“A Sad Vineyard Parable”

Pentecost 19 - Oct 8, 23

Isaiah 5: 1-7 & Matt. 21: 33-46

Pastor Deb - BRCC

The prophet Isaiah writes: “Let me sing for my beloved…my love-song concerning his vineyard.” Reading and studying these words this week, I found myself feeling profound sadness. They hit a bit too close to home. I could almost hear these words being sung by my daughter right now as she, and our whole family, grieves yet another divorce. For you see, all three of our grown children have had to accept a divorce when their ”beloveds” chose to leave them. Not to place blame on one side or another, for no marriage is without its flaws, but when one side of a covenant is willfully broken and abandons the vineyard of their life together, there is really very little that can be done to restore it. Like Isaiah’s words, I have heard my daughter revisit how she has worked so very hard and passionately for nearly 25 years to make her marriage and family sing and produce good fruit, yet just at the time when their children are ready to fly, the vines of their lives together are all being uprooted. “What more could I have done?” Cries our daughter! She has been so broken-hearted, and yet, in her TRUTH-TELLING, her brokenheartedness has become brokenOPENness. Like her brother and other sister before her, she will need to rebuild her life and future relationships from a place of brokenness to a place of new hope. Her siblings have found new marriages that are healthy and fruitful, she will too, we pray. But oh…how it hurts to be so sad! Love-songs can be wonderful….but often, they are painful in their telling of brokenness and truth.

In Jesus’ day, Isaiah’s love song parable about the beloved vineyard that God has created for his children, but now laments as lost to the “wild grapes” of rebellion and injustice rather than life giving righteousness, was a familiar image. God used the prophet Isaiah’s voice over and over again to warn of the consequences of rebellion and price. Isaiah pleaded with the people of Israel to turn back to God at a time of apostasy, and wicked rebellion that set into motion the eventual destruction of not only the Nation of Israel, but also the complete and horrific destruction of their temple. Historically, their vineyard…the nation of Israel, was destroyed and its people sent into exile, where by the shores of Babylon, they lamented the loss of their favor with God. Yet that voice of warning and impending consequence that they had ignored, would soon become a voice of hope and comfort to a people exiled and in bondage, crying for forgiveness and praying to go home and rebuild their life with God. “Comfort, comfort, my people,” says your God, Isaiah proclaims…. “For unto you a child will be born, a son will be given, and his name will bring peace, forgiveness and restore righteousness forever.”

Now, in Matthew’s account in our gospel text today, this child…this Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Man, has come to Jerusalem to embrace that destiny. He stands up to the Pharisees, Priest and religious leaders with a parable that slaps them in the face, even as they demand…BY WHAT AUTHORITY do YOU have Jesus, to speak this blasphemy against the church and God’s law!

This is a tense moment, for you see, by this time in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus has been speaking the truth of the Kingdom of God in several uncomfortable parables. He has been healing the sick; loving the unlovable; breaking their traditions and established laws. The people are drawn to him as metal to a magnet, and their self-righteous anger is building to the point where some in power are plotting his death.

And so, Jesus tells this parable of the wicked tenants, whose entitlement and violence leads them to murder even the landowner’s son in order to get their control over the vineyard. And he uses a familiar image and story that each and every one of them would not only remember, but feel a great sense of shame for the historical truth of their past. In this parable, Jesus goes a step too far, and foretells his own death to come.

One can almost feel the shiver of guilt that must have tugged at their moral conscience, even as they reacted with moral self-righteousness. Jesus’ parable is completely absurd to their sensibilities. What landlord would EVER put up with wicked tenants that not only kill the owners slaves, but would have the audacity to kill his son? What foolish, wicked, blind tenants would assume they had a right to take the vineyard away from the landowner and keep it for themselves? Of course the landlord will punish and throw them out! What businessman would ever tolerate such wretches? For the harvest IS life to not only the landowner, but to the entire community!

And then, quietly…authoritatively and lovingly, Jesus lifts up the scriptures…and they hear the voice of their prophetic word from the God they worship with such lawful dedication. “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”

In other words…the Vineyard of their God will REBUILD and reclaim his KINGDOM…

And Jesus implies that HE is the LORD who will do His Father’s WILL…NOT them!

Within these words, one can almost feel the voice of the Father in Heaven echoing Isaiah…”What more is there to do for my vineyard? I can send my SON! He will do what my children cannot….will not do!” In this amazing statement, Jesus reveals that our God, His Father, FEELS the consequence of our neglect, our prideful entitlement, our rejection of equality among his precious children and creation…and laments the consequences we bring upon ourselves. Yet….In LOVE…Love that cannot be denied, or destroyed…The Vineyard will not be destroyed, but given to those who will honor God’s dream and cherish the harvest. Jesus becomes the cornerstone upon which a new future…a new hope of the Lord’s doing will amaze all who can see.

Hearing Jesus’ parable, the chief priests and the Pharisees realized that he was talking about them (21:45), but they did not change their minds. And, unfortunately, that is freedom of human will. Not all will join in on God’s love song for His vineyard. The point of these parables about the Kingdom of God is not to point to judgment and tell us just how wicked and self-destructive we are (for we can surely see that for ourselves, can’t we?) The point Jesus is making here is to show God’s impartial love and grace for ALL, even in their wickedness …right until the very end.

The Vineyard continues…but is placed in the hands of those who will seek the FRUIT of God’s love and forgiveness. The ones who are in relationship with God’s son will build upon the rock of His truth and power. What this means is that God’s people must care for the world, for ALL people, and even enemies. As stewards of God’s vineyard, they should not judge others or use them for their benefit but embrace all as their brothers and sisters.

Our moral challenge as hearers and believer’s is to love all as we turn from our BROKENHEARTEDNESS AND SIN TO BE BROKEN-OPEN to offer God’s OPEN-HEARTEDNESS TO LOVE….even to our enemies and the wickedness around us. We look to the cross where Jesus prays…”Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.”

That is OUR challenge within the brokenness of divorce in our family right now. To accept the consequences of brokenheartedness and lost dreams… Yet in faith, open ourselves to the cornerstone of hope and healing offered in our Lord of resurrection hope. And that is the challenge we ALL must face and morally embrace in whatever brokenheartedness comes our way. Life is hard…yet the Vineyard calls saying…God is Good!

The Apostle Paul said it well when he wrote these words while imprisoned and awaiting his execution, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection…even share in his sufferings by becoming like him….I press on to make it my own, because Jesus has made me His own…I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”

What a statement of moral choice! What a commitment to God’s vineyard and dream. Oh, that we might have faith to make it our own. Amen.