THE WICKED TENANTS
Text: Matthew 21:33 - 46
Back in 2002 I was helping my oldest sister Teresa clean up her condo. She and her husband lived there while my brother-in-law was studying to be a doctor at the Medical University of South Carolina in Columbia. I had remembered what the place used to look like when they moved in back in 1984. She had a tenant who had apparently trashed the place. The walls had to be repainted. The carpet had to be replaced because it was an obvious patch job of mismatched carpet that did not match the original. What was so ironic was that their tenant was a construction worker who often helped to build houses. It was unfortunate that she and her husband had to have their tenant evicted after several failed attempts to make things right on paying the rent.
The parable that is the text for today is almost a mirror image of how religious leaders who were so called qualified failed miserably for those who relied on their leadership. We would like to stop there and look at this story like a history lesson. However, sometimes our actions sometimes mimic that of the religious leaders who failed.
This parable is about accountability, abuse and a cornerstone.
ACCOUNTABILITY
What does it mean to be held accountable? 1) Effectiveness: It would seem that to be accountable would mean that someone would be expected to perform and succeed with the things that were entrusted to them. 2) Allegory: It would also seem that the explanation of accountability was explained by Jesus in what appears to be allegory. A) The servants in this story represent the prophets. B) God represents is the owner of the vineyard. C) The tenants are the religious leaders. D) The vineyard is the nation of Israel. E) The son of the owner of the vineyard is none other than Jesus Christ Himself.
If God gave you everything you needed to succeed would you throw it away? If you bought your son a really nice car and paid cash for it, then you would not be happy with him if you saw him driving carelessly and recklessly drag racing with it would you? The owner had planted the vineyard, fenced it in and even put in a watchtower. The vineyard was therefore secure. The fence was a deterrent for potential thieves. The watchtower enabled the guard to see any thieves or animals that might try to steal any of the fruit. The tenants failed in their task because they recklessly broke the contract.
ABUSE
What do our test scores look like? If opportunities are tests, then we would have to admit (if we are honest with ourselves) that we sometimes take those opportunities for granted! "One of the supreme tests of life is, "How did we use our privileges?" Oscar Wilde has a terrible kind of parable like this. Jesus was walking through the streets of a city. In an open courtyard. He saw a young man feasting gluttonously and growing drunk with wine. "Young man." said Jesus. "why do you live like that?" "I was a leper." said the young man, "and you cleansed me. How else should I live?" Jesus went on and he saw a young girl clad in tawdry finery, a girl of the streets, and after her came a young man with eyes like a hunter. "Young man," said Jesus, "why do you look at that girl like that?" "I was blind." said the young man. "and you opened my eyes. How else should I look?" "Daughter." said Jesus to the girl. "why do you live like that?" "I was a sinner." she said. "and you forgave me. How else should I live?" Here were three people who had received priceless gifts from Jesus and who used them like that". (William Barclay. And Jesus Said. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1970, p. 141). Is that not the same kind of things that the workers in this parable had done with the vineyard?
Is there not an echo of Babylon Here? "What if we have made sin more act than attitude, more flesh than spirit, more general than particular, more national than personal?" (Carlyle Marney. These Things Remain. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1953, p. 46). Like the tenants in this parable, aren’t we too guilty of being mutineers in the vineyard of God’s world? We often condemn sin in others while we sometimes neglect the attitude and attitudes behind sinful behavior within ourselves. There cannot be a change in attitude unless there is a change in heart!
How did they abuse their privilege? 1) Broken promises: The tenants in this parable were supposed to yield what was due in the harvest of their crops as part of the contract. 2) Violent behavior: Notice what the tenants did to the servants who came to collect what was due. They beat one, killed another and stoned the last one of the three in that group (Matthew 21:35). In their rebellion, they broke the contract and acted more like tyrants than tenants. The owner of the vineyard sent another group of servants to collect what was due. Again, they were treated just like the first group of servants (Matthew 21:36). Finally, the landowner sent his own son and again the tenants display the same kind of behavior as they killed the son (Matthew 21:37). They hoped to take what belonged to the owner of the vineyard as if it was their own. They revealed who they are in word and deed when they say to themselves, "Let us kill him (the son) and take his inheritance" (Matthew 21:38) and act out the evil deed. Is that not what they did to Jesus, did they not kill Him? Although this parable was convicting to the religious leaders, it was also prophetic as to what would come when Jesus was later crucified.
Is America trying to kick God out of the vineyard so that America can be her own God? What happened to Babylon when they tried to do that? People got scattered all over the earth right? What happened when Adam and Eve did that in the Garden of Eden? They got kicked out of that Garden!
THE CORNERSTONE
Do we not impeach ourselves when we fail to do God’s will? Is that not what happened to the tenants of the vineyard in this parable? Did they not wind up impeaching themselves because their neglected duty? God had destined them to evangelize others. That was what the "fruit" in this parable symbolized----the evangelism of others. In their neglect of duty, the owner was going to evict the negligent tenants and rent the vineyard to other tenants who would give him his share of the crop at harvest time (Matthew 21:41,43). If we are those other tenants, and we are, we must ask ourselves if our behavior ever mimics the behavior of our ancestor tenants?
The truth of the matter is that we are sometimes blind because of our denial. "There is an old story of a man who was dreaming that he was witnessing the crucifixion. In his dream he couldn't stand the gory thing that was happening as he watched soldiers pound the nails through the hands of Jesus. He ran over and grabbed the soldier and turned him around, only to see that the man had his own face! It was a dream that he could never forget". (Emphasis: Preaching Journal For The Parish Pastor. Volume 21, Number 6. Ralph E. Dessem. Lima: C. S. S. Publishing Company Inc., March - April 1992, p. 40). What we do not realize is that our attitude is sometimes sinful rather than fruitful when we abuse the privileges that God has given us. Things like this dream that this man had remind us of how our attitudes can be sinful regarding how we fail to use our God-given privileges for doing God's will.
Can we succeed without the cornerstone? The cornerstone is Jesus Christ. Jesus told us that without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5). If we build and work with God in God's will, then our efforts will succeed. Consider Psalm 127:1: "Unless The Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain" (RSV). God has destined for His children to succeed in their labor. "Someone has laid down the difference between fate and destiny---fate is what we are compelled to do; destiny is what we are meant to do". (William Barclay. And Jesus Said. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1970, p. 142). God has destined for His children to succeed in their labor in His will. Are we linking arms with God in doing His will or are we taking a knee as we forget who gave us this vineyard to begin with? In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
