The Tenants                                              Matthew 21:33-45

I want to take the next few weeks and look at some of Jesus parables. If you’ve read them  you can find some of them are confusing or hard to understand. Quite honestly, the truth is they’re meant to be. Jesus doesn’t tell these stories to illustrate a point the ancients already knew and accepted, he told them to change the status quo. He told them in a way that would make people think, as a way to get people to open their minds to new ways of thinking. And he told them as a way to get people to look at and to look to God in ways other than how they have been taught.

Jesus also used these parables as a way to weed the field, those that opened their mind to his parables, those that see God in his stories, they would continue to follow him and they would grow closer to God. Those that took offence at what he was saying, like so many of the Pharisees did, they would continue to keep the Spirit of God at bay.

 Jesus told these parables to the crowds so that those that refused to think on his stories, those that refused to see the lessons Jesus was teaching, they would drift away.

Today’s parable of the tenants is a history lesson, it’s a description of the interaction between men and God, it’s a warning to mankind and it’s a warning to God’s church on earth.

Let’s look at the characters in Jesus parable to see the history lesson Jesus is giving the Pharisees and Israel in general.

“There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard…” Here is God, the master of all eternity, creating all of heaven and earth with just a word.

 “…and (he) put a fence around it and dug a winepress and built a tower and leased it to tenants…” This sentence makes more sense if we move backwards through it. The tenants represent the Israelites. And notice the master built before the tenants took possession of the vineyard everything necessary for them to succeed. God, through a people other than the Jewish people, had the Promised Land built up and cultivated before they arrived; everything they needed was provided. God prepared the land for them so they would succeed. Joshua 24:13, “I give you a land on which you have not labored and cities you had not built…You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards 4that you did not plant.”

The fence the master built shows us that God separated the Israelites out from the rest of the world and made them his chosen people; he gave them everything they needed to flourish as his spiritual ambassadors.

Our story contains the line, “…went into another country.” This has caused some to be uneasy. Some think this means God left Israel and that would have devastating repercussions for us. That would mean that as believers God accepts us but then goes away and leaves us alone. This interpretation cannot be rectified with 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God.”

If we are looking at this story as a history lesson then I see this line pointing to a historic moment in Israel’s past. The Old Testament Book of Ezekiel describes how God leaves the Temple through the east gate known as the gate of righteousness. The Talmud passage of Eruvin 5:22 call this gate the sun gate. After leaving the Temple God goes up the Mount of Olives and ascends to heaven. This is what I think Jesus is referring to with this line about the master going to another country. And by the way; this is the exact opposite of the journey Jesus takes. Jesus comes down the Mount of Olives and goes into Jerusalem through the eastern gate.

“When the season for fruit drew near…” The fruit of Israel is God, the harvest was Israel sharing God with others in the world. When ancient Israel abandoned this work and sinned against God, God sent his servants; his prophets. Jonah, Joel, Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah and others; their messages where rejected and Israel drifted farther away from the love and mercy of God and deeper into the legalistic system of laws to gain access to God.

At this point in his parable Jesus switches from the past to the present and the future. Verse 37, “Finally he sent his son to them…” After God’s emissaries were rejected he sent his son Jesus.

In our parable the tenants killed the son and we know Jesus was crucified at Calgary. This has been used a long time as a way to justify anti-Semitic attitudes; the tenants killed the son, the Jewish people killed Jesus.

This is a parable, a story to initiate thought; it is not a direct literal statement. The Jewish people were not responsible for killing Jesus. The Romans were not responsible for killing Jesus. God is responsible for Jesus death; it was the Father’s way of providing mankind with redemption.

The rest of the parable says the owner will put the tenants to death and let others into the vineyard. The Jewish people were God’s chosen, they still are; so this cannot mean that God will turn his back on them.

As you know I pray as I work on my messages and as I did I saw this as meaning God removed a blessing from the tenants and bestowed it on others. God did not remove the Jewish people from himself, he removed the blessing of sharing his son with others. He removed the blessing of sharing the message of his hope, grace and mercy with others.

Sharing the message of Christ is an honor to God the Father, it is an honor to God the son and an honor to God the Holy Spirit. Sharing the message of God’s love, grace and mercy through his son Jesus                 is a blessing in our lives. To me this passage means that God took this blessing of sharing the cross with the world from the Israelites and gave it to those who believe and accept his son Jesus.

Then Jesus refers to scripture to drive his point home to the Pharisees that were present, he quotes Psalm 118:22, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”

Ancient Israel was supposed to build God’s kingdom on earth but they rejected the stone. And if we continue to see “stone” as representing the commandments we see this passage explains that Israel rejected the spirit of God’s law. They rejected the spirit of love, respect, charity, and grace that are built into the law for the legalism of the word of the law.

Now that message of God’s grace and mercy through the person of Jesus is the cornerstone of God’s kingdom on earth.

As I read this I also saw a message for all churches; past, present and future. We may have a big beautiful vineyard; that is,  a church may be a beautiful new building, it may be a historic 200 year old building, it might be a grand cathedral, but if the message taught is other than the redemption of man through faith in the life, death and resurrection of Christ, that churches fruit is sour.

Now I know all ministers miss the mark occasionally, I’m sure I have, but the main focus of a fellowship should be Jesus, our salvation, and the way we respond to it. When you listen to a minister talk, and this includes me, when you listen to his or her message, when you see the focus of the fellowship; compare it to the source material, the Bible.

Jesus parable today was a history lesson to the Pharisees. It described Israel’s relationship with God, their rejection of God’s prophets and eventual rejection of God’s son.

Our parable tells how God removed the honor and blessing of sharing his kingdom and his message of hope, love, grace and mercy from ancient Israel and gave it to those who accept and believe in his son.

Jesus parable is a warning to all men to be open to God, To recognize his envoys and to differentiate between those that teach God’s message and those that teach an alternate message that will draw you away from God.

And this parable is a warning to all churches to keep our focus on the truth; liberation from sin through faith in the life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.

That is the cornerstone of our faith. That is the cornerstone of our salvation. That is the cornerstone of God’s kingdom on earth.

God bless.