Grace and peace to you from God our Father the Lord Jesus Christ (Php 1:2). Amen.
If you planted a garden in spring and there are still potatoes in the ground right now, you might want to dig them up soon. If that is the case, it might fit under the category of “procrastination” rather than “patience.” Not to mention, we are not going to have many more 70 degree weeks in October. And even less in November and December. You may have to use the shovel to remove the snow before the produce.
But God is patient. We stand in awe of that as Jesus relates a pointed parable about it. Marvel at God’s patience in dispatching his Son and in delivering his salvation. We read from …
Matthew 21:33-43
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus, the solid and sure foundation of our faith,
Patience is the problem for me when it comes to gardening. (My lack of love for that hobby has been well documented.) It takes too long to put a brown russet in the soil before it becomes a French fry on my plate. I would rather order off the dollar menu and move on. The only delay that I tolerate is the time in the fryer. I can be patient for that.
For God, patience is not an issue. Jesus takes us to a vineyard, not a potato farm, to demonstrate that. And as we gaze at it, we are glad about it.
Marvel at God’s Patience
1. In dispatching his Son (33-40)
2. In delivering his salvation (41-43)
1. In dispatching his Son (33-40)
It sounds official, doesn’t it? To dispatch. I suppose because it is. Think of a 911 operator who directs a police car to the scene of an accident or a fire truck to the site of a fire. Those individuals don’t go on their own. God did that with Jesus. Marvel at God’s patience in dispatching his Son.
It is Tuesday of Holy Week. By Friday Jesus will be hung on a cross. So Jesus’ teaching becomes more and more emphatic because the time is shorter and shorter. Maybe it is like a college professor who drills some facts because a test is quickly approaching. Jesus is the master teacher. “Listen to another parable” (Mt 21:33). His enemies are gathered around him, trying to trick him and trap him, so that they could use something against him. But Jesus has something for them—a parable, an illustration to instruct. He takes a familiar situation to communicate a spiritual truth.
We don’t live near Napa Valley or wine country. (Our hearts and prayers go out to the people there affected by the raging flames.) But we get the picture as Jesus paints it. “There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower” (Mt 21:33). This was no small task. It was back-breaking work to stick the shoots in the earth and hew out of stone where the grapes would be stomped and the juice collected. There was a wall around it to keep animals out and a watchtower to make sure no one helped himself to the grapes. That didn’t happen overnight. He spared no effort or expense. Perhaps Jesus had Isaiah’s words in mind when he preached. The answer to the question is obvious: “What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it?” (Is 5:4). Nothing. Not one thing.
The landowner is God the Father. The vineyard is his people. Out of grace, he chose Israel to be his own, the nation from which the Savior would come. He provided for them. He protected them. He showed his concern and showered his care on them throughout their history—bringing them out of Egypt, restoring the Promised Land to them, keeping them safe and separate from others.
We certainly have experienced that in our lives. God has brought us to faith with some water on our forehead or some words on a page. He has not stopped bolstering that trust to this very day. Marvel at that.
Jesus continued: “Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey” (Mt 21:33). The man entrusted his farm to some tenants. They would tend to the vines and hand over a portion of the crops each year for rent. That is the way it works with every shop or store in the Mall of America—not grapes, but money. God had entrusted religious leaders to watch over the spiritual welfare of the people like pastors today.
So it was not unreasonable to read: “When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit” (Mt 21:34). So far so good.
But not for long. “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third” (Mt 21:35). But the landlord remained patient. “Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way” (Mt 21:36). The numbers didn’t translate into success. So it was in history. Prophet after prophet—Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, John the Baptist—all faithful men who met defiance, if not death (Lk 13:34; Acts 7:52; He 11:35-38). All of them God patiently sent with his authority to get individuals to realize their constant sin and rely on the coming Messiah.
That is when the parable takes a strange turn or twist. “Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said” (Mt 21:37). It is mindboggling, if not mind-blowing. Who would do that? God would. God did. This is the One about whom he declared: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17). But God gave his one and only Son because he loved the world (Jn 3:16).
It didn’t go well. Instead it got ugly. “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.’” (Mt 21:38). It is hard to understand that logic. “So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him” (Mt 21:39).
Can you see it? Jesus knew what they were thinking and planning. They wanted to capture him and kill him. It was the high priest, Caiaphas, who counseled the Sanhedrin earlier: “It is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish” (Jn 11:50). That would go down in three days when they would make sure that Jesus was nailed to the cross outside of the city of Jerusalem with their shouts of “Crucify him! Crucify him!” (Lk 23:31; He 13:12).
But that is why the Father dispatched his Son. To bear our sin. And he did. That was God’s plan. To be our Substitute. And he was. That was Jesus’ purpose.
But it is worthwhile to pause to consider how we are receiving God’s messengers—from parents to pastors, from friends to family. Do we turn our backs or do we take to heart? God patiently dispatches them so that we produce fruit. So that we look to Jesus, God’s Son, our Savior. Marvel at the patience of God in dispatching his Son for us.
2. In delivering his salvation (41-43)
The lights flash and sirens blare to get to offer help when there is a crash or water when there is a blaze. God dispatched Jesus for a reason. Marvel at God’s patience in delivering his salvation.
Jesus brings the parable home to his hearers. “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” (Mt 21:40). You don’t have to be a professional judge in a black gown to come to a decision. “‘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’” (Mt 21:41). They were right. It would end badly for them. He would destroy them. His patience would run short and run out. The Pharisees actually condemned themselves with their response.
But there is more—other tenants. Gentiles—like us—would stream into the church. (Not at the exclusion of the Jews.) Jesus directs them to Psalm 118: “Have you never read in the Scriptures [Of course they had. They even heard parts of that song chanted two days prior when Jesus rode into the holy city on a borrowed donkey: “O LORD, save us. [We are more familiar with “Hosanna.”] … Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD” (Ps 118:25,25).]: “ ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” (Mt 21:42). That takes us to the world of masonry. When a contractor puts up a wall, there is a testing process. He studies the bricks. He discards the ones he considers to be worthless. He uses the ones that pass. The chief priests, elders, and the Pharisees rejected Jesus as of no value.
But God has made him the capstone—the most important part that holds up an arch, without which it will fall. Jesus is that Stone (1 Pe 2:4), the head of the Church (Eph 4:15), the only sure One on whom the church builds. This is wonderful in our judgment. We are the ones that Jesus referenced: “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” (Mt 21:43). God rules in our hearts as we turn from our sin and turn to our Savior. Jesus has taken hold of us (Php 3:12). And with the apostle Paul, we strain toward the goal of heaven (Php 3:14). “Our citizenship is in heaven” (Php 3:20). One day Jesus will return for us to take us there when he “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Php 3:21). Marvel at God’s patience in delivering his salvation of us.
Maybe you have afternoon gardening to do. (I am hoping for some afternoon napping—better by far.) But working in a field or in a vineyard requires patience. More than I have. But God has more than I have. Marvel at God’s patience in dispatching his Son to us. He came for us. Marvel at God’s patience in delivering his salvation to us. He will come for us. Thank you, Father, for such incredible patience. Amen.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen (Php 4:23).
October 22, 2017
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