The Kingdom Snatched Away

The Kingdom Snatched Away

Matthew 21:33-46

My great-grandmother owned a couple hundred acres, left to her when her husband died. There’s some disagreement whether it was 200 or 400 acres, but she was elderly and couldn’t farm the land. So, she leased the land to her children, including about 40 acres to my grandfather. There was a condition, of course, and that was that a share of the produce went to her. That made my grandfather essentially a tenant farmer, or in the idiom of the day, a sharecropper. The problem was that of that 40 acres, only about 15 of it was arable land. The rest was forested, rocky, and hilly. So grandfather raised goats, corn, a couple cows and vegetables to feed his family. He was not a very successful farmer, partly because the land was poor and partly because he was not a healthy man. His sons cut firewood and fenceposts from the woodland to sell, but half of the money they raised went to their grandmother. 

I tell you this because it may help with the background of Jesus’ parable. You see, absentee landlords were not uncommon. A wealthy landowner might plant a vineyard or orchard and then hire tenant farmers to take care of the land. A vineyard took about four years before it began to produce, but the tender vines had to be tended. Then, when the crops began to come in, the tenant farmer kept a portion as payment and the rest, the largest percentage, went to the landowner.   

The landowner also had watchtowers built around the perimeter of his fields, and hired guards to watch for thieves and predators. Stone walls around the vineyards kept unwanted animals out, and huts were provided to house the laborers and guards. All of them had an interest in the success of the harvest and the generosity of the landowner. But they had responsibility to render the fruit of the harvest to the landowner. So that sets the stage for the parable. 

Jesus begins with the construction, the planting, and the hiring of tenant farmers. “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.” So far, nothing unusual. If you were in the crowd that day, you might have been nodding along. You understand the story. Perhaps you are a tenant farmer. This is your life. And you know the next part, too. “When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.” You’re familiar with the donkey caravans (we call them mule trains), that arrive in the fall to retrieve the fruit and the wine from the winepress. You help to pack it all up, load the donkeys, and send them on their way. You know the process because you live it. 

But then Jesus’ story takes a twist. Instead of the tenant farmers packing the fruit and wine and loading the donkeys, they beat the servants and send them away empty-handed. The landowner can’t have that, so he sends another delegation. This time the farmers kill the servants. The landowner gives them another chance, but the farmers stone the servants. Every time he tries to collect what is due to him, the tenant farmers beat or stone the servants. Finally, he’s had enough. He sends his son, assured that the tenant farmers will recognize his authority as the heir to the estate and respond properly. “Surely, they will respect my son,” he thinks.   

But the landowner thought wrong, for when the tenants saw the son, they did recognize him as the heir, but instead of respecting him and complying with their contract, they decided to kill him so they could take possession of the vineyard. Then there would be no authority over them, no landlord to pay, and they cold keep all the profits for themselves. So they took the son outside the vineyard and murdered him. 

You are a tenant farmer, and though you may have grumbled at the amount you had to send to the landowner, you never thought of refusing him or breaking your contract. You especially never thought of murdering the landowner’s son. So when Jesus asks the question, you have your answer ready. “What should the landowner do to the tenant farmers?” The whole story has made you angry, and you answer immediately: the landowner should punish those wretches harshly. Then he should hire other tenant farmers who will behave responsibly. 

 Let me pause here to complain. One of my pet peeves is when people take a verse of Scripture out of context and abuse it. Psalm 118:24 is one of those. We even sing it, and it’s not wrong to sing, “This is the day that the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it.” We sang it just a few weeks ago. But the Psalmist wasn’t talking about just any old day. And it wasn’t in regard to feeling good because God has created this particular day. There is a specific meaning to the verse. Almost every translation renders it, This is the day the LORD has made ... Only the NIV read, The LORD has done it this very day ...   

So, what is “this day”? What day is the Psalmist talking about? Let’s back up to the part that Jesus quotes here in Matthew 21:42, where he begins, “Have you never read ....?” Jesus, again, is stringing pearls. Psalm 118, let’s back up to verse 19. Open for me the gates of the righteous; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter. I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation. The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad. You answered me and have become my salvation. The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This very day the Lord has done it. This is the day the Lord has made the rejected stone the cornerstone of his new temple. Jesus quotes verses 22 and 23, but his honest hearer would have continued on to “this is the day ... and we will rejoice.”   

And when he goes on to tell them that anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed, he’s talking about the rejected stone of Psalm 18 that has been made into the cornerstone. All we have to do is connect the dots, and we understand that Jesus is actually declaring himself both rejected and the new foundation stone. And this very day, this is the day. That means it’s now time to rejoice. 

“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to people who will produce its fruit.” 

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. They saw themselves as Keepers of the Faith. They were the ones who knew the Torah, interpreted it, and administered the rites and rituals. They were the ones in the know. To be told that they were completely wrong and that their place would be wrested from them and given to someone else was offensive. 

 Jesus didn’t interpret this parable for us, but it’s meaning is pretty clear. Jesus has already given a bit of background in the Sermon on the Mount. The last of the blessings is this: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Mt 5:11-12). 

Jewish tradition is that Isaiah was sawn in two on the order of King Manasseh of Judah. Jeremiah was beaten, placed in stocks, imprisoned, and left to die in a cistern (Jer 38). Jezebel put a price on Elijah’s head and he was hounded by king Ahab. Daniel was thrown to the lions. The three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were thrown into a furnace. John the Baptist was beheaded. While Daniel, the three, and John were persecuted by foreign kings, it remains true that Israel did not take well to the prophets. They didn’t appreciate having their sins exposed and condemned. Malachi condemns them for their ritual fakery, their pretense in worship, and their tarnished sacrifices. Amos condemns them for their pride and complacency. Micah condemns them for their idolatry and phony sacrifices – they were giving large sacrifices as a way of appeasing God for their idolatry, a sort of false apology. And the Pharisees, Jesus calls hypocrites, painted graves, vipers. Israel was formed to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation that would represent God to the world. Instead, they compromised with the world. They did not live up to their calling or their purpose. So Jesus tells them that the kingdom will be taken from them. 

They had been tasked with bearing fruit for the King. They were the tenant farmers in the parable who persecuted, beat, and killed the prophets, the servants sent by the Landowner, God. As a result of their refusal to “render unto God,” Jesus tells them they are fired and doomed to a wretched end. We have accused them of failing in their mission, but it’s far worse than that. They rejected and refused to fulfill the mission God gave them. It’s one thing to try and fail, but they didn’t even try. They decided that God was asking too much of them. So, since they refused to do the job, the Landowner would give it to someone else who would do the job. 

Now, I have to pause for some theological house-keeping. There is an idea that’s been around for a long time. The smart person terminology is supersessionism. For us who are not as smart, we call it replacement theology, and it began with Early Church fathers, including Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Augustine of Hippo. It is a core belief of Catholic, Lutheran, Orthodox, Reformed, and Methodist denominations. This theology states, briefly, that because Israel failed in their mission, God replaced them with Christianity. That is, the Church supercedes Judaism. Some reject the idea as racist, or as “Christian Zionism.”   

Replacement theology can be supported by reference to the Apostle Paul, but I would note that Paul did not see Christianity as a replacement, but rather as the fulfilment of the Judaic covenants. He preached to the Jew first and then to the Gentile, hoping to win his Jewish brothers to the view that Jesus is their promised Messiah. Jesus himself said, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn 14:6). As we have seen over the past few weeks, Jesus did not part ways with Judaism, but declares himself the fulfillment of the prophecies, and Matthew presents Jesus as the promised descendant of David and rightful heir to David’s throne. Jesus showed himself, in Matthew’s view, to be the Messiah to the Jews, inaugurating the kingdom of heaven among them. He did not come to replace Israel as God’s chosen vessel, but to fulfill the covenant with Israel. And Peter famously declared to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). 

The writer to the Hebrews declares that Jesus sacrifice is the final, perfect sacrifice that accomplishes what the ritual sacrifices of sheep and cows could not, and that Jesus is greater than the prophets, a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, and the perfect High Priest. It is interesting to note that in AD 70, the Romans destroyed the temple, ending forever the sacrifices and the priesthood of Israel. We suggest that it is because Jesus is the final, ever-living, high priest and the final sacrifice for sin. That writer would not say that the Church replaces Israel, but that Christ fulfilled the covenant with Israel.   

But this is why we can talk about an old covenant (Old Testament) and a new covenant (New Testament). It is also why I can tell you that the Torah was meant for the Jews and not for the Gentiles. It was intended to show the world that the Jews were God’s people through some very obvious differences – in clothing, in diet, in marriage and family structure, and in worship. They were set apart practically, religiously, and politically from the idolatrous tribes around them. By their compromise, they forfeited the mission. That’s why Jesus tell s them that the kingdom is to be taken from them and given to someone else. That’s why Peter appropriated Exodus 19:6 to describe the Church as a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession and reminds us that our mission now is to declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Pet 2:9). 

Whether you accept replacement theology or not, it is clear that our task as Christians is to be the people of God, to represent Christ well in the world, to declare the praises of Christ, to live for Christ, and to invite others to enter the kingdom of heaven. We are to bear fruit for the Master. We are to be salt and light and point the world to Jesus. The mission is ours.