Kingdom Expectations

We are getting close to the end of this series about the kingdom of heaven as we see it through the lens of parables in the gospel of Matthew. Review is always good for reinforcement. We have been basing much of our understanding of these passages on our definition of a parable, which we have been repeating every week in this series. A parable is a story which conveys a kingdom idea and calls for a response. Every week we have worked through these stories to find those two features. What is the kingdom idea? And what is the response Jesus is calling forth?

a parable is a story which conveys a kingdom idea and calls for a response

Today is no different, except that it works in sequence. We have a longer passage than normal because there are three parables that Matthew places back-to-back which are all interrelated. They are somewhat similar; yet each story contains unique details which builds upon where the previous story left off.

these three parables come as a direct response to Jewish religious leaders who come to question the authority of Jesus

One detail that should be noted before we read these parables is an identification of the audience (because that comes in previous verses which we do not see in this passage). It is important to know that these three parables come as a direct response to Jewish religious leaders who come to question the authority of Jesus. All three of these stories we are reading are directed towards the Jewish people who thought themselves to be religiously correct.

Matthew 21:28–46 NIV

28 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ 29 “ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. 30 “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. 31 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him. 33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. 35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. 38 “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.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 “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.” 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “ ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? 43 “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. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

Matthew 22:1–14 NIV

1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. 4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ 5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless. 13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

divine lawsuit — indictment is laid out, sentence is declared, consequence is imposed

These stories in Matthew can very easily be understood as a divine lawsuit. Jesus is using these parables as a way of taking the religious leaders in Israel to court. Think for a moment about the way in which our judicial system works in this country. If an accusation of a crime is brought in our system of justice, it begins with an indictment. The indictment lays out the details of what crime the defendant is accused of committing. A trial takes place in which the evidence of the accused crime is presented. If the defendant is found guilty, then a sentence is declared. And then justice is achieved as the consequences of the crime are imposed and the sentence is carried out.

These three parables come together to form that courtroom scene in which an indictment is made, a sentence is declared, and a consequence is imposed. Follow through these three stories with me to see how that works. That will make it more obvious for us to then identify the kingdom idea being developed in this passage, and then see the response which Jesus is calling forth.

parable of the two sons — the indictment

The parable of the two sons shows us the indictment Jesus brings against the people of his day who thought they were religiously correct. In this story there is one son who outwardly expresses a rejection of his father’s request to go work in the vineyard. However, this son later goes out an actually does what the father desires. Then there is another son with whom the exact opposite happens. When the father makes the request for the second son to go work in the vineyard, the son outwardly expresses that he will be obedient. However, this son never actually goes out to do any of the work in the vineyard.

Jesus is accusing the Jewish leaders of outwardly claiming to be religiously correct, yet the actions of their lives do not comply with God’s expectations for his covenant people

being outwardly religiously correct does not = inward heart of faith which produces kingdom fruit

An indictment is brought forward in this lawsuit. Jesus is accusing the Jewish leaders of outwardly claiming to be religiously correct; they have all the right words and know all the right answers. And yet the actions of their lives do not comply with God’s expectations for his covenant people. Jesus ends this story with a reference to John the Baptist. That is a reference which follows from the story right before this parable in Matthew’s gospel. Jesus uses this reference to John the Baptist as an entry point for the indictment of God’s divine covenant lawsuit to be brought forward. God presents the accusation: you think being religiously correct is what makes you right, but the actions of your life do not align with what you say. Further, there are others who have been deemed as religiously unacceptable, but they are the ones whose actions align with the Father’s expectations.

parable of the tenants — the sentence

The next story carries the same theme forward, but adds into the courtroom scene something about the sentence that is declared against those found guilty of the indictment. In this story the owner of the vineyard is looking to collect the fruit of harvest from the tenants who have been working the land. But instead of sharing the fruit of the harvest, the tenants ignore, kick out, and even murder those sent by the owner of the vineyard—including his own son. This parable makes a pretty clear association between the heavenly Father sending prophets to Israel who are mistreated and killed. Jesus is also giving a prophetic declaration of his own story as the Son sent from the Father who will also be killed at the hands of the people whom God had entrusted with the covenant vineyard of his blessing.

the verdict — Jewish religious leaders is that they are guilty of rejecting their covenant relationship bond with God

All of that brings forward a restating of the indictment which we saw introduced in the last parable. But now a verdict and sentence is declared. It is somewhat ironic that Jesus allows the Pharisees to be the ones who declare their own sentence in verse 41.

Matthew 21:41 (NIV)

Matthew 21:41 NIV

41 “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.”

the sentence — the covenant kingdom (vineyard) is taken

Jesus follows up their answer with a quotation from Psalm 118 speaking about the building stone that was rejected by the builders and has become the cornerstone holding the entire building together. The verdict against the Jewish religious leaders is that they are guilty of rejecting their covenant relationship bond with God as evidenced by their rejection of the prophets and rejection of the Son. And now that the verdict is declared, the sentence is released exactly as the Pharisees interpreted it to be.

We’re getting closer now to a kingdom idea running through these parables (even though it may be a kingdom idea with which we are not entirely comfortable). I am going to leave that be for the moment so that we can move on to examine the last parable in this passage about the wedding banquet.

parable of the wedding banquet — the consequence

In the final parable there is a king who throws a party for a wedding. There are cultural assumptions in this story which the original audience would have understood, but we should be aware of as well. In the time when Jesus told this story, it would have been common for invitations for a large banquet like this to be sent out to the guests several months in advance. Someone noteworthy and important such as a king who sent invitations to attend such an extravagant banquet carried the implication that attendance was expected—maybe even considered mandatory.

rejection of the king’s invitation = rejection of the king’s rule

next invitation shows the invite is not based on merit

those who reject the rule of the king do not participate in the kingdom banquet

Maybe it seems a bit harsh that the king would respond to those who fail to show up by sending an army to destroy them. But that misses what really would have come across as harsh in this story. The unthinkable part of this story is that those who are invited not only fail to show up, but mistreat and kill the king’s messengers. Then the unusual action keeps going. Now the king sends out servants to gather anyone and everyone they can find—the bad as well as the good. In other words, the invitation of the king is very obviously not based on merit. It no longer matters who is seen as worthy to receive an invitation; everyone gets an invitation.

those who are not clothed in the righteousness of Christ do not participate in the kingdom banquet

There is one more scene before we get to the end of the story. It has something to do with party wardrobe. The king notices that there is one wedding party guest who is not wearing the appropriate wedding party outfit. There is an assumption tucked into the parable that goes without mentioning in Matthew’s telling of the story. Matthew assumes his readers would already know that the appropriate wedding clothing for attending the party would have been given out as a gift from the host. The king provided the wardrobe for the guests. It is not so much an offense to the king that there is someone inappropriately dressed at the party. The offense is that this guest refused to accept the gift of the king and dishonors the king by wearing his own clothes instead of being clothed in the outfit provided as a gift from the king.

there are people in these stories who are excluded from the kingdom—not because they were not invited, but because they failed to respond in a manner that is expected

Take it back to the courtroom scene. We have seen a story that lays out the indictment. We have seen a story that declares the verdict. And now we see a story that imposes the consequences. There are people in these stories who are excluded from the kingdom—not because they were not invited, but because they failed to respond in a manner that is expected.

kingdom idea — the kingdom of heaven can be taken away

There is a kingdom idea that weaves its way through all three of these parables, as well as a response which is called for by Jesus. The kingdom idea in these stories is a tough one, not because it is difficult to figure out but because it may be uncomfortable for us to accept. But it is Jesus the Son of God who tells these parables; it is a kingdom idea we need to accept no matter how difficult that may be. Here is what we see in these stories: the kingdom of heaven can be taken away. I wish that wasn’t a kingdom idea we had to deal with. In fact, this is the part of the sermon in which everything in me wants to jump right into the solution, the fix, the thing that makes everything okay.

we only know how good the good news is when we realize how bad the bad news is

But I don’t think we can do that (quite yet). Jesus stretches the lesson of this kingdom idea across three parables. I think Jesus means for us to sit for a few moments staring straight into the darkness that we see at the end of these stories. We shouldn’t be in too big a hurry to move on and get to the good news. Here’s the reason why; we only know how good the good news is when we realize how bad the bad news is. So, maybe you might want me to skip over right now to the part about God loving us and now it’s all okay because God loves us so much. I mean, after all, what’s not to love? Just look at us. We know all the right things about the Bible. We believe all the right things about faith. We do all the right things by going to church and giving an offering and praying to God and attending a Bible study group.

But this is exactly what the Pharisees and Jewish leaders were doing too. This is exactly the type of person from whom the kingdom is taken. We are those kinds of people too. We cannot skip over this kingdom idea because these parables are written to us; Jesus speaks these stories to us. I don’t want the kingdom taken from us. It is not being religiously correct which places us in the kingdom. Don’t misunderstand that—I am not saying we should strive to be religiously incorrect. All I am saying is that it does not appear from these stories that our understanding and embrace of being right is the key to being in the kingdom. If anything, that is what gets the kingdom taken away.

there is nothing you or I could do to live up to the expectations God has for his kingdom

the moment I think I’ve got the kingdom is the moment I lose it; the moment I realize I have been given the kingdom is the moment I gain it.

What is it God expects from us then? It sort of seems like there is nothing I can do that lives up to the expectations God has for his kingdom. And that’s exactly right. There is nothing you or I could do to live up to the expectations God has for his kingdom. I need to realize just how bad the bad news is in order for the kingdom to start making sense. I need to realize just how broken and undeserving I am in order for the kingdom to start bringing shape into my life. I need to know just how hopelessly lost in my own sin I am in order for kingdom hope to come in and take over. The moment I think I’ve got the kingdom is the moment I lose it. The moment I realize I have been given the kingdom is the moment I gain it.

the kingdom only comes to us through Jesus; the invitation only comes through Jesus; the clothing of righteousness only comes through Jesus

It comes to us through Jesus. There is no other way. Every single one of us should be knocked off our feet by the invitation of Jesus to participate in his kingdom. We should all be thinking, “what in the world, why would you ever pick me? I don’t deserve this!” Now you understand what it means to live in the kingdom. God the father says, “take off those dirty rags of sin you’re wearing; here, put on these clothes that belong to Jesus; they’re just the right size for you because Jesus made himself to be just your size and now his clothes of perfect righteousness fits you perfectly.” Because of Jesus you are now dressed appropriately to attend the kingdom banquet. Now you understand what it means to live in the kingdom.

my response — humble gratitude

God, how can I ever thank you enough for the priceless gift of this kingdom?

How should we respond to that? What does God expect from us? My response is one of complete gratitude. God, how can I ever thank you enough for the priceless gift of this kingdom? God, how can I ever express how grateful I am—not only for your invitation to participate in your kingdom—but also for doing everything I could never do and giving everything I could never give so that I could receive the gift of participating in your kingdom? Now you understand what it means to live in the kingdom. What does God expect from us? God only expects your humble gratitude.

a life of humble gratitude to God produces a result (byproduct)

But notice that Jesus gives us a clue in these stories that our humble gratitude produces a result. There is a byproduct that comes from a response of humble gratitude. Consider again what Jesus says to the Pharisees in verse 43.

Matthew 21:43 NIV

43 “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.

God produces spiritual fruit in my life when I accept the invitation of Jesus to live in humble gratitude as a kingdom participant

God produces spiritual fruit in my life when I accept the invitation of Jesus to live in humble gratitude as a kingdom participant. This is the spiritual fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These things are the fruit, the result, the byproduct. This is the kind of character that is produced in you by the Holy Spirit when you receive the gift of God’s kingdom given to you by God’s grace through Jesus. Wherever it is we see these kingdom fruits being produced, we see the kingdom. It is a kingdom that shows up right in your own backyard.