Summer Stories - Week 11: The Tenants (Luke 20:1-19)

0:01 Good afternoon, it's great to see you all here. This morning we are finally coming to the end of our summer season and our summer series based on Luke's gospel, going through the parables. We're going to look at the parable of the tenants in Luke chapter 20. So we're just going to get straight into it and see how we get on. One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the teachers of the law together with the elders came to him. Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? They said, who gave you this authority? He replied, I will also ask you a question.

0:45 Tell me, John's baptism, was it from heaven or of human origin? They discussed it among themselves and said, if we say from heaven, he will ask, why didn't you believe him? But if we say of human origin, all the people will stone us because they're persuaded that John was a prophet. So they answered, we don't know where it was from. Jesus said, neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. He went on to tell the people this parable. A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so that they could give him some of the fruit of the vineyard.

1:36 But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty handed. He sent another servant, but that one they also beat and treated shamefully and sent him away empty handed. He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, what shall I do? I will send my son whom I love. Perhaps they will respect him. But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. This is the error, they said.

2:10 Let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. When the people heard this, they said, God forbid. Jesus looked directly at them and asked, then what is the meaning of that which is written? The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces and anyone whom it falls will be crushed.

2:49 The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately because they knew he had spoken this parable against them, but they were afraid of the people. That's an interesting one. I wonder if you've ever been in a situation where someone has asked, who do you think you are? Or maybe, what gives you the right to say that? That's exactly what's happening in today's passage. The religious leaders looked at Jesus and said, by what authority are you doing these things? And what they were really asking is, who put you in charge? And that's a question for all of us to eventually answer in our own lives.

3:37 Who's really in charge? Me or God? You see, authority is an interesting concept and it reveals itself in lots of different contexts. You could have things like what we would call institutional authority, such as like a judge who issues a court ruling with the authority of the legal system and the courts behind him, or a police officer who has authority directing traffic, doing road stops with the authority of law enforcement, or maybe even a school principal who's enforcing rules and ensuring curricular is taught with the authority of the education authority. And then we could think of things like expert authority based on specialized knowledge, like a consultant in the hospital who reviews scans and looks at prognosis and recommends treatment. Or more and more today, software engineers working in AI projects who have extensive knowledge of their field. Or maybe a family solicitor who understands the family law, drawing up wills, power of attorneys, all of those sort of things. And then we have moral authority, which is kind of based around someone's character, their wisdom, their trustworthiness.

4:56 I'm sure many of us can talk about teachers that influenced us, that we respected in school, that just had a way of communicating information to us, that we responded positively to, or respected elders that lead with integrity and wisdom and plurality, with fairness and a servant heart. And then we have things like relational authority, which is really earned around trust and relationship and example. And you can see that with grandparents and parents and relatives and even older siblings whose authority is rooted in care and love, wise counsel and example, or even in the kind of sports life, you know, the team captain who has authority and is respected by the team that's inspiring them to reach their potential and keeping the whole thing together. Well, this parable is really a parable based around a challenge to Jesus' authority. The leaders, the religious leaders of that day, really their institutional authority in a way is what Jesus is challenging. But we kind of need to understand the context of this. We kind of need to understand what's been going on, what's led up to this conversation between Jesus and the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders. In the parable, what we get is an insight into where Jesus is basically drawing a line in the sand and saying, this is what's happening here.

6:24 You guys are challenging me in my authority, and I'm going to expose that in front of the crowd. because the religious leaders were wanting to know what authority lay behind Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem and all the crowds came and cheered him. By what authority had he thrown out the merchants and the money changers from the temple courts? By what authority did he have the right to teach God's word and the way he spoke to people? And the conversation I suppose you could talk about was more of a moment of confrontation in which the religious leaders of the day were trying to trap Jesus into answering their question in a way that would give them the opportunity to undermine his authority and to falsely accuse him, arrest him and silence him because they didn't want to recognize what he was saying and the impact it was having and the people who were starting to listen and follow him. But Jesus being Jesus was well aware of their scheme and answered their question with one of their own. Don't know about you, but it gets under my skin sometimes when you ask someone a question and they ask you a question back. You're like, can you not just answer my question?

7:37 But Jesus has a good question he asks because he says, tell me, John's baptism, was it from heaven or of human origin? And this created a real conundrum for them. It was kind of like one of those checkmate questions. You know the answer, but you don't want to give the answer. So Jesus is waiting to see what they'll say. Because they knew if they said his authority was from heaven, what they're actually admitting is that John was right, that he was sent by God. And when he declares that Jesus was the Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, that statement would have been true. And it would have validated Jesus' own authority as the Messiah, the chosen one.

8:26 The very authority they're trying to undermine and challenge. However, if they say, well, the authority was of human origin, the people would get really upset because they saw John as a prophet. And prophets weren't just teachers and wise people and advisors. They were seen and understood to be messengers of God. So criticizing a prophet wasn't just about questioning some human figure. It was understood to be challenging God's authority, God's word. And in those days, that was punishable by death. And we read about they were fearful that they would be stoned.

9:03 And so you can see the conundrum. It really exposed the heart of the religious leaders. Because their concern was not about unearthing the truth of who Jesus was. They were wanting to undermine him. They were wanting to expose him as being a false prophet in a sense. As being untrustworthy. Because they feared this sense of the loss of faith, the loss of control, the loss of influence. And they didn't want to be exposed by Jesus' question.

9:34 So they give a non-answer. We don't know where it came from. That's the easy way out, isn't it? just sit in the middle but what we know from earlier in Luke's gospel back in chapter 7 when we were reading it it says all the people even the tax collectors when they heard Jesus' words acknowledged that God was right because they had been baptized by John but the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God's purposes for themselves because they had not been baptized by John basically the leaders questioning Jesus' authority had already refused to accept John's baptism. So you kind of know what the answer should have been, but wasn't. And this is really a key moment in this parable because it shows that Jesus' authority did come from God, not from human institutions, and exposed the religious leaders of the day as being unwilling to be truthful when their own power, their own authority, their own influence was under threat. You could say it's a classic example of moral authority confronting institutional authority and how people who hunger for power turn a blind eye to truth and will do anything they can to try to maintain their own power and influence.

10:54 So Jesus, being the wise one that he is, plays them at their own game and replies, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. and it's into this context, this standoff that Jesus tells the parable of the tenants. So try to imagine the same. So we get hard for us because we kind of have read these stories, we know these stories, we kind of understand things with a lot of hindsight as we're able to read scripture. But the crowd that are listening don't know what's going to happen. They've been following Jesus, they've been watching Jesus and this interaction with the religious leaders and there's a real sense of tension developing in the air. And they're just waiting with bated breath. What's going to happen?

11:40 What's Jesus going to say? So he tells the parable. It's a picture of an absentee landlord who owns a vineyard. And it's very understandable imagery for the listeners in the crowd. For us, we maybe don't understand it quite the same when we talk about the vineyard. But for them, they immediately would have understood that the vineyard was representative of Israel, God's people, God's chosen people who were expected to bear fruit and make a difference in the world. And if we go into the Old Testament way through, we see this imagery being constantly referred to Psalm 80, Isaiah 5, Jeremiah 2, Ezekiel 15, Hosea 10. We don't have time to go to all those and read them.

12:21 But you'll see that it clearly reveals that the picture of the vineyard is referring to the people of Israel. If we pop into one of them in Isaiah 5, it's known as the famous song of the vineyard. We read how God plants Israel like a vineyard, tends it carefully. But the problem is it's only yielding bad fruit. So you've got this vineyard that's yielding bad fruit instead of good fruit. And because the crowd understands this and the symbolism and the imagery, Jesus has got their attention. He's hooked them.

12:53 Anyway, what's he saying? But the difference here was instead of talking about a failing harvest and bad fruit, what Jesus is talking about is failed tenants of the vineyard. In other words, the failed religious leaders of Israel. He's challenging their authority as he speaks. So in this parable, for the sake of time and clarity, the man represents God the Father, the vineyard represents Israel, the tenants represent the religious leaders, The servants represent the prophets or God's messengers that he had sent time and time again. The son represents Jesus. And so we can all see how this is going to play out. We can see where this is going.

13:37 We know the history. We know the story. But the crowd listening don't. They're just waiting, listening, wondering what's going to happen. And so as the parable goes, the man rents the vineyard to some farmer and leaves them to look after it for a long time on his behalf. clearly referring to how God establishes Israel as his vineyard, put religious leaders in charge, but didn't show up, didn't show his presence for a long time. And the longer the man was gone, the more distant, the more remote, the more irrelevant he became to them, and the more they gained influence, control, and power over the vineyard and took what it was producing for their own benefit. So when the harvest comes around, and the man sends his servants to get some of the fruit of the vineyard, which would have been common practice in that day, rather than giving the servants what the landlord deserves, they beat the servant up and send him packing with nothing.

14:39 Now, if you're in that crowd listening to this conversation, you would immediately be thinking, hang on a minute. That's not right. That's not fair. What on earth is happening here? How is the landlord going to respond to one of his servants being beaten up? And to their amazement, Jesus says, the landlord sends another servant. And the same thing happens. And then a third.

15:06 And if we read Matthew and Mark's account of this parable, they write about numerous servants being sent, more than just the three that we're reading in this parable, all of whom are rejected. And you can imagine the response of the crowd. You can almost feel that sense of injustice building up as each servant is beaten and sent packing with no harvest. They would have been aghast, shocked, horrified at what was happening to each of the servants. But what this parable is reflecting for us is how religious leaders of Israel consistently rejected and mistreated God's prophets. highlighting a pattern of resistance to God's voice that ultimately ended in the rejection and death of God's son Jesus on the cross. But the climax to this parable is still to come and those listening are waiting with bated breath to hear what happens next. What is the landlord going to do?

16:04 Three servants are beaten and sent packing. The answer, it's not what you would expect. The man decides to send his own son. whom he loves, convinced that the tenants will treat him with respect. This is my son. Surely they'll listen to him. The image here is so dramatic. And the reason Jesus is telling this parable is starting to incense the crystallizing form in the mind of those who are listening.

16:31 Jesus is trying to help them understand that what has been happening to him and is now about to occur is being perpetrated by the religious leaders in the crowd listening. And he's directing his words at them. Because he knows what they're about to do. Let's pause for a moment though. And think about those words, my son whom I love. Sound familiar, don't they? What do they remind you of? The baptism of Jesus.

17:04 This is my son whom I love, listen to him. It's not just a matter of this is my son whom I love and I've sent. But it's also a reminder of God saying, listen to what my son has to say. I wonder if we're a bit like the religious leaders, not wanting to listen to what Jesus has to say because that impacts our lives too much. We want to be in control. We want to have the authority and the decision making in our lives. We don't want to be allowing someone else's words and authority to influence us. It's this question of authority again.

17:50 Who will we listen to? Do we listen to God's voice? Or are we like religious leaders resisting it when he speaks through his word to us? When we go and listen to podcasts or to teachings and come out here at different times sit and talk in our smaller groups. When we hear God speak, do we listen? Well, the crowd are listening as Jesus speaks this parable. That's for sure. And what happens next is just incredible.

18:22 It's unbelievable. As we say, you couldn't write the script. Because the tenants saw the son coming and they discussed what to do. And what's their decision? They decide to kill him. Premeditated murder. Their assumption likely was that the father probably had died, the son was now the heir, and if they were to kill the heir, they wouldn't hurt the vineyard and keep it under their control for the future. You see, Jesus is really exposing the religious leaders of Israel and saying that these men will go as far as murder to maintain their authority and influence.

19:04 And of course, not long after this, we read that Jesus is taken, betrayed, judged, found guilty. The crowd shouting, crucify, crucify him. And he's murdered on a cross. And yet, despite all of this, I wonder as we think about this parable, can we see the heart of God coming through? He persists, he persists, he persists throughout history. He has sent his messengers. and we can see that and understand that we read the Old Testament the prophets coming God speaking through his prophets some people responding lots of people not responding religious leaders trying to protect their authority we understand all of that that's going on but I wonder if we try to apply that into our lives how often does God bring someone across our path a voice to challenge us to speak into our lives maybe you're here and you don't have faith you don't know what it means to have a relationship with Jesus and you're resistant to that maybe someone has spoke to you before and you've thought, makes sense but it's not for me or maybe you know the Lord,

20:19 you love the Lord but you're not in right relationship with him he's trying to speak to you constantly putting people in your pathway to draw you back towards him are you resistant to those conversations maybe even you there's stuff going on in your life you just need to lay it before the Lord and allow him to take that and to lead you and guide you through that but what we see here is this God's heart of compassion of long suffering how much he loves despite constant rejection he keeps coming back He keeps sending people. He keeps giving opportunity to respond to what he has to say. He persists and he persists and he persists, not willing that anyone should perish, but that everyone should come to faith through his son. That's God's heart for us. And so the question in this parable is asked, well, what's the owner of the vineyard going to do now that his son has been killed? And the answer, he will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to the others. And it starts to dawn on the crowd as they listened to Jesus what was being implied.

21:37 And they cannot imagine a world where the chief priests, the scribes, the elders, the spiritual leaders will be removed from their roles. That certain judgment was heading their way. And their immediate response to what they understood Jesus was saying was God forbid that this should happen. But Jesus doesn't leave it there. He wants to make it really clear to them, the religious leaders, but also to the crowd, the danger of rejecting God's authority and in essence rejecting him as God's much-loved son. And so he quotes from Psalm 118, which the crowd had been shouting as he arrived in Jerusalem, not long before this, we read about that. Hosanna, Hosanna, or blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. But now Jesus speaks from a little earlier in that psalm, where it says the stone the builders have rejected has become the cornerstone.

22:34 The builders here are not the stonemasons that built the temples and done all the work, but rather the religious leaders of Israel. And Jesus is the stone rejected by them. But God lifts him up as the chief cornerstone, the foundation of what he's building, the spiritual house, his church. We don't really have time to go into what a cornerstone is, and you could talk about a cornerstone, oh, for 20 minutes, half an hour, no problem, and give you all the insight into that. But suffice to say, a cornerstone provides a stable point of reference within a structure for all other stones to be lined up against, ensuring that the entire building is set out correctly and remains its structural integrity. And it was Jesus, when he was talking, who was able to say, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Powerful words. He is the one that's building.

23:30 He is the cornerstone, and he's building the church, putting the other stones. He's able to do that because all authority in heaven and earth has been given to him, which is why he told us disciples to go out, proclaim the good news, baptizing people, teaching them all things. It's why he says to disciples, do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, but believe in me. Believe in me, the son whom God loves. You see, believing in Jesus is recognizing he was sent with all the authority of God. It's so important because it's only through Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life that we can really know God, the Father. And so this warning comes that to reject Jesus and his authority will bring certain judgment.

24:25 And there's kind of like a little two kinds of encounter with the stone with Jesus. There is the present encounter right now were those who fall on the stone, those who stumble over the stone, those who refuse to believe in Jesus and who he is, those who reject him and live their lives without coming to faith. That's what that is talking about. So many people stumble over the stone. They struggle to accept the importance of a cornerstone, of a firm foundation. They choose their own way. But then there's the future encounter. Anyone on whom it falls, the stone falls, will be crushed, which speaks of when Jesus returns and judges the world.

25:10 And everyone who has rejected him will be judged for their unbelief and in a sense be crushed and ruined. And so as we get to the end of this parable, we have a decision to make. And Jesus in many ways is just putting it out there. But like the religious leaders, neutrality towards Jesus is not an option. He's either our cornerstone and the one who becomes the firm foundation or he becomes the stone of stumbling, the one we resist and reject. And we can ask ourselves today, which one is he to us? It was obvious which one he was to the religious leaders because they just started to talk about, how do we get rid of this man? He's coming for us.

25:58 He's wanting to undermine our authority. He's wanting to expose us. We don't want to follow him. But what about us today? What decision do we make when it comes to Jesus? I think it's really helpful to remind yourselves of what Peter says in 1 Peter 2. As you come to him, the living stone rejected by humans, but chosen by God and precious to him, the one I love, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priest. This is what God wants for us.

26:39 He wants each one of us as a living stone to be built up together. That's why the church community is so important. How we engage with one another and treat one another is so important. And Jesus is called the living stone, singular and unique. And those of us who put our faith in him are called living stones, plural and many. And it's through our faith in him as we share in his resurrection life that we form part of God's spiritual temple, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells us. And church is made up of each individual living stone.

27:19 You see, God does not want to exert power and control and authority over us like the religious leaders were doing to the people of Israel. He wants to demonstrate how much he loves us, that despite our feelings, despite our sinfulness, he sends his son, he sends people, messenger after messenger after messenger, because he loves us and he wants to rescue us from our sin. And his son has paid the penalty required by a holy God. And his heart is that no one should perish. So he pursues and he pursues and he pursues. You see, Jesus' authority is all about helping to restore each of us into right relationship with God through him. Decision for us, do we submit to Jesus or go our own way? We don't get the fault on whether Jesus is God's son and what he says is true because it is.

28:14 What we do get is to make the decision to reject him or accept him, and that decision changes everything. So we're kind of back to where we started. Who's really in charge of our lives? Because it can't be both me and God. And today I think Jesus is saying, come follow me, trust me, recognize my authority, let me journey with you and lead you and guide you. I wonder if we're all willing to say yes. Yes, Lord, I'm willing to do that. I accept that all authority has been granted to you by the Father.

28:50 I trust you with all my heart. As the proverb says, I'm not going to lean on what I think is right, my understanding, but rather I'm going to choose to acknowledge you, to recognize you, to accept you in all that I do, and I'm going to believe that you will lead me in the right path, in the right way, as I trust you. I hope we can all say yes to that. Amen. Let's pray as the band come. Father, we thank you for this time this morning that we've had just to be together, to worship you, to hear about home groups and all of that, Lord. But more than anything, Lord, we thank you just for the opportunity to think about your word and what it has to say. We just pray that this summer series, as we've gone through the parable looks, will just continue to have an impact in each of our lives and that we will make wise choices.

29:45 And the choice we make is the desire to live lives worthy of being called your children. And for those of us who can't say we're a child of God, we pray, Lord, that you would soften our hearts, that we would stop resisting your authority and your desire to lead us and guide us, to offer us forgiveness, to offer us eternal life as a free gift. Lord, may we be willing to say, yes, Lord, Take me as I am and change me into one of your children. Make me one of those living stones that form part of the spiritual building that you're building in these days. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.