Matthew "Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. 35 "The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said. 38 "But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.' 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 "Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" 41 "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time." 42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: "'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'? 43 "Therefore I tell you that the
In the name of Jesus Christ, dear Friends: I don’t think it is a surprise to anyone that harvest season is right up on us. Pretty soon, just about every farmer will be out in his field harvesting his crop. If you would ask the farmers what they have been doing in the mean time, the answer would probably be that they were getting ready for harvest. That is a big job. All summer long, they have had to make sure that they have the proper pesticides and fertilizer on their crop. They have prepared their machinery, gotten fuel, maybe even taken some time off so that they can be ready for the long days that are ahead of them. Getting ready for harvest is a big and important job. After all, if they don’t get ready for harvest, there is a good chance that they can’t get their crop out of the fields in time for the long, cold winter.
As Christians, you and I are also getting ready for the harvest. No, we aren’t talking about the harvest that will soon be happening in the fields. We are talking about God’s harvesting of all people. We are talking about the time when God comes back in Judgment to take believers to be with him forever and send the unbelievers into the everlasting torment of hell. The results of this harvest won’t just have effects for a little while like the harvest going on in the fields. This harvest will have effects that will last into eternity. This is the most important harvest that will ever take place. Just like the farmers are getting ready for their harvests in the field, so we also Get Ready for God’s Harvest Day. 1. Respect His Messengers. 2. Receive His Son. 3. Remember His Judgment.
- Respect His Messengers.
In this parable that Jesus told, he goes back to the Old Testament lesson that we heard today from Isaiah that talked about how God so lovingly took care of his Old Testament people. God treated them like the very best vineyard building a great winepress and watchtower showing how much he cared for his people and would do anything to watch and protect them.
How was God repaid? The Old Testament people and even into the New Testament, they mistreated the messengers that he sent. How many times in the Old Testament don’t we hear about how the people had tried to harm and sometimes successfully harmed and even killed the messengers that God sent in the form of the prophets. These messengers would come with God’s message to the people to turn from their evil ways and turn back to God. The people didn’t like the message so they went after the messengers.
Even when Jesus is telling this parable, the leaders of the people were still doing that. They may not have been literally killing the prophets, but they were still destroying the message of the prophets. They had turned their back on God and the way of salvation that the prophets had told them that there was. They had beat, stoned, and killed the prophets just as their forefathers had done.
We don’t have the prophets with us physically today. Yet, the message is still the same. The message that is proclaimed from the pulpit here and in some other churches hasn’t changed. God still hates it when we disobey him. God still hates it when we make our own sinful appetites our God and push God aside as we heard in the second lesson today. People still don’t want to hear that. Nor do they want to hear that God has saved us entirely by his doing without us doing anything. That goes against the human nature that we have to do something to earn our salvation.
The warning to us is just as strong as it was to those in Jesus’ time. Don’t reject his messengers. Rather, when there is a messenger who proclaims God’s Word in its truth and purity, respect him. Show him the honor of one who is bringing you the most important thing possible – God’s forgiveness and his salvation. The message that he brings may make you a little uncomfortable. Trust me, it makes him uncomfortable too because when he preaches God’s law to you, he preaches it to himself as well. It still hurts. That’s where the second part of preparing for harvest comes in as we
- Receive His Son.
When Jesus told this parable, it was just a few days before he would be betrayed and hung on the cross. He knew what was coming. He knew that a lot of the people who heard this parable would reject him and condemn him to die on the cross. Yet, notice the great love that the father has for even those people. He sent his son to give them another chance. This landowner surely could not have shown any more love to these people as he gave them this wonderful vineyard to take care of, lovingly sent many servants to collect the fruits. Even in sending his son, what marvelous love he showed.
How was that love repaid? What fruits did they show? Absolutely none. The rejected that son killing him, just as they would soon kill Jesus outside the city of
Yet, the whole reason he went to the cross was to forgiven our sins. Let the Holy Spirit work through the Word in your lives so that he will work faith in your heart – faith which receives that Son. Faith, which believes in what God has so lovingly done for us. Faith, which holds onto that which makes our faith what it is. The object of our faith – that which holds our faith together – is Jesus. Jesus says that he is the cornerstone – that on which the whole building of our faith rests. He is the one that makes our preparations for the harvest complete. That is important as we prepare for that harvest as we
- Remember His Judgment.
In the parable, Jesus says about the landowner, “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants (who killed his son)?” The people knew what would happen to them. They would die. The landowner would condemn them to death.
The same holds true for all who reject the son – whether they were the ones who shouted to have him crucified or they are the ones who reject what he has done for them in saving them. God the Father will condemn them eternally.
How do we avoid that? God tells us that faith comes from hearing the message. Through his Word, that message reminds us of what God and points us ahead to that time of his harvest judgment. His Word, spoken in baptism in which he promises the gift of the Holy Spirit, points us ahead to our eternity with the Savior. The same Holy Spirit uses the body and blood which he gives us together with the bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper to strengthen our faith so that we are constantly reminded both of what God did for us and what he will do for us on Judgment Day.
A farmer can always breathe a sigh of relief when the crop is out of the field and safely tucked away in storage or sold. The insects in the field and the weather can no longer harm that harvest. Think of how much more comforting it will be after God’s “harvest” of Judgment Day. We will be safe and secure forever in God’s mansions. But we aren’t there yet. Now our work involves getting ready for God’s wonderful harvest. Stick to that Word. Keep using the Lord’s Supper. Remember what God has done for you in baptism. As we do that, we will be totally ready for God’s harvest – that glorious day when we get to be with him forever. Amen.
