Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Matthew 21:

There is a lot here my friends.

Let’s pray.

[Pray]

Jon was gracious enough to take us through v 28-32 last week as we chatted about the two sons.

And this week I will be taking us through the parable about the tenant farmers.

It’s important to note that the context of these passages is a conversation that Jesus is having with the pharisees.

He is condeming them for rejecting Jesus as the Christ.

If you remember prior to v. 28, the pharisees are questioning Jesus’ authority.

Jesus asks them a question, they refuse to answer, and so Jesus hits them with a parable.

The Pharisees play this game where they attempt to trip Jesus up over his words, they fail, and Jesus puts them into a position where they are afraid to answer because they fear ‘the crowd’ won’t be on their side.

So, just as last week Jesus pitted the repentant sinners vs the religious leaders who rejected Christ this week we will continue on the motif (theme) of the rejection of Christ by those who were supposed to be the city on the hill… the leaders of Israel (and this further represents the continued rejection of God’s first people).

The vineyard

The Vineyard Motif

Throughout Scripture we see that there are often symbols that repeat.

I think we forget that the Bible is one unified story.

Not only is the Bible Jewish Literature but it is meditation literature.

Scripture is broken into poetry, narrative, and prose.

We also have to remember that Jesus knew his Scripture:

What I mean by this…because I know that ‘agendas’ has a negative connotation is that, for example, Matthew’s point in this Gospel account is to get his Jewish audience to see that Jesus relived the experience of Israel but does it how it should’ve been done so in the beginning.

In other words, (a) Jesus represents everything Israel should’ve been and constantly failed to be and (b) Jesus represents the hope that was laid out in the Old Testament.

So… back to the vineyard.

We have a few moving parts in this story.

We have the vineyard, the master, the master’s son, and the tenants.

I think it’s important to be real explicit about our setting and characters:

Jesus draws from imagery throughout the OT when talking about vineyards but this can be tied to, most likely, Isaiah’s parable of the vineyard in

Jesus draws from imagery throughout the OT when talking about vineyards but this can be tied to, most likely, Isaiah’s parable of the vineyard in

Matthew’s point in this Gospel account is to get his Jewish audience to see that Jesus relived the experience of Israel but does it how it should’ve been done so in the beginning.

In other words, (a) Jesus represents everything Israel should’ve been and constantly failed to be and (b) Jesus represents the hope that was laid out in the Old Testament.

Isaiah’s issue here is the lack of fruit in the vineyard, or more specifically, the lack of good fruit… the solution is to burn that bad larry down.

In Jesus’ parable the issue is bad tenant farmers… the solution?

Get some good tenant farmers.

The vineyard is alluding to the world where Israel has been set in.

They were to be the city on the hill but they reject Christ.

Tenant Farmers

Israel & the Pharisees are represented by the tenant farmers in this parable.

The tenant farmers would work the land and when it was time for the harvest they would send the master his due.

The master is owed his due and has been gracious enough.

The parable tells a story of an extremely patient master who gives the tenants multiple chances to get this thing right…

The tenant farmers then are the religious leaders of Israel who rejected Jesus.

Jesus is now using this parable to highlight this to the Pharisees.

All of Jesus encounters with the Pharisees is Jesus attempting to illuminate a very important truth to the Pharisees.

This truth is that they believe themselves to be good because of all of the ‘laws’ and ‘rules’ they impose on others and that they ‘keep’ superficially.

Christ exposes them for who they really are.

The servants & the Son.

As the story goes the Master sends forth his servants to go get his fruit.

The farmers beat one, kill another and stone the third… the second batch of servants are dispatched and they receive a similar fate.

The servants are believed to be the prophets that God sent in order for the tenant farmers to do the right thing and to obey the master.

These servants probably represent the prophets sent by God to get Israel back on the straight and narrow.

The different degrees of beatings or killings can also attest to this same point.

I want to pause here before we go any further

Some of us will read this and say…golly jee willicker that Master sure is an idiot.

But I want to sit here for a bit.

The Master is God.

His moves are not made because he’s an idiot or out of a position of folly.

This idea of providing multiple batches of servants represents the chances that God has given the farmers and this comes out of the Lord’s crowning effort of divine mercy .

These servants probably represent the prophets sent by God to get Israel back on the straight and narrow.

The different degrees of beatings or killings can also attest to this same point.

Now this leads to the climax of the story…and quite a tragic climax.

As the parable builds the master doesn’t go and take the farmers out he does something weird.

He says, let me send my son they’ll respect him.

Surely…they wouldn’t dare to disrespect him.

that the only and well-beloved Son of God is here distinctly marked out as far above the prophets in dignity and rank, the sending of whom is the last and crowning effort of divine mercy, and the rejection of whom fills up the measure of human sin and guilt.

This comes out of the Lord’s sincere will that all should be saved.

The tenant farmers kill the son… they foolishly believe that by killing him they will get the inheritance.

So, let that sink it… they figured, hey if we kill this kid we can get his inheritance.

We will take his place at the table…

I love the Bible because it is a weird balance of important details and a lack of details.

As meditation literature this is key.

The farmers take the son out of the vineyard out of his father’s land and they kill him.

Some scholars allude to the fact that this may be an allusion to Jesus being take physically on the outskirts to Skull Mountain to be crucified…but regardless, the son is killed by the tenant farmers that were supposed to be about the Master’s business.

that the only and well-beloved Son of God is here distinctly marked out as far above the prophets in dignity and rank, the sending of whom is the last and crowning effort of divine mercy, and the rejection of whom fills up the measure of human sin and guilt.

This comes out of the Lord’s sincere will that all should be saved.

The Master

The master is GOD who is expecting his due from the vineyard.

Jesus is systematically picking these guys apart.

He is making a declaration on Israel for its wickedness and its rejection of him as the Messiah.

So… just to recap the parable:

The master has a vineyard that he has put in charge of the tenant farmers

It is now harvest time and the Master sends servants to get his fruits

now harvest time and the Master sends servants to get his fruits

They beat one servant, they kill the other, and then stone the third

The master sends a second group of servants who receive a similar fate

The master then says…shoot, I’ll send my son surely they’ll respect him (the story is still moving along as if this guy just wants his fruit)

As the story goes…the tenants kill the son.

We are left with a lingering question: what is the Master going to do to the tenant farmers?

Jesus tells the Parable and asks the Pharisees what they think the Master should do… little do they know that Jesus is talking about them.

Matthew 21:

Some of us will read this and say…golly jee willicker that Master sure is an idiot.

But I want to sit here for a bit.

The Master is God.

His moves are not made because he’s an idiot or out of a position of folly.

This idea of providing multiple batches of servants represents the chances that God has given the farmers and this comes out of the Lord’s crowning effort of divine mercy .

These servants probably represent the prophets sent by God to get Israel back on the straight and narrow.

The different degrees of beatings or killings can also attest to this same point.

that the only and well-beloved Son of God is here distinctly marked out as far above the prophets in dignity and rank, the sending of whom is the last and crowning effort of divine mercy, and the rejection of whom fills up the measure of human sin and guilt.

This comes out of the Lord’s sincere will that all should be saved.

How do the tenant farmers respond?

The cast the son out and kill him… they take him out of the vineyard and kill him.