The Vineyard, The Owner, and The Husbandmen: A Meditation on Matthew 21

Hear another parable:

There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard,

and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower,

and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:

And when the time of the fruit drew near,

he sent his servants to the husbandmen,

that they might receive the fruits of it.

And the husbandmen took his servants,

 and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.

Again, he sent other servants more than the first:

and they did unto them likewise.

But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying,

They will reverence my son.

But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves,

This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.

And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.

When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh,

what will he do unto those husbandmen?

 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men,

and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen,

which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.

 

In Matthew 21, Jesus began by entering Jerusalem in fulfilment of Old Testament prophesy, a heavenly King seated on a lowly donkey, with crowds chanting thanks and praise to God for His arrival.  He entered the temple, purged it of the profane profiteers who had turned it into a house of merchandise, and received the sick and the lame to heal, teach, and comfort them.  The rulers of the temple, the Sadducees and the Pharisees, were enraged and sought some way to capture Jesus, but they feared the multitude who held Jesus to be a prophet sent from God.  Of course, not many days hence, those temple rulers would find a way to betray Jesus, and have him crucified before the Roman governor on false charges and slander.  But before the betrayal of the Jewish leaders sent Him to the Cross, Jesus taught both them and the people several profound truths, including the parable above.

 

The Owner of a vineyard in the ancient world, as would also be today, was entitled to the produce of his property.  He had the freedom to hire workers for an agreed upon wage, who would tend to the vineyard according to their duties, that the produce might be shared among them—or perhaps better said, the produce of the vineyard was what provided for the payment of the workers and the owner alike.  The owner was free to hire whomever he wanted to tend to his vineyard, and the workers were free to accept or reject this offer of work.  Once in a covenant together, both were entitled to what was to come: the workers to their wages, and the owner to his vineyard’s fruit.

 

In an almost inexplicable case of rebellion and theft, the workers in the owner’s vineyard became mutinous, demanding to take what was not theirs to take.  They were employed by the owner to tend the vineyard and to receive wages worthy of their work, but instead demanded that they take it all.  In an equally inexplicable act of grace, the owner sent emissaries and messengers to the workers of the vineyard, pleading with them to stop this evil and return to their covenant.  Repeatedly, the workers of the vineyard abused the owner’s emissaries and rejected their overtures for repentance and grace, until at last the owner sent his only son to intercede with them.  Having now risen to the heights of their wickedness, they determined that if they could kill the owner’s heir, they could seize the owner’s vineyard forever.

 

It was, of course, a ridiculous plan.  The workers did manage to kill the owner’s son, but the owner did not bow in acquiescence to the murderous and mutinous mob.  Rather, as Jesus’ interlocutors observed, the owner would return with vengeance and wrath, slay the unfaithful stewards, and give his vineyard to others who would keep his covenant.  This observation which was so obvious to the people who followed Jesus, was also obvious to the temple rulers.  The Pharisees and the Sadducees perceived that Jesus was teaching against them, and still, they plotted to murder the Son of God anyway, just as their forefathers had plotted to abuse, persecute, and murder the prophets who came before Him.  Jesus’ warning to them, and to every age of mankind, is that the Lord will not be mocked; His calls for mercy and grace have an end, and judgement will fall upon those murderous rebels who persist in rejecting Him and His covenant.

 

There is much here that the church in our time must learn.  We have been entrusted with the Lord’s Vineyard, which He alone created, and to Him alone are due the fruits thereof.  Those who have heard His Word of Law and Gospel, who have been called by grace through faith into the covenant of forgiveness and mercy through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, have been entrusted to work in the Lord’s vineyard.  Our terms of service are the grace earned by Jesus, which are to us eternal life and salvation from sin, death, hell, and the power of the devil.  In our covenant with God, we receive the wages of Jesus, while God takes the penalty of our wickedness upon Himself—a grace that is free to us, but which cost Him everything.  Then we are sent into His vineyard, his whole world and the communities into which we are placed, to bear witness to this Gospel of salvation in Jesus alone, and to give to others forgiveness, life, and salvation just as freely was it was given to us.  This is the love of God which first loved us, and that we carry into a dark and dying world, that the Lord would receive the fruits of His Gospel in due season.  This Word of the Living God, His whole counsel of Law and Gospel in the Holy Scriptures, is the living trust Christians are given to love and serve their neighbors, that God may be glorified in all things.  Neither the Church nor the World belong to men, but all are called to live and work therein according to the Creator’s covenant of grace.

 

To our generation, and to us individually, the Word of the Lord comes to bring us to faith and repentance.  It is the Gospel truth that God alone calls us into His fellowship through faith in His Son, and that God alone sets the terms of our service in His Kingdom by grace through faith in Christ alone.  It is also the truth of the Law that those who would corrupt His Kingdom, abuse His servants, discard His Word, and attempt to seize what is not theirs, shall be consigned to the flames of hell forever, so that the grace once offered to them will be given to others.  Thus we all stand in the presence of both a Just and Merciful God—to those who reject and betray Him, judgement; but to those who repent and believe in Him, grace.  This is as true for the people in Jesus’ time as it is in our own, and shall be until the Lord returns.  Hear the Word of the Lord today, that you may abide in his grace by faith in Jesus, and escape the judgment which is quickly coming upon an unfaithful and rebellious world.  Amen.