Matthew 21:33-46;
Philippians 3:4b-14; Isaiah 5:1-7
In the Name of the Father and of the
+ Son and of the Holy Spirit.
As we
approach the 500th commemoration of the Reformation at the end of
this month, I am reminded of these words of our Lord Jesus which are often read
on the Festival of the Reformation: “From the days of John the Baptist until
now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by
force.” Now, this ought to sound outright absurd to you, the idea that anyone
could take the kingdom of heaven by force. As confessional Lutherans,
you know fully well that you must receive the kingdom through
Spirit-created faith, and that there is absolutely nothing you can do to earn, to
merit, or to take it by your own reason, strength, or even violence. And yet,
you have Jesus’ words, and you of the flesh know how truly difficult it is
simply to receive the kingdom of heaven as a true, perfect, and holy gift of
God’s grace apart from any goodness or worthiness in you. Truly, all human
attempts to earn, merit, and take God’s kingdom, are wrong-minded, wrong-hearted,
and wrong-spirited acts of violence upon our LORD and His kingdom.
And yet, we
are a violent people, are we not? Only consider the recent massacre in Las
Vegas, not to mention the daily infanticide we commit under the guise of
healthcare and personal rights. We are violent, and we are fruitful in violence,
producing works of bloodshed and unrighteousness in our lives, words, and
deeds. We bear violent fruit, wild grapes laced with the venom and poison of
sin and death, as we refuse to show love, mercy, compassion, and forgiveness to
others, thinking ourselves righteous and justified as we attempt to take the
kingdom of heaven by force and violence. Repent, lest the kingdom of heaven be
taken away from you, and the Cornerstone of the LORD, Jesus Christ, fall upon
you and crush you when He comes again in glory as judge over heaven and earth.
For, once
again, you hear that the kingdom of heaven is like a Master of a house who
planted a vineyard, protected it with a fence and a watchtower, dug a winepress
in it, and then leased it out to tenants who were to care for it and tend it
that He might receive the harvest of its fruit from them in due season. The
Master of the Vineyard is God the Father, the Vineyard is Israel, and the vines
are His people, His children whom He has called to Himself. The LORD
established His vineyard in the fertile soil of His grace, cleared it of the stones
of their sin, and planted within it the choicest of vines, that is, the people
of His calling and His choosing. Moreover, He protected His people with His
providential care and set over them the Watchtower of the Priesthood to nurture
and to prune them with the teaching of His Word, that His people would be
fruitful in faith, love, and obedience overflowing in love, mercy, compassion,
and forgiveness for others to the glory of His holy Name. But, when the time
for harvest came, the LORD found that His vineyard did not produce such sweet
fruit, but rather violent works that were sour, wild, and fit only for the fire
and destruction. Moreover, the tenants to whom He leased His vineyard to care
for, protect, and prune, that it should be fruitful, beat and killed His
servants, His prophets, whom He sent to gather the harvest. Yet, the LORD is
patient and longsuffering; He sent even more servants, and the tenants killed
them as well.
Now, who of
you would be so patient and longsuffering? Who of you would not immediately
retaliate in wrath and violence and destruction? Indeed, our LORD did what was
unthinkable to us; He sent His own Son. And, upon seeing His Son and Heir Jesus,
the tenants, that is, the religious leaders of Israel, the scribes, Pharisees,
elders, and chief priests, rallied the people, and they appealed to the Romans,
to murder Him. In Jesus’ parable, they thought, that by murdering the Master’s
Son, they would inherit the Master’s vineyard kingdom for themselves. Just think
about what that means: The religious leaders of Israel knew fully well who
Jesus was, that He was the Son of God and the promised Messiah, and as Caiaphas
unwittingly prophesied, they concluded that “It [was] better that one man
should die for the people than that the whole nation should perish.” Truly, the
kingdom of heaven suffers violence, as the violent seek to take it by force.
But, you
cannot take the kingdom by violence and force. Indeed, violence and force are
as antithetical to the kingdom of heaven as are your attempts to earn and merit
your way into heaven. There is only one way to enter the kingdom and to remain
a citizen thereof, and that is to receive the kingdom of heaven as a gift of
God’s grace, to receive His Son Jesus, and to bear His fruits in your lives,
words, and deeds in service of others to the glory of His holy Name. Moreover,
do not think that your lifelong membership in some human institution that calls
itself the church makes you a citizen of God’s kingdom. And, do not think that
your service on a board or a committee, your tithing, or your visiting the sick
and the shut-in makes you a citizen of God’s kingdom. Truly, if your fear,
love, and trust are in such things, things which are the fruits of the True
Vine Jesus, then your fear, love, and trust are in the wrong things, for your
fear, love, and trust must be in God, and in His Son Jesus, alone. The
religious leaders of Israel misplaced their fear, love, and trust in their
works, in their descent from Abraham, in their own self-righteousness. You must
identify and repent of these same tendencies in your own hearts and lives as
well.
For, in His
death and resurrection, Jesus, the True Chosen One of the Father, His Choicest
and True Vine, even His only-begotten Son, has redeemed the vineyard of the
True Israel. By the hands of evil men, the Father planted the Vine of His Son
into the earth in death, and, in His resurrection, He has made Him to be a
fruitful Vine. Though you were not originally His branches, you have been
grafted into the True Vine through Holy Baptism and Spirit-created faith that
His life should flow through you and that you might bear His fruits in your
lives, words, and deeds to the glory of His holy Name. “The stone that the
builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this is the LORD’s doing, and it
is marvelous in our eyes.”
Among the
good grapes of the True Vine Jesus was the apostle Paul. Once a zealous
persecutor of the Church, he “suffered the loss of all things” in order to
“gain Christ and be found in Him,” to “know Him and the power of His
resurrection.” Paul vigorously admonished the people to put not their trust in
their flesh, in their ancestry and lineage, in their works, zeal,
righteousness, or in anything other than Christ alone. Indeed, Paul excelled in
all of these things compared to most, but nevertheless he counted them “as loss
for the sake of Christ” that he may have “a righteousness [not] of his own that
comes from the Law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the
righteousness from God that depends on faith.” Moreover, Paul did not consider
this an accomplished goal, but a work in progress, as he became more like
Christ, sharing in His sufferings and death that he might share also in His
resurrection from the dead. Here St. Paul expounds upon the mystery of
Sanctification, that God has declared you to be holy in His Son, and
you are indeed holy, even as He now makes you to be holy as His life is
lived in and through you and you bear His fruits.
Agricultural
imagery abounds throughout the Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testaments:
The Vine and the Branches; The Wheat and the Tares; The Sower and the Seeds;
The Cursed Fig Tree; Even Jesus’ death and resurrection are compared to a grain
of wheat that is buried in the earth, dies, and bears fruit a hundredfold; etc.
In the Gospels, Jesus uses agricultural imagery repeatedly to show that true
and living faith is fruitful in good works of love, mercy, compassion, and
forgiveness, which are truly borne of fear, love, trust, and obedience to God,
created and sustained by the Holy Spirit through Word and Sacrament. Now the
Church has been made the vineyard and Jesus Christ the choice vine. You are His
branches, grafted in where unfruitful others have been cut off. Pastors have
been called and have been given authority to watch over you and to see that
Christ’s Word and Sacraments are preached, taught, and administered faithfully so
that His branches may be fruitful in words and deeds of love, mercy, grace,
compassion, and forgiveness to the glory of His holy Name. The harvest time is
coming on a day and hour you cannot know. Therefore rejoice in the day that the
LORD has made – this day, in which He is present in grace to forgive your sins,
to renew and strengthen your faith, to equip you for service in His Vineyard
Kingdom, and to send you bearing His fruit in your lives, words, and deeds in
service of others to the glory of His Name. This is the day that the LORD has
made; He has not promised you a tomorrow. Bear His fruits today and share them
with others. Everyday is the harvest in which you glorify His Name.
In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment