Changing of the guard
The Parables of Jesus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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This morning we are going to see a pivotal moment in human history told through a parable that Jesus told in the week leading up to his crucifixion
A Regime change of sorts:
Regime Change - One form of government replaces another.
Internal: 1917 Russian revolution.
Foreign-imposed: 1978 Democratic Republic of Afghanistan came to power backed by the Soviet Union.
The US through the CIA began backing jihadi guerrillas known as the Afghan mujahideen to fight against their government. Guess who some the mujahideen became! Al-Qaeda.
Regime Promotion: The replacement of Secular leaderships in the Middle East with Islamist leadership.
What we will see this morning are elements of all three types of regime changes.
Like all parables Jesus told, there was a purpose and circumstance for telling the parable. So lets look at that first.
The Parable of the Vine-Growers
The Parable of the Vine-Growers
Found in all three gospels. It is the same account with subtle variation.
Jesus may have told the same parable several different times and not told it the exact same way.
Different recorders of the story pick up on different aspects of the parable.
Timeline
Timeline
Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem
Cleansing of the Temple
1 On one of the days while He was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders confronted Him,
2 and they spoke, saying to Him, “Tell us by what authority You are doing these things, or who is the one who gave You this authority?”
3 Jesus answered and said to them, “I will also ask you a question, and you tell Me:
4 “Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?”
5 They reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’
6 “But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.”
7 So they answered that they did not know where it came from.
8 And Jesus said to them, “Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Jesus wasn’t asking their opinion: He was asking for their official stance.
Chief Priests, Scribes, and Elders.
Executive, Legislative, Judicial
They represented GOD, and the religious leadership of the Jews.
“We don’t know?”
9 And He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to vine-growers, and went on a journey for a long time.
This is a parable, but would have been a familiar theme. The people would have known or heard of landowners renting out their land for a portion of the proceeds.
10 “At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, so that they would give him some of the produce of the vineyard; but the vine-growers beat him and sent him away empty-handed.
The landowner sent a his representative to collect rent.
“We’re not paying.”
The land owner at this point would have every right to bring them to justice, but that’s not where the story leads.
11 “And he proceeded to send another slave; and they beat him also and treated him shamefully and sent him away empty-handed.
12 “And he proceeded to send a third; and this one also they wounded and cast out.
The patience of the landowner would have caught the attentions of Jesus’ listeners, as it should our own.
Who among us would be so patient?
13 “The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’
Jesus isn’t implying that the landlord is naive , but hopeful.
14 “But when the vine-growers saw him, they reasoned with one another, saying, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.’
Maybe the landlord will not come back, or has died.
Jesus tells what happens in the story and then asks a question of his audience.
15 “So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to them?
I love that in Matthews’ telling of this parable, he highlight the people that are engrossed by the story. They are invested!
41 They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”
In Lukes’ telling, Jesus answers the question, but the hearers response is quite different.
Luke highlights the response of those that are starting to understand the parable.
God is the Landlord
The prophets were the slaves
Israel, God’s chosen people, are the vine-growers
and Jesus is the Son.
So, when Jesus answers his own question of what will the owner do.
16 “He will come and destroy these vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others.” When they heard it, they said, “May it never be!”
May is never be! That is a familiar phrase used by Paul, but it one used here outside of Paul’s writings. They are saying, “God forbid it!”
It carries the idea that they are proclaiming the outrage and horror at the idea of being replaced in God’s redemptive plan for this world.
17 But Jesus looked at them and said, “What then is this that is written:
‘The stone which the builders rejected,
This became the chief corner stone’?
In Matthew 16 Jesus asks Peter who the people said He was.
14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
Jesus then asks Peter, But who do you say that I am?
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
Rock the cornerstone the Person of Jesus.
It is the most important question anyone of us can answer. Who do you say Jesus is?
Jesus concludes this parable by narrowing the focus from the general to the specific. From the big picture to the focused point. From the group to the individual.
18 “Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”