A People Producing Fruit
Matthew
21:33-46
If you want to
make people feel really uncomfortable, let them know, in a round-about way,
that you know something that they did wrong.
The worse the offense, the more uncomfortable they will feel. You confront them in such a way that you
don’t exactly come out and accuse them, you let them feel the heat as they draw
the conclusion that their little secret is out of the bag. That’s what Jesus did in the Gospel lesson
for today. Among the people listening to
Him in the temple area were the chief priests and elders of the people who were
challenging His authority. He responded
to them by telling them a parable that, in the end, confronted them with the
reality that they and their ancestors had been acting on their own human nature
and not obeying the will of God. As you
heard in the Gospel reading, Jesus told the parable about the master who
planted a vineyard and then leased the land to tenants who were then supposed
to take care of the grapes and hand over the fruit when it was harvested. In their greed, they killed the servants who
were sent by the master until finally the master sent his own son and the
wicked tenants killed the son. He
concluded by asking a question. “What
will he do to those tenants?”
The obvious answer was that the master would put those
wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who
will give him the fruits in their seasons.
This is where the religious leaders of the people began to feel the
heat. They began to realize that they
were the wicked tenants in the parable.
They were the ones who killed the servants, who were actually the
prophets who called people to repentance and obedience. They would be the ones who would take the
responsibility for the death of the Son in just a few days. They really felt the pressure of guilt when
Jesus came right out and said that the Kingdom would be taken away from them
and given to a people producing fruit.
Sadly, the
reaction of the religious leaders was not repentance for their sins. When they realized that this parable was
really a condemnation of their idea of what it meant to be religious and how
they were actually rejecting God’s mercy when they were rejecting Him as the
Messiah, their reaction was not one of humble submission to God’s grace and a
confession of their sins. It was
actually the opposite. They were so
entrenched in their ways that began to plot a way in which they could have
Jesus arrested. As they discussed their
intentions, they also realized that the people would not support them because
too many of them saw Jesus as a true prophet sent from God. They would have to wait for another
time. Later in the week, their plan
would come together when Judas conspired with them to arrest Jesus at night
when there wouldn’t be as many people around.
Isn’t it
interesting how people react when they find themselves caught in their
sin? Human nature and pride kick in and
instead of honestly acknowledging sin, the reaction is to fight back. We’ve got to stop this guy. He’s hitting too close to home. Things haven’t changed from the Biblical times. When the prophets of the Old Testament called
people to repentance, they were often abused and some were put to death. Even John the Baptist lost his life when he
confronted King Herod with his sin. Now
the Father in heaven has sent His own Son to confront sin and call people to
repentance and what was the response of the religious leaders of the
people? Let’s have him arrested. Let us find a way to silence this one who is
challenging the good thing we’ve got going here. It might not be exactly what God wants us to
be doing but sure has been profitable for us.
We’ve got to stop this guy.
People are just
the same today though. In our “feel
good” society, no one wants to hear about sin.
No one wants to be called to repentance because that means that I have
to admit that I have done something wrong.
“As I see it, I do everything the right way because it works for my
advantage and therefore it must be right.
Don’t try to tell me I have sinned!”
When that kind of attitude dominates your thinking, there is no room for
repentance. When there is no room for
repentance there is no need for a Savior.
If you see no reason for a Savior, you don’t see why Jesus had to come
into the world and it becomes irrelevant.
That should help you to see why so many people in our world today see no
use for the church. God is seen as an
on-call servant who is always ready to give you what you want to make your life
more comfortable and that’s about it.
That kind of thinking changes God’s place in the parable from the Master
to the servant. The natural progression
of that kind of thinking then is that if God doesn’t give me what I want then
what good is He. God becomes irrelevant
and of course then the church becomes irrelevant. People who get caught up in this kind of
thinking start to drop out of the church and the result is that purely secular
thinking becomes the dominant philosophy in society.
What the world
needs to hear the most is what the world is trying to avoid. You need to hear the Law and feel your guilt
before you can feel the need for rescue from the punishment that you deserve
for your sin. It is only then that you
ready to hear the good news that God loves you even though you don’t deserve it
and He showed that love by sending His only Son to be your substitute. He lived the perfect life that you could not
live and then took your punishment to the cross and gave up His life. He then rose again from the dead to show His
victory over sin, death and the power of the devil. His victory is your victory.
God wants to give
the kingdom to a people who will produce fruit.
The kingdom was taken from those who were more concerned with building
their own kingdom than producing fruit for the kingdom of God kingdom of God kingdom of God
As faithful
fruit-bearers in God’s kingdom, it would make sense then to plant seeds. Many people are surprised when they realize
how many times each day you have an opportunity to plant a seed. A kind word, a simple reference to God’s
blessings, a cross placed in a highly visible spot in your home can all be a
way in which you can plant a seed. A
greeting card with an appropriate Bible verse can plant a seed. An unexpected kindness or gift can plant a
seed. Once seeds are planted, they need
to be nourished. An invitation to
worship, an invitation to an event with a Christian theme, like our Boar’s Head
Christmas Festival, can be a step toward nurturing the seedling that can then
grow into a plant. All along the way,
the Holy Spirit continues to work through the sharing of the Word and fruit
begins to grow. The important thing to
remember in this process is that fruit-bearing is for the kingdom of God
Fresh apples are
abundant at this time of the year.
Whenever you see one, remember that God has given you the privilege to
produce fruit for His Kingdom. Amen.
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