5th Sunday of Lent
Text: Luke 20:9-20 / (Luke 1:26-38)
Vicar Gary Schultz
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Then the owner of the vineyard said, “ I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.” But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, “This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.” And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
A beautiful vineyard, a very fertile hill, cleared of stones, carefully watered, planted with choicest vines, a prominent watchtower in the middle, with the finest machinery standing ready for producing the best wine. Everything was perfectly planned and prepared. Now it is ready. You can just picture this perfect vineyard, prepared by the master for his people.
This is the picture our Lord gives us of His kingdom through the prophet Isaiah. The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel (Is 5:7a). Yet although the Lord’s vineyard was perfect, He still laments that His people did not walk in His ways. He looked for fine grapes, and it yielded only wild grapes. He looked for justice, but only found bloodshed.
Since the vineyard is a picture of God’s kingdom, it’s no surprise that Christ uses it in this parable just days before He would be killed. Our Lord uses this parable to teach about His kingdom and how it is related to His upcoming death. This parable shows us the infinite love of Our Lord who keeps sending His servants, His prophets, to His people. One by one the messengers are sent, but the people do not respect or honor them; rather, they treat them badly and throw them out.
The Lord sent prophets to deliver his message, but the people had no interest or concern. Some things never change. As in centuries past, today in some countries missionaries are persecuted or killed for bringing God’s message of forgiveness through Christ. In some areas of the world, faithful pastors are threatened with imprisonment for preaching against homosexuality. In our own country, there are religious groups that slaughter the message of Our Lord sent through His prophets, apostles, and pastors. Our Lord teaches that marriage is a blessed union between a man and a woman, giving an example of Christ and His church. Some groups teach that marriage is anything you want it to be. Our Lord teaches that life begins at conception in the womb. Some groups teach that abortion is an acceptable choice for a woman to exert over a lifeless tissue. Our Lord teaches that Baptism is a blessed flood washing away sin. Some groups teach that Baptism is merely an outward sign and of little significance.
By nature we also would like to take control of the vineyard ourselves. It is our chief sin every day. Both pastors and hearers are constantly tempted to add things to or subtract things from God’s care of the vineyard. Instead of earnestly seeking after God’s message, conforming our lives to God’s Word, and rejoicing in the rich blessings of forgiveness, life, and salvation freely given, we would rather try to micromanage the vineyard ourselves, through our own teaching, of what seems best to our liking right here and now.
Yet God does not give up on His vineyard. He sends His Son. The Son, the heir, has the full authority of the Father. So, the Son will be respected as the very person and authority of the Father. But they threw out the beloved Son from the vineyard and killed Him. The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them. Through the betrayal of Judas and the trial before the governor, they caught him and killed him.
But this death was not in vain. It was through this death that the Father reconciled the vineyard to Himself. God made things right by sending His Son to offer up Himself for the people’s sins. The Father destroyed those tenants and gave the vineyard to others. Jesus became the cornerstone, the stone the Jews rejected. They stumbled on this stone and fell. While the Old Testament was made up of believing Jews, God’s promises to His Old Testament people were twisted into a different, false religion over time. This Jewish religion is crushed to pieces by the cornerstone, destroying it as the owner of the vineyard destroyed those wicked tenants. The vineyard of His kingdom was given to others – to the Gentiles, to us, who through the preaching of the Gospel were brought with the believing Jews into the vineyard of the kingdom of God.
“I will send my beloved Son,” the Father said. In the church year, March 25 has long been honored as an important festival in the life of Our Lord. Today is nine months before Christmas. After the church set December 25 as the commemoration of the Nativity of Our Lord, counting backward nine months to today set the date for the conception of Jesus. This date is known as the Annunciation, the day when we commemorate the Word of God through the angel Gabriel bringing about the conception of God in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
This is how the Father sends His beloved Son. This is how God comes to His people. This is how the Father will save His vineyard, His kingdom. From the very conception of Jesus in the womb of the Virgin, indeed from the very promise in the Garden of Eden, God planned to save His people by becoming one of them. The celebration of the conception of Jesus as a little baby today, alive in the womb, causes us to remember with great thanksgiving His true human nature for our salvation. “I will send my beloved son.” What a miraculous plan the Father had to come to His people as one of them! God has done a new thing as He comes to us through Jesus, true God in the flesh!
It is through Christ that the vineyard is made perfect and produces the God-pleasing fruits of the Spirit. I am the vine, you are the branches, Jesus says. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Even though the vineyard described by Isaiah was made perfectly by the creator, it didn’t bear the right fruit. Christ describes Himself as the vine. As we are connected to Him in our Baptism and abide in Him through our reception of Absolution and the Holy Supper, in faith we bring forth good fruit. This happens not because of our tireless efforts for Him, but because of His life and His love abiding in us. Abiding in Christ, we long for the Word made flesh, to hear His Word spoken through His messengers, and to conform our lives to His good and gracious will.
It’s fitting that Our Lord speaks of a vineyard as His kingdom. The point of a vineyard is to make wine. And wine is the means Our Lord promised to be present with His people in the church as He joined His blood with wine at the Last Supper – to bring the fruit of the cross to us today. He abides in us, bringing Himself to us through the bread that is His true body and the wine that is His true blood.
Flesh and blood: the Father sent His own Son to the vineyard. Flesh and blood: Our Father sent His own Son to His people in the womb of the Virgin. Flesh and blood: The Son poured out His blood on the cross for the forgiveness of His people. Flesh and blood: Our Lord comes to His people today at the Altar. Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Vicar Gary Schultz
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Then the owner of the vineyard said, “ I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.” But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, “This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.” And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
A beautiful vineyard, a very fertile hill, cleared of stones, carefully watered, planted with choicest vines, a prominent watchtower in the middle, with the finest machinery standing ready for producing the best wine. Everything was perfectly planned and prepared. Now it is ready. You can just picture this perfect vineyard, prepared by the master for his people.
This is the picture our Lord gives us of His kingdom through the prophet Isaiah. The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel (Is 5:7a). Yet although the Lord’s vineyard was perfect, He still laments that His people did not walk in His ways. He looked for fine grapes, and it yielded only wild grapes. He looked for justice, but only found bloodshed.
Since the vineyard is a picture of God’s kingdom, it’s no surprise that Christ uses it in this parable just days before He would be killed. Our Lord uses this parable to teach about His kingdom and how it is related to His upcoming death. This parable shows us the infinite love of Our Lord who keeps sending His servants, His prophets, to His people. One by one the messengers are sent, but the people do not respect or honor them; rather, they treat them badly and throw them out.
The Lord sent prophets to deliver his message, but the people had no interest or concern. Some things never change. As in centuries past, today in some countries missionaries are persecuted or killed for bringing God’s message of forgiveness through Christ. In some areas of the world, faithful pastors are threatened with imprisonment for preaching against homosexuality. In our own country, there are religious groups that slaughter the message of Our Lord sent through His prophets, apostles, and pastors. Our Lord teaches that marriage is a blessed union between a man and a woman, giving an example of Christ and His church. Some groups teach that marriage is anything you want it to be. Our Lord teaches that life begins at conception in the womb. Some groups teach that abortion is an acceptable choice for a woman to exert over a lifeless tissue. Our Lord teaches that Baptism is a blessed flood washing away sin. Some groups teach that Baptism is merely an outward sign and of little significance.
By nature we also would like to take control of the vineyard ourselves. It is our chief sin every day. Both pastors and hearers are constantly tempted to add things to or subtract things from God’s care of the vineyard. Instead of earnestly seeking after God’s message, conforming our lives to God’s Word, and rejoicing in the rich blessings of forgiveness, life, and salvation freely given, we would rather try to micromanage the vineyard ourselves, through our own teaching, of what seems best to our liking right here and now.
Yet God does not give up on His vineyard. He sends His Son. The Son, the heir, has the full authority of the Father. So, the Son will be respected as the very person and authority of the Father. But they threw out the beloved Son from the vineyard and killed Him. The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them. Through the betrayal of Judas and the trial before the governor, they caught him and killed him.
But this death was not in vain. It was through this death that the Father reconciled the vineyard to Himself. God made things right by sending His Son to offer up Himself for the people’s sins. The Father destroyed those tenants and gave the vineyard to others. Jesus became the cornerstone, the stone the Jews rejected. They stumbled on this stone and fell. While the Old Testament was made up of believing Jews, God’s promises to His Old Testament people were twisted into a different, false religion over time. This Jewish religion is crushed to pieces by the cornerstone, destroying it as the owner of the vineyard destroyed those wicked tenants. The vineyard of His kingdom was given to others – to the Gentiles, to us, who through the preaching of the Gospel were brought with the believing Jews into the vineyard of the kingdom of God.
“I will send my beloved Son,” the Father said. In the church year, March 25 has long been honored as an important festival in the life of Our Lord. Today is nine months before Christmas. After the church set December 25 as the commemoration of the Nativity of Our Lord, counting backward nine months to today set the date for the conception of Jesus. This date is known as the Annunciation, the day when we commemorate the Word of God through the angel Gabriel bringing about the conception of God in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
This is how the Father sends His beloved Son. This is how God comes to His people. This is how the Father will save His vineyard, His kingdom. From the very conception of Jesus in the womb of the Virgin, indeed from the very promise in the Garden of Eden, God planned to save His people by becoming one of them. The celebration of the conception of Jesus as a little baby today, alive in the womb, causes us to remember with great thanksgiving His true human nature for our salvation. “I will send my beloved son.” What a miraculous plan the Father had to come to His people as one of them! God has done a new thing as He comes to us through Jesus, true God in the flesh!
It is through Christ that the vineyard is made perfect and produces the God-pleasing fruits of the Spirit. I am the vine, you are the branches, Jesus says. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Even though the vineyard described by Isaiah was made perfectly by the creator, it didn’t bear the right fruit. Christ describes Himself as the vine. As we are connected to Him in our Baptism and abide in Him through our reception of Absolution and the Holy Supper, in faith we bring forth good fruit. This happens not because of our tireless efforts for Him, but because of His life and His love abiding in us. Abiding in Christ, we long for the Word made flesh, to hear His Word spoken through His messengers, and to conform our lives to His good and gracious will.
It’s fitting that Our Lord speaks of a vineyard as His kingdom. The point of a vineyard is to make wine. And wine is the means Our Lord promised to be present with His people in the church as He joined His blood with wine at the Last Supper – to bring the fruit of the cross to us today. He abides in us, bringing Himself to us through the bread that is His true body and the wine that is His true blood.
Flesh and blood: the Father sent His own Son to the vineyard. Flesh and blood: Our Father sent His own Son to His people in the womb of the Virgin. Flesh and blood: The Son poured out His blood on the cross for the forgiveness of His people. Flesh and blood: Our Lord comes to His people today at the Altar. Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
posted by Luther Memorial Chapel at
4/02/2007
