Reckless Patience

Matthew 21:33-43

Dear Friends in Christ,

Patience is a virtue. But what if someone takes advantage of your patience. When should your patience come to an end?

In the parable before us Jesus lets us see the reckless patience of the Landowner; how his patience lasted much longer than ours ever would, longer than seems reasonable. His patience cost him dearly- the loss of a number of servants, and then even his son. But as we are reminded that the Landowner represents God, and that we are the tenant farmers; when we are reminded of how unwilling we are to give God the good fruit that is due him, we are grateful for his reckless patience. We give thanks that God used the death of his one and only son to win forgiveness for our impatience, our greed, our ingratitude, our failure to produce good fruit; for all our sins and the sins of the whole world; for those who severely test his patience every day.

A beautiful vineyard—that’s the image God often uses to picture his church and all that he has done for it. In fact, we might say that the first time God gives us this picture it wasn’t an illustration. It was real, the Garden of Eden. When God had created everything and when everything was just right, perfect, he created the first church. He created Adam and Eve, beings with eternal souls, beings with whom he communicated as he walked in the garden with them. Truly, what more could have been done for Adam and Eve! Everything they needed was provided for them. Everything was perfect. But how did they respond? They despised God and his word. They listened to the devil instead of listening to God and they were expelled from the vineyard, God’s paradise. Yet, God showed great patience in that, instead of destroying them, he promised them that he would send them a Savior.

Isaiah picks up the picture of the vineyard and applies it to his day. He points out that God had planted another vineyard. It was Israel. He had chosen them to be his people. He brought them out of slavery in Egypt to a land flowing with milk and honey. He gave them his written word so that they would clearly understand his will. He gave them a temple where he revealed his presence with them, and a form of worship which served as a constant reminder of how he would provide salvation, by substitution, through the blood of a lamb. He gave them victory after victory over their enemies and protected them from nations that were larger and more powerful than they were. What more could have been done for Israel? God showered them with physical and spiritual blessing upon blessing. But, like Adam and Eve, they despised God and his word. They worshipped idols. They ignored his commands so that when God looked for justice, he saw bloodshed; for righteousness, he heard cries of distress.

In reckless patience he sent servant after servant, prophet after prophet, to call them to repentance. They didn’t listen. Eventually God’s patience wore thin. He used Assyria to expel the northern kingdom of Israel from his vineyard never to return as a nation, the 10 lost tribes. A hundred or so years later the southern kingdom of Judah was also expelled from the Promised Land. They were taken to Babylon for 70 years, but in his great patience, because of his promises, they were allowed to return and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.

Now, about 400 years later, Jesus gives the parable of the vineyard another update, applying it to the church of his day. Again, he pictures how he has blessed his people, the church. It’s protected from enemies and wild animals by a wall. The wine press is right there in the vineyard, and it has a watchtower so that watchmen can be posted and warn of danger. Everything is provided. What more could he have done? All he asks of those who have the privilege of working in the vineyard is that they provide him with some of the fruit.

The Apostle Paul puts these pictures in concrete form for us. He says of Israel, theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ who is God over all, forever praised. What more could God have done for his vineyard?

How did they respond? When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. `They will respect my son,' he said. 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.' So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

The servants sent to receive the fruit are God’s prophets. Scripture records how many of these prophets were treated by those who God had chosen as his people and planted in his vineyard. Take Jeremiah for example. When he brought a message from God, the King cut it up and threw it in the fire. On other occasions he was beaten, starved, imprisoned and thrown into a cistern. Queen Jezebel had killed many of God’s prophets and, after the showdown at Mt. Carmel, she sent word to Elijah that she intended to kill him too. Stephen laid it out very clearly to those who were about to stone him to death, "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him-- you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."

The Son in the Parable is Jesus. He is the Righteous One, the promised Messiah they claimed to be waiting for. But when the children sang his praises as he entered Jerusalem, those to whom Jesus was speaking this parable wanted them silenced. As Jesus had just illustrated with the parable of the two sons that we heard last week, they had refused to listen to John the Baptist. And now they were plotting against Jesus. In just a few days they would seize him and throw him out of the vineyard, outside the wall of Jerusalem, and have him crucified on a hill called Golgotha. They would do this because they thought that by doing so they would get to keep the vineyard for themselves. They thought that they would keep their power and their positions. But the owner of the vineyard would not be patient with them forever. He would bring those wretches who ignored his word, mistreated his prophets, and executed his son; he would bring those wretches to a wretched end and give the vineyard to others who would produce its fruit.

In 70 AD, this part of the parable was fulfilled. God sent the Romans to totally destroy the city and bring it to a wretched end. And as Peter and Paul and Philip and others preached the good news about Jesus, the crucified and risen savior and many believed, the vineyard was given to others, to gentiles, to people like you and me.

Do you see how Jesus’ parable is updated for today? What more could he do for us than he has done? He has called us to faith in Jesus and put us to work in the vineyard of his church. He has provided us with tremendous blessings. The most important of these blessings is easy and constant access to his word and sacraments. He sends his servants, parents, pastors, teachers, Christian friends, to instruct us in the word, to point out our sins, and call us to repentance. He has brought us to see that, although the Jewish leaders, the builders, rejected Jesus and handed him over to Pilate for execution, God’s plans prevailed. God raised Jesus from the dead and has seated him at his right hand as prince and savior. He is the capstone, the one on whom we depend for forgiveness, life, and salvation. He has put us in a part of the vineyard where we have freedom of religion and where we don’t experience a lot of persecution. And in addition to these most important Spiritual blessings we have abundant physical blessings. What more could God do for us!

Now the question is how do we respond? Do we produce the fruit God is looking for and so rightly deserves, after all we are only tenants in his vineyard? Do we listen carefully to his word and strive every minute to put his word into practice in our lives? Do we live as children of light? Do we press on toward the goal of the high calling he has given us? Or is our mind on earthly things? Is our god our stomach? Do we let our sinful desires rule our lives? Do we live as enemies of the cross of Christ? When God sends someone to point out our sin, how do we respond? Do we get angry and wish evil on them, or do we produce fruit in keeping with repentance, do we confess our sins and trust in Jesus alone for forgiveness?

The parable of the vineyard is constantly being updated. Adam and Eve didn’t produce the fruit God was looking for and they were expelled from Paradise. Israel didn’t produce the fruit God was looking for and the vineyard was taken away from them and given to others. The early Christian church was strong in Turkey, Macedonia, and Greece, but it seems that the vineyard has been taken away from them. The church was strong in Europe for a while, but that’s no longer the case. So, what about us? Will we follow the pattern? How many in this vineyard give a high priority to worship and God’s word? We have to admit that God would have every right to throw us out of the vineyard and give it to others who will produce its fruit.

For now, our gracious God continues to be patient with us. He keeps sending his servants to receive fruit from us. He keeps sending us those who share his word and who call us to repentance. He keeps telling us, “although, because of your sins, you participated in killing my son, I raised him from the dead. Despite the opposition of Satan and the Jewish leaders, my will was carried out. Jesus is the capstone. He is the savior. He has paid for the times that you have despised my word and ignored my servants and failed to produce the fruit I desire. In Jesus your sins are forgiven. Trust him! Rejoice in your free forgiveness in Jesus! Look forward to his return in glory when he will take you to live in the perfect vineyard in heaven forever.”

What more could God, the owner of the vineyard, do for us? If he did not spare his own son, will he not graciously give us all things? Daily rejoice in all God has done for you, in his reckless patience with you. Rejoice especially in your forgiveness in Jesus. Then the updated parable will have a different ending. When the owner of the vineyard returns, he will say, well done, good and faithful servant. Instead of taking the vineyard from us and giving it to others, he will invite us to enjoy the blessings of his vineyard for all eternity.

The landowner displays what we might consider reckless patience. But although his patience is often abused by many, including us, we rejoice that because of his reckless patience we have a Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.