PAY UP OR PACK UP (Matt 21:32-46)
US News and World Report (3/31/97) polled 1,000 people several years ago on who they thought were people very likely or somewhat likely to go to heaven. The person most likely to go to heaven was none other than Mother Teresa, who garnered 79% of the votes. The next four persons in line were curious choices - Oprah Winfrey at 66%, Michael Jordan at 65%, Colin Powell at 61%, and Princess Diana at 60%.
The next three, who barely made 50%, of people’s choice were Al Gore and Hillary Clinton at 55%, and Bill Clinton at 52. Two persons barely failed the grade - Pat Robertson at 47%, and Newt Gingrich at 40%.
The two people respondents considered most unlikely to go to heaven were Dennis Rodman at 28%, and O.J. Simpson at 19%.
What was more startling was how the respondents rated their chances of going to heaven. 87% fancied their chances of going to heaven - much higher than Mother Teresa’s humble 75-percentage vote (Douglas Stanglin, “Oprah: A heavenly body?”
U.S. News & World Report 3/31/97).
Most people who think they have a blank check to heaven should get a reality check.
Repentant tax collectors and prostitutes – the most undeserving of a place in heaven, according to most people - had a special place in Jesus’ heart. The more they understood their rotten condition, the more they appreciate God’s amazing grace to them. A large crowd of tax collectors and sinners sat, ate, and interacted with Jesus and his disciples (Luke 5:29, Matt 9:10, Mark 2:15). One of his disciples was still known to others as Matthew the tax collector (Matt 10:3), so Jesus was affectionately and mockingly labeled as a friend of tax collectors and sinners (Matt 11:19). However, Matthew’s text was unique from other gospels, because Matthew the tax collector was the only writer who attested to the inclusion of believing prostitutes, probably the worst kind of sinners in people’s mind, in God’s kingdom.
GOD WILL HOLD PEOPLE TO THEIR AGREEMENT
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him. 33 "Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. (Matt 21:32-33)
A good, positive rental experience can only be enjoyed given the right landlord and the right tenant or tenants.
I have moved quite often the first half of the 90s, before I bought a house. My first Southern California landlord charged us – 3 housemates - $1,000 for a condominium, another $1,000 for security deposit, and $120 for cleaning fee. The contract also stipulated that $30 shall be added to the rental if not made 10 days after rental was due, which was very lenient. The landlord made us send the check to her resident. I moved out 7 months later after finding someone willing to take my place, room, and share in the condominium. I couldn’t stand one of the housemates, a smoker.
After that unhealthy environment, I decided to rent a two-room apartment and subleased a room to a tenant, so that I can choose my housemate. The rental was $800 total, security deposit was $200, but cleaning fee was not required – which was an aberration, and late fee was $15 three days after rental was due. That didn’t work out too, because the landlord had a key to the apartment. I suspected that he had no housing of his own and stayed overnight on different nights at his rental properties, which he rented from other owners at a lower price and rented it out to tenants at a higher price. He often entered my apartment and crashed in the living room. Sometimes he would come in the morning, and made and ate his breakfast there. Later he brought his girlfriend and her toddler. One morning I found the woman dressed in her bikinis frying bacon in a pan! At the end of the year’s contract, I moved out.
After that mess, I shared an apartment with a friend in a modest 20-unit apartment complex, with a manager on site in one of the units and a handyman in the owner’s employment. The rental was $620, late rent charge – date not specified- was $10, security deposit was $200, cleaning deposit was $190, and key was $10. That was the ideal situation for me, and it lasted 3 and a half years, until I finally owned my own house. The landlord refunded every cent to me when I left, including the cleaning fee.
The tenants in the parable never had it so good. The landlord was a handy, savvy, knowledgeable, flexible and thoughtful man. The landowner was no slumlord and the property was a prime piece of property, and not an upper-fixer in a run-down area that required regular repair or much renovation. The facilities on the rental property included a surrounding wall, a rock winepress, and a bonus watchtower. The Greek text implied that a fence enclosed the vineyard (v 33). Putting up a wall, partition or fence is hard work but it added value to the property, discouraged trespassing on the property, and gave farmers a sense of privacy.
An on-site winepress was provided to speed wine production and save the farmers money from subbing the work of distilling wine to a middle man. A winepress requires space. In 19th-centruy Italy, caves were commonly used as winepress; so, an on-site winepress was a luxury. The farmers needed not stomp the grapes or crush them the old-fashioned way with stones in a large vessel but in the rock-solid stonepress dug from the ground to produce wine. A press then separated any remaining solid matter through gravity or centrifugal force into a barrel. Building a private watchtower is unheard of and an extremely costly project.
The farmers knew a bargain when they saw one. It was too good to be true. They could hardly control their delight. The vineyard was priced for rental. They read the contract, understood the terms, and inked the deal. They were farmers the easy way. All the farmers had to do was to reap the harvest, process the wine, sell the product and, of course, uphold the agreement.
GOD WILL HOLD PEOPLE TO THEIR ARREARS
34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. 35 "The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.
A decade ago, Michael Keaton, the original Batman of the 80s, played the role of a psychotic, evil, and creepy tenant who attempted to run his landlords out of their house. To finance a 3-flat $750,000 house in San Francisco, a young couple decided to rent out 2 units. Unfortunately, one of the tenants was a landlord’s worst nightmare.
Keaton evaded a background check, promised a wire transfer that never came, and slipped into the rental unit and locked himself inside. He didn’t answer the door, but hammered and drilled non-stop inside the room and even changed the locks. When the landlord turned his utilities (gas and electricity) off, he was punished by the court simply because a landlord cannot remove a tenant that had moved in, even though Keaton never signed a lease, paid a dime, or became a tenant. Soon, cockroaches from the unit infested the house, forcing the good tenant in the other rental unit to move out. Not only was the couple’s relationship strained, their mortgage payment was a hardship now.
When the landlord angrily punched Keaton, he was charged with assault. Keaton took out a restraining order against the landlord, barring him from coming 500 feet near Keaton and thereby effectively forcing the landlord out of his house. The landlord’s lawyer anticipated a civil suit for bodily injury that would strip the landlord of his house with the money rewarded to the supposedly injured tenant. When the couple finally obtained the legal injunction to enter the unit, all the fixtures were missing, the walls and floor were damaged, and the tenant was gone.
The word “rent” (v 33) appears 4 times in the Bible, but is exclusive to this parable (Matt 21:33, Luke 20:9, 41, Mark 12:1). The farmers had the vineyard as a lease. The Greek text uses the word “gave out”; so we do not know how much the owner charged them. The Greek text adds that the owner went away “to a far country for a long time,” as far as the prodigal son did from his father’s presence (Luke 15:13). Unlike many landowners, this one did not snoop around, drop in unannounced, or make spot checks.
When the owner sent his servant for rent in the form of fruit - not cash, the farmers reacted. The owner did not send servants daily, weekly, or monthly for rent, but only at season or in time. The time specified could be at the appointed time or at harvest time or at vintage time, but the tenants became unreasonable, disrespectful, and possessive. The dispute wasn’t about better conditions, lower rent, or needed maintenance and repairs. Also, the owner did not raise their rent, deny them services, or call the authorities. Not only did the tenants not pay anything, they turned violent. The servants were beaten, stoned, and killed. Talk about shooting the messenger! The farmers were ferocious, barbarous, and murderous. More servants the next round (v 36) ended with the same result.
Jesus’ parable was intended for the Jews who opposed Him, just as they mistreated the prophets God sent them (Matt 23:37, Luke 13:34). Their behavior deteriorated from bad to worse, from irrational to insane behavior, from vehement to violent opposition.
The beating was abnormal, inhuman, and savage. The Greek word to describe what they did in the corresponding text of Luke 20:12 is traumatizo or the word “traumatize.” They did not just bruised but bashed the servants; not just wounded but wasted them; not just pounded but pulverized them, not just troubled but terrorized him. The word traumatized has also been translated as “left bleeding” elsewhere (Acts 19:16). The servants were beaten senseless, beyond recognition, and to a pulp. Still, the owner tolerated the renters, he did not evict them, ask for compensation, or send them bills. He sent them servants after servants, gave them chances after chances, but the fists, the sticks, and the rocks kept raining on the servants. They did not turn from their bloodthirsty, heartless, and cruel ways, and God did not forget their arrears even though he did not keep score. Their debt kept on piling and piling to the sky but God did not keep filing and filing away their outstanding bills. It’s been said that there is only one equivocal definition of a good tenant: one who pays rent.
GOD WILL HOLD PEOPLE TO THEIR ACTIONS
37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ’They will respect my son,’ he said. 38 "But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ’This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 "Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" 41 "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time." 42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: "’The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? 43 "Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed." 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
Here are some Internet sayings about bad tenants:
“A bad tenant is almost always more trouble than the lease payments are worth.”
“A bad tenant is worse than no tenant at all.”
“A bad tenant is very expensive.”
“Bad tenants are always going to be bad tenants. Think of it as their job.” (Robert L. Cain)
“Bad tenants are like burglars, they will tackle the easiest mark.”
“Three out of ten tenants are bad tenants. In addition, half of those bad tenants are extremely bad tenants.”
Have you heard of Murphy’s Real Estate Laws? It says:
That sweet little girl with the baby that you rented to, will start dating the mad motorcycle man from hell, ... and several of his friends, ... the very next week.
Tenants have at least one relative get sick or die per month, so ... they will just have to pay you later.
If a tenant attempts to replace the washer in a faucet, plan on replacing the faucet; perhaps all the plumbing in the building.
Prospective tenants who make an appointment to see your rental across town,
often get kidnapped on the way there... so there was just no way they could call you.
Tenants only lock themselves out in the middle of the night... or on Christmas.
When a furnace breaks in mid-winter, it is always the heat exchanger.
At least one tenant’s check will be "lost in the mail" every month.
Every lost pet will find its way to your rental.
The hardware store closes five minutes before you get there.
A tenant’s ability to see dirt and damage is much greater when they move in than when they move out.
Your best tenants always get job transfers during the worst rental markets.
Everything in your rentals will break 100 times faster than in your own home.
The insurance inspector always shows up to take photos of the building as you are putting the evicted tenant’s possessions on the curb.
Tenants always swear under oath that the window was broken when they moved in.
When a tenant calls and says, "Hi, how are you?" something is drastically wrong.
If it exists, your tenant will try to flush it down the toilet.
If you have any questions about anything, ask your tenants.
If it is pouring rain, you can be sure the windows are open at one or more at your units.
Proper disposal of chewing gum is in the carpet. http://www.fourjokers.co.uk/murphy/m6.shtml
Bad tenants are a dime a dozen.
Suddenly the story turned serious and became personal. The Greek text reveals the identity of the owner now as “the Lord of the vineyard,” a title exclusively used midway of a story in Jesus’ parables (Mt 21:40, Lk 20:13, 15, Mark 12:9, Matt 20:8), specifically when the drama reached a turning point and the end was near. The phrase “my son” was the name given to Jesus when God uttered his first words, as recorded in Mark 1:11.
The word “heir” is exclusive to this parable (v 14, Matt 21:38, Mark 12:7, Luke 20:14), a claim Jesus made concerning his status and relationship to God the Father before going to his death in Jerusalem. How the farmers got to the point they were thinking they could get the inheritance is beyond me. They were not just tardy, they were delinquent renters; they were debtors, trespassers and squatters that wanted to be owners. Their problem wasn’t that they were unwilling to part with the fruit or pay the rent; they wanted to keep the whole estate – the land, the fence, the fruit, the tower, the whole nine yards, but they did not want to pay full price, go through the proper channels, or risk the thought of rejection. They decided not to pay, negotiate, or wait. They wanted to legitimize their presence and the right of illegal occupancy or possession or ownership.
When all things failed, the owner sent his son, thinking that the tenants would give face to him, talk terms with him, and seek leniency from him, but this also failed. What the owner wanted was admission of ownership, not return of the vineyard. The lord of the vineyard did not line up renters that were willing to take over or pay more, but his heir who was able to hear or help them out. Early termination, more time, and financial plans were negotiable. He did not come to sue them, evict them, or bankrupt them. The problem of the renters was not poverty, but greed and selfishness. They also didn’t apologize or pay for medical fees. They killed without thinking of the consequences. The owner did not let them get away eventually. The consequence for their actions was death and destruction for murder.
The stone now has now become the capstone or cornerhead. Formerly, it was a regular stone, not even a rock, but now it was a menacing cornerhead that shattered and grind those in the way. The Greek word for “break to pieces” is shatter, and for “crushed” is grind. These two New Testament words are exclusive to this parable not found elsewhere. Shatter means smash to pieces, and grind means reduce to powder. Nothing or nobody will be able to endure the capstone’s progress. It will not only roll over them, but run into them. Talk about shock and awe, this is shatter and scatter.
Conclusion: The rent is due, the lease is up, and the jury is out. God is looking for good men to replace the wicked men in his vineyard. God did a marvelous and miraculous thing by including repentant tax collectors and prostitutes in his kingdom (v 42). Don’t usurp the place of God as the rightful owner of this world and your life. God’s patience is running out and so is your time if you are delinquent in rent, stubborn in acknowledgement and slow to repent. One day God will be all businesslike and no-nonsense in his demand for an account for our words, actions, and lives.
Victor Yap
http://epreaching.blogspot.com/
www.riversidecma.org(For sermon series)
www.preachchrist.com (For Chinese sermons)
