They cast the son from the vineyard and kill him in an act that shows their complete hatred for the landowner.

The question that Jesus asks in verse 40 has only one answer which the priests and Pharisees correctly give. Put yourself in the scene for a second. They are listening intently to the parable looking for anything to which they can accuse Jesus for or for any point that they can debate. They must have been very proud of their answer because there was nothing for Jesus to accuse them of – or so they thought.

Jesus, the perfect teacher, now gets to the point of the parable in vs 42. “Have you never read in the Scriptures…” he asks and then quotes from Psalm 118, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone”. A cornerstone was the most basic part of the building and if it was not perfect and then placed properly than the entire building would be off. Psalm 118 in context talks about God’s provision for the nation of Israel and in a greater sense tells of the coming Messiah. Israel had been the “stone” that the builders rejected. Their history was full of times when they were exploited and then discarded yet God always preserved a remnant for Himself. Israel was always preserved by God.

By tying Psalm 118, a Messianic psalm, to the parable Jesus makes a direct claim to His deity. By rejecting Him they were rejecting God. Christ is the cornerstone upon which God has built everything. Look at what Peter says in 1 Peter 2:

Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.

And Paul in Ephesians 2:

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,

Jesus is the foundation, scripture is clear. It is upon Him that everything is built and it is upon Him that everything stands.

Sin is a powerful enemy. It blinds us to our own involvement in it. The religious elite did not recognize themselves in the parable much like David did not recognize his sin with Bathsheba until Nathan pointed it out in a parable (See 2 Sam.12:5-7). Jesus is telling the priests and elders the same thing “You are the vinedressers! You have killed God’s prophets and now you stand ready to kill His Son. By your own words you have condemned yourselves guilty.”

Next come some of the saddest words in scripture in verse 43, “Therefore the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it”. For a season Israel has been set aside as the witness of the kingdom and by God’s grace He will restore them at some point in the future. Look at what Paul says in Romans 11:

2God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew… 25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;

Until that time the witness of the kingdom has fallen to the Gentiles as Paul states in Romans 9:

As He says also in Hosea: “I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved.” “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.”

We probably should spend some time here talking about “bearing the fruits” of the kingdom. What are these “fruits”? Let’s look at what John the Baptist told the Pharisees back in Matthew 3:

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, “and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. “And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. “His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

The “fruit” is repentance, a life that is lived in front of the Father constantly turning from sin. The religious elite in Jesus day would not turn from their sin and therefore were not fit to steward the kingdom.

Look at what Jesus says in verse 44,“And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”. He is in essence saying that there is nothing that anyone can do to stop Him. You can try to attack Him but you will be broken into pieces and wherever He decides to land that place will be ground to powder. You cannot stand against God. If you will not have Jesus as deliverer than He will be the destroyer.

Look at how the elite responded in verses 45-46. They wanted to kill Him but were afraid because of the crowd. They were not interested in standing for God, they were only interested in their influence and their position.

What should we take away from all of this?

We must remember that God graciously provides everything that we need. We have provided nothing for ourselves. Everything that we have is from Him and we are simply stewards of His creation.

We must remember that we are sinful and that God has given us His word through the prophets to guide and direct us toward the Son. None of us can save ourselves

We must remember that He will hold us accountable for our actions and He will send His Son in judgment over all of creation and it is only by appealing to His mercy that anyone can be saved.

Lastly we must remember that we are never to become comfortable in our position with Him. We should never take advantage of the wonderful privilege that God has given us to be the vessels of His message. Let us never become like the religious elite of Jesus’ day serving only for power and prestige. We constantly need to be vigilant in our effort to produce “fruit for the kingdom”

Grace and peace to you all…