PENTECOST 21, A – October 5, 2007

SCRIPTURES – Ps. 118; Isaiah 5:1-7; Phil. 3:4b-11; Matt. 21:33-46

 

Imagine Jesus standing up and saying, “Today’s sermon is based on the reading from Isaiah chapter 5.” That would be strange: Jesus, preaching a sermon that is based on another’s words! But, that is what He was doing. The parable Jesus speaks is actually a sermon that is based on the teaching of Isaiah chapter 5. 

Jesus preaches quite a sermon. The chief priests of Israel and the Pharisees want to arrest Him for it! Why? Because He preaches a stern warning, a warning to them – and to us. “The Church does not belong to you,” He warned the religious leaders of the people, and also the people themselves. “It belongs to God, and it is based on mercy. You belong to God, and if you do not bear the fruit He expects, fruits of mercy, He will remove His presence and His blessing from you.” 

Let me give you a little history lesson. Isaiah spoke today’s Old Testament reading, his parable concerning God’s vineyard, about 700 years before Jesus came. The people he lived among were pretty religious. Jerusalem, the capital city, had a great and beautiful temple in which there were Services every morning and evening, as well as special worship Services throughout the year which many of the people attended. And, Isaiah’s people were also pretty well off. He says of them, “Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots.” (Is. 2:7) A prosperous, religious people. God must have been pleased!

 

He was not. Isaiah, speaking for God, condemns them for not being what God desired, not bearing the fruit He planned. They, God’s vineyard, are not producing good grapes but wild grapes: stinking, maggot infested grapes that are good only for the trash heap. “God looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!” says Isaiah. Their faith and their lives were not filled with mercy. “And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste.” It took time – God in His mercy gave them another 100 years to repent, to change – but what Isaiah said happened. The nation was conquered by the Babylonians, Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed, and the people were carried off to Babylon as slaves. Only 75 years later, after Babylon itself was conquered, were they able to return to Israel, their ruined land.

 

A little over 500 years later, many things had improved. God had planted them again in Israel. Their worship had been restored and their temple rebuilt. It was more impressive than it had ever been, a fabulous and beautiful temple dedicated to the glory and honor of God. There were again Services there daily, and many of the people attended special Services throughout the year. A number of them even underwent extensive training in the Scriptures so that they could teach the people and be examples of how God wanted them to live. Called Pharisees – those separated to be holy – they lived throughout Israel and taught the people. Surely God must have been pleased with His people! He was not. Jesus preaches Isaiah’s parable again, but now He makes it harsher. Now God not only does not get the fruit He desires from His vineyard; the servants He sends to collect its fruit are beaten, stoned, or killed, and, finally, His own Son is even killed. How horrible! Jesus then says: “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.”

 

A stern warning! The Church does not belong to you, but to God. St. Peter Lutheran Church - you – belongs to God, and is based on mercy. do not be content and confident because you are religious and worship regularly. Is your life and your faith marked by God’s mercy? If we do not bear fruit for Him, fruits of mercy, Christ will remove His presence and His blessing from us.

 

Mercy – seen in a heart that humbly falls before God and gratefully receives His mercy in Christ; seen in a heart that goes out to others in their need; seen in a heart that quickly forgives sin, wants to forgive and forget sin, because we ourselves are sinful and are continually forgiven so much – this is the fruit God expects from us. For, this is what God gives to us.

 

How good and gracious and merciful is our God! How He gives and sacrifices for His people, His vineyard! Isaiah says: “He dug it and cleared it of stones.” If you have ever dug a garden here in New England’s stony soil – and Israel is far rockier! – you know what hard work this is! How hard God worked for His people Israel! “He planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it.” Such things take time. God is very patient with us! He provides abundantly that we might bear abundant fruit. Jesus goes on to speak of a mercy that we would even call ridiculous:

“He sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ”

 

Would you do this? Wouldn’t you expect your son to also be killed? Because of His love for you, because He is filled with mercy and compassion, God gave His Son to be killed for you. And, note that it is Jesus, the Son, who speaks this parable. He was talking about Himself! He knew that He would be rejected by the people and put to death. Still, He came and willingly offered up His life for you, to pay for your sins Himself and save you from being condemned for them. He died for you that your life might be changed, that you might be pleasing to God and do what pleases Him. How greatly God is merciful to you! How incredible is His forgiveness!

 

Having received such incredible mercy, how can we not say with the apostle Paul, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” ? How can we ever think we are good enough and have no need to be continually receiving God’s great mercy in Christ? How can we let anything keep us away from the mercy God pours out upon us here in Christ? Do the sins of others and things about them bother you? Put them away! What are they compared to the sins that God has forgiven you, compared to Jesus dying for you? Humble yourself! Bow down to thank God for His mercy, and then gratefully receive His mercy in Christ. This is the fruit that He desires! Then be merciful to others as Christ has been merciful to you. Reach out to those who have sinned against you; forgive, and put their sins behind you. Reach out to those who do not know of God’s love and mercy in Christ. This is what God has done for you, and so this is the fruit He expects you to produce. This is what it means to be His Church, His vineyard.

 

We must never be content or complacent in our faith. In 1529, in the Preface to his Large Catechism, Martin Luther wrote: “a shameful and insidious plague of security and boredom has overtaken us.” Just 11 years after the Reformation began, many were already regarding the basic teachings of the Bible, which Luther put down in the Small Catechism, as, he says, “a simple, silly teaching which they can absorb and master at one reading. After reading it once they toss the book into a corner as if they are ashamed to read it again. Indeed,… there are some louts and skinflints who declare that we can do without pastors and preachers from now on because they have everything in books and can learn it all by ourselves.” We may not be saying this, but we are sure living this way. Luther predicted that God would one day remove His blessing from the German people because they cared so little about the mercy He was showering upon them. Look at the Church in Germany today. Few among the people worship, and they are ignorant of God. Germany is mostly a pagan land.

 

May God have mercy on us and spare us! He wants to do so. Let us rejoice in His mercy in Christ, strain to receive His mercy in Christ, and rejoice to show His mercy in Christ! As the apostle Paul said, “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, [let us] press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” To the glory and honor of Jesus, the merciful Son of God and our Savior, and for the salvation of our souls.