"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."

 

            Jesus tells a parable about a landlord and his tenants. I am drawn to this story because I am both a landlord and a tenant. We rent our living space here, and we own a house in Washington, and rent it to others. So sometimes I act like a landlord, an owner; and sometimes I act like a renter, a tenant. I am not always sure who I am.

            This is a story that is directed at the temple authorities, people who were tenants but acted like landlords.

We are at somewhat of a disadvantage in reading this story, because we do not have an experience of the temple. There was a glory about that building that went beyond our feelings for a church facility or even for a grand cathedral. There was long history in the temple. There was sacrifice going on in it. There was moral teaching in its courts. There were holy things and holy people. There was a Holy of Holies that only one person could enter, and on just one day of the year. There was a strong sense of authority in the temple. There were also strong feelings of outrage because of the presence of Romans nearby.

            In the final week of Jesus' life, he came into the temple and overturned tables and drove out money changers. He challenged those who were in authority. In turn, they challenged his authority to do such things, and to teach as he did. So, he tells this story in the midst of conflict. It is a tense time. He is teaching in the temple courts, and then the chief priests and elders confront him.

            This is the second of three parables he tells them. He begins by using the words of Isaiah 5, the Song of the Vineyard. Everyone knew it well; it was a central portion of prophetic scripture:

"My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well."

            But then Jesus takes the song in a different direction. Rather than speaking about the grapes, as in Isaiah, he says the owner entrusted the vineyard to some farmers, to tenants who rented the land by paying him a portion of the harvest.

            We can see the authorities lean forward. "Who are these tenants?" They did not see themselves as tenants in the temple. Surely they were the owners, the servants of God, the ones who possessed God's sacred vineyard. Perhaps Jesus is talking about some intruders; maybe the Romans are the tenants.

            Jesus continues. When the servants are sent to collect the fruit, they are denied. One is beaten, another killed, yet another stoned. They are treated like the ancient prophets were treated.

            And what is the fruit? The fruit is a symbol of the life that God requires of his people. No fruit is given to the servants. There is a failure on the farm. The prophets did not find the kind of life that God required of his people. The tenants now do not respond to the servants request for fruit.

            So the owner sends his son, saying, "Surely they will respect my son." Why does the owner take such a risk, to even send his son? He must love the tenants. He wants to give them every opportunity to respond to him.

            But the tenants see the son not as an expression of the love of God, not as one who speaks with the authority of God. They see the son as simply an heir, and so they mistakenly think if they kill him, the vineyard will be theirs. That is poor thinking. Mayor Daley would say it is "Cuckoo." You don't get to own the land by killing the son. That is a disastrous plan. But the plan makes sense to the tenants, and so they kill the son.

            Then Jesus asks the temple authorities, "What will the owner do to those tenants?"

They say, "he will bring them to a wretched end and rent the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the crop."

           They do not realize they are speaking about themselves.

           But then Jesus quotes Psalm 118: "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone." The temple authorities saw themselves as the "builders of Israel" and now it is clear just who the tenants are.

           Then Jesus makes it plain. "I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit."

            It is the temple authorities who rejected Jesus, and yet they are those for whom Jesus was sent. In just a few days they will see that he is put on a cross.

           What is it, then, that is taken from them?

           Klyne Snodgrass puts it this way: "What is taken from the tenants is the privilege of being engaged with the purposes of God . . ."

           Who are the new tenants, who will receive the vineyard?

           R.T. France writes, "The new people is neither Israel nor the Gentiles, but a new entity, drawn from both, not an ethnic group, but those with faith in Jesus." The new tenants are characterized by faith in Christ. They are those who receive the son in faith and follow him. They are those who give up their places of power in order to serve the Lord. They are those who bear fruit by remaining in the vine.

            Klyne Snodgrass says that this parable is about response. Will people respond to the claims God has on their lives or will they reject his messengers in favor of their own agenda?

            Communion is a time when we are able to respond to Christ. At the table it becomes clear to me that I am a tenant, and not an owner. Here, in a response of faith, I confess that God has a legitimate claim on my life. I give back to him my words, my attitudes, my behavior, my service, my witness. Here, at the table, I have an opportunity to receive the Son of God in faith; I have an opportunity to respond with a willing heart, to truly listen and know redemption.

           Let us gather at the table, tenants in the kingdom of God.

           Amen.