Lent 5C 2025

Text: “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” (Luke 20:15b-16)

Let us walk through the parable in the Gospel reading for a moment.

Jesus told a parable about a vineyard owner trying to collect the rent from his tenants. His efforts do not go well. He gets nothing from them. They abused the servants He sent to collect from them what was owed. Finally, they tried to take the vineyard for themselves by killing the owner’s son. The parable builds to a question: “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?” (Luke 20:15).

The answer seems pretty obvious. If the owner of a house has a renter who refused to pay the rent, you would not be surprised in the least to hear that the renters were being evicted, would you? And if they tried to fight back against the people who were sent to evict them, you would be even less surprised when the authorities used force to evict them. As Jesus warned, “[the owner would] come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others” (Luke 20:16).

But how did the chief priests, scribes, and elders answer Jesus? What did they say when Jesus warned that the owner of the vineyard in the parable would “come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others” (Luke 20:16)?

“Surely not!” (Luke 20:16).

Now, they had the same understanding of rent and eviction for non-payment that you do. This is not a difference in culture. So why not? Why do they object to the tenants in the parable being evicted and, especially when the tenants resorted to violence, why did they object to them being destroyed? Why not?

They said, “Surely not!” because they understood that Jesus was telling this parable about them. He was accusing them of failing to give God what they owed Him. He was warning them that, because of their refusal, they would be cast out and destroyed. That is what they refused to accept.

“Even though I have provided for you, protected you, and sustained you, you have failed to give me anything in return,” God is saying. Their response: “Surely not!”

God is saying, “I sent one servant after another to you, calling on you to return to me what is due, but you beat them, treated them shamefully, and sent them away empty handed. I even sent my beloved son, whom you will reject and kill.” They say, “Surely not!”

He told them, “I am about to come and destroy you and give the vineyard to others.” They insist, “Surely not!”

But, within a few days, they would fulfill the prophecy built into the parable. They would, in fact, seize the beloved son and kill him in order to claim God’s Kingdom as their own. They could protest all they wanted, but they proved the truth of Jesus’ words.

He had told them what He expected of them: mercy, not sacrifice, the acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6). He had told them what good ‘fruit’ looked like in their lives: “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with [their] God” (Micah 6:8). But their pride would not allow them to accept His mercy, so they were incapable of showing any. They were too filled with their own self-righteousness to care about kindness, let alone walking humbly with God.

Let’s be clear: the problem was not just an unwillingness to give God the ‘fruit’ of their lives that He was owed. They were unable to produce it. So they would be cast out and the Kingdom would be given to others.

Now, I’m speaking to fellow believers this morning. So, at least on paper, you are willing. But are you, really? And are you able? On Judgment Day, when you stand before the One who will judge the living and the dead, what will you have to offer Him?

For 10 or 20 or 40 or 60 or 80 years, He has cared for the vineyard of this world. He has provided you with everything necessary to support this body and life. He has provided you with everything from the breath in your lungs to the clothes on your back to the roof over your head.

Is the fruit of your life sufficient to pay God what He’s owed? It is not just a matter of quantity. The ‘fruit’ of your life may or may not be acceptable. Unbelievers, for example, are not only unwilling to offer to God the ‘fruit’ of their lives, they also have another problem: the ‘fruit’ of their lives is rotten. They can not pay God the ‘fruit’ that He’s owed, even if they wanted to.

Perhaps you can remember back to a time when you weren’t a believer— either a time before you came to faith or a time when you drifted away from God. “What fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed?” (Romans 6:21). What ‘fruit’ was your life producing at that point? The fruit of your life was “19 ...sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Galatians 5:19-21). At that point in your life, what could you have possibly offered to God?

And let’s be realistic. Some of you are still at that point. You are still slaves to sin. You continue to present yourself as slaves to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness (Rom. 6:19). If that’s you, then today’s text is a grave warning rather than an offer. Repent. “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph. 5:11a). The end of those things is death (Rom. 6:21). Repent or God the Father will cast you out and give your place to others. The wages of your sin is death (Rom. 6:23a).

But, even to you who are repentant believers, don’t be too quick to sign on to the “lease,” so to speak. Yes, the kingdom that you’re offered here is absolutely worth the price. The ‘vineyard’ in the parable is the very Garden of Eden, itself. It is paradise. It is a new creation, untroubled by death, mourning, crying, or pain, for the old order of things has passed away and He who is seated on the throne has made all things new (Rev. 21:1-5). It is absolutely worth what God is asking for it. Absolutely worth what He is owed.

But are the fruits of your life sufficient to give God what He is owed for it? The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). Can you offer to God the love that He’s owed— a love for God that is total and complete, not divided with a love for this world or the things of this world; a love for your neighbor that truly matches your love for yourself— can you offer Him that fruit? Can you offer to Him true kindness, true goodness? Can you offer Him the faithfulness and self-control that you owe Him? Or will He come and cast you out in the end and destroy you on account of your pride and self-righteousness?

Fear not. The Kingdom of God is not given over to you— at least not directly. It would be natural to read this parable as saying that it was taken away from the Children of Israel and given to the Gentiles. But that is not accurate. We Gentiles are just as proud and self-righteous as anyone. It was not given over to you. It was given to Christ.

You know the Gospels. You know the accounts of His life, how He lived every moment with perfect love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. When He lashed out in rage, it was without sin because it was perfectly justified by a truly righteous love for His Father and His Father’s house. He was so gentle with the faith of everyone that He encountered that “a bruised reed He did not break and a smoldering wick He did not snuff out” (Matthew 12:20). He was perfectly faithful to everything that the Father gave Him to do and to teach. He not only loved those who were considered unlovable, He loved His enemies. Even now, as He tells this parable of the vineyard, it is not to save Himself from being rejected and killed. It’s so that, when He dies and rises again, the very people He’s speaking to— the very people who would soon lay their hands on Him to kill Him— would believe that He died to give them a place in His Kingdom. From the moment He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary to the moment when He gave up His spirit, He was the literal embodiment of those words. The fruit of His life was perfect.

And there is, of course, no greater example of His perfect love than the fact that He, the heir, came and allowed Himself to be seized by the tenants of His vineyard so that the inheritance would be theirs! They were both unwilling and unable to offer God what He was owed. And so, on the cross, He paid it for them. He took upon Himself the wages of their sin; He did the death that they deserved; He paid the debt that they owed and purchased for them an inheritance in His Kingdom.

Repent and believe that the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever (Rev. 11:15).

Repent and believe that, although you were slaves to sin— which leads to death— but you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God so that the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 6:22-23).

You, who belong to Christ Jesus, have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires (Galatians 5:24) and are filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God (Philippians 1:11).

If you’ll allow me to switch metaphors for a moment, He continues to plant the seed of His Word into your ears and into your hearts and into your minds and that seed grows and yields a hundredfold (Luke 8:8). And, again, a third metaphor: “Whoever abides in Christ (like branches attached to a vine)… bears much fruit” (John 15:5). And you have been joined to Him in baptism.

Your place in the Kingdom has been paid for in full by Christ and the Holy Spirit that was given to you in baptism is a guarantee of that inheritance until you acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:14).

That same Holy Spirit is constantly at work in you, producing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And even

“[causing y]our souls to change the ridicule, persecution, praise, and whatever else befalls [you] in this world into the wine of faith, hope, and love and into the fruit of patience and humility. ” (Gerhard, Johann. “Prayer for the Preservation of the Word and the Increase of the Church,” Meditations on Divine Mercy.)

Because, in Christ, your suffering is no longer punishment— it is no longer the wages of your sin— but the discipline of a loving Father. And “11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness [in you]” (Hebrews 12:11 ).

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, one day soon you will be gathered by the angels. And the fruits that the Father is owed will come due. On that day, give no thought to the fruit that you were getting when you were slaves to sin.

“For the disobedience of [your] youth, ...offer to [your Heavenly] Father, the obedience of [His] Son. [Offer Him] the perfect innocence of the one who became obedient to [His Father], even to death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8).” (Gerhard, Johann. “Remembering the Sins of Youth,” Meditations on Divine Mercy.)

“For [the] sins that [you] commit every day of [your] life, ...offer to [your Heavenly] Father, the precious blood of [His] Son, which was poured out on the altar of the cross.” (Gerhard, Johann. “The Daily Lapse Into Sin,” Meditations on Divine Mercy.)

“For [every failure to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength,] offer to ...God, the faultless and perfect obedience of [His] Son, who, in the days of His flesh, loved [God] perfectly with His whole heart and depended completely on [Him]. No taint of sin was found in His deeds, words, and thoughts (Isaiah 53:9), not even the slightest stain of guilt.” (Gerhard, Johann. “Life Contemplated According to the First Table of the Law,” Meditations on Divine Mercy.)

“For [every failure to love your neighbor as yourself,] offer to your [Heavenly] Father, the perfect obedience of [His] Son, who loved all people with perfect love. In [whose] mouth was found no deceit (Isaiah 53:9; 1 Peter 2:22). [Who] did not deviate from [God’s] Law in His words or deeds. ...Through faith, ...draw from His wounds everything that is necessary for righteousness and salvation.” (Gerhard, Johann. “Life Contemplated According to the Second Table of the Law,” Meditations on Divine Mercy.)

There is nothing greater— and nothing more— that you can offer on that day than the fruit of Christ’s life— His perfect righteousness— which is now yours.