“Accountability”

Matthew 21:33-46

Jesus tells this parable as part of a response to the Chief Priest and Elders who have questioned His authority.  The particular parable is the second of three parables where Jesus defends His claim of authority to the Jewish religious leaders (21:28-32; 21:33-44; 22:1-14). 

As you will recall a parable is a story within a story; a story with a deeper spiritual meaning.  In this parable the landowner represents God, the vineyard represents the Nation Israel, the tenant farmers represent the Jewish religious leaders, the servants the landowner sent to collect his fruit are the prophets, and obviously the landowner’s son represents Jesus.

Jesus is telling His own story as part of a larger story of the Jewish people rejecting one prophet after another.   We need to be clear this parable is not about the church superceding Israel as God’s chosen people.  This parable is about people responding to Jesus’ authority.  It is about accountability and stewardship.

Verse 33 shows us the owner’s great love for the vineyard and the extent he went to ensure a good crop.  After he planted it he put a wall around it, dug a winepress, and built a watchtower.  The wall represents protection, the watch tower represents constant surveillance, and the wine press demonstrates the landowners’ anticipation of a fruitful harvest.

In our text from Isaiah that Bill read we saw that God established the nation of Israel with an expected harvest of justice and righteousness.

If we limit our understanding to the Jewish leaders, the Old Testament prophets, and the nation of Israel we would be just as guilty as the Scribes and Pharisees that Jesus was rebuking.  We are God’s stewards and we are accountable to Him.  God expects us to be good stewards and God expects us to produce fruit and God expects us to respond to His Son Jesus.  We have been entrusted with God’s property and we are accountable to Almighty God.

This parable was a warning in Jesus’ day and it is a warning to us today.  Are we guilty of using what is God’s and trying to claim it as ours?  Are we rejecting the authority of Jesus by refusing to give Him what is rightfully His?

We have to wonder why the owner sent servant after servant to collect his fruit.  Why didn’t the owner take action against the unscrupulous tenants sooner?  However, this parable starts to make sense when we realize that one of the main truths Jesus is teaching about is God’s love and God’s mercy.   We see the great lengths that God goes to in giving us one more last chance.  This one more last chance should elicit loyalty not selfish greed.  God’s unending love ought to produce gratitude not a sinful behavior.  But when we mistakenly confuse ownership with stewardship, mistaking what God has entrusted to us and acting as if it was our own, then there is no telling what we will do to have our own way, even violence.

It is fruit that our Lord desires in our lives.  Metaphorically, believers are the ground which brings forth fruit.  We saw that in the parable of the sower.  In the Gospel of John Jesus said, “I am the vine and you are the branches.  If you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit”.  It is a quality of life that we are called to and we will be held accountable for bearing fruit.

As Christians we are expected to acknowledge who Jesus is, we are expected to respond to His love and His blessings; we are expected to do the job He has given us to do.  As you will recall God told Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that they were to be a blessing to all the families of the earth.  The church shares that mission of being a blessing to all people also.  There is an old saying that we should never forget.  All people are a blessing; some when they come and others when they go. 

In I Peter we read, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood.”  We have a priestly role to pray for our friends and neighbors who have not accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  We have a responsibility of being a positive blessing to the people we come in contact with.  We have been chosen to minister to those people in need around us.  These are the fruits we have been called to produce.  As Christians we are in the people-business and when we realize that, we will produce “the fruits of the Kingdom”.

Are we going to be like the wretched tenants in the vineyard by denying God what is rightfully His and rejecting the authority of Jesus over us?  If we do we can only expect God’s righteous judgment.  OR Are we going to accept the reality that we are accountable to God for our actions?  In our lesson from Romans Bill read “For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. It is written:”‘ As surely as I live,' says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me;  every tongue will confess to God.' "So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Verse 33 makes it crystal clear that the vineyard belongs to the landowner.  The landowner rented the vineyard to some farmers and entrusted it to them.  Ownership of the vineyard is not the issue.  The vineyard is not for sale and it never will be.  The real issue here is stewardship and acknowledging that we are accountable to Almighty God.   We are accountable to God for the way we used spent the time that He has given to us, we are accountable for the way we used the talents God gave us, we are accountable for the way we use the physical possessions God has entrusted to us and we will be held accountable for accepting or rejecting God’s greatest gift, the gift of His son Jesus Christ.  Jesus voluntarily gave His life on the cross so that we could have life, abundant life while we are on earth and life with Him in Heaven throughout eternity.

We do not like to hear about judgment but the last part of this parable is about judgment.  “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end.”  “He will rent the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”  This verse is contrasted with the grace we read about in the first part of this parable.  The landowner gave the tenants a number of chances by sending a number of servants to collect what was due to him.  This contrast is important because without the reality of judgment we can never begin to understand grace.  Just like we would never understand the meaning of light without knowing about darkness.

Verse 34 tells us that the harvest season is approaching - the season for collecting fruit.  And Jesus is interested in whether we are ready and willing to produce the fruits of the kingdom through our lives.  Jesus’ demand for fruitful living is a demand for changed lives.  Once we comprehend that God made us for His pleasure and God made us to accomplish His purpose; when we remember that Jesus paid the ransom for our sins, we begin to understand that we are accountable to Him for our actions.

Look at the last part of verse 37 with me.  This sentence can be read two ways depending on where we put the emphasis.  “They will respect my son he said”; meaning surely the tenants will come to their senses and respect my son.  OR “They will respect my son”; meaning he will enforce his authority and will demand allegiance.  Both ways are true to the context.   God is offering one more last chance and if they do not heed His merciful warning then they can only expect His judgment.

Sending the son shows the landowners confidence that the tenants will do the right thing if given another chance.  The landowner rightfully expects that they will respect the son’ authority and that they will his son.   Notice the son is the last messenger to come; none will come after him. 

We do not want to overlook the significance of verse 38.  “Come let’s kill the son and take his inheritance.”  The Bible is crystal clear that all authority has been given to Jesus.  Jesus will return and establish His eternal kingdom on earth.

From start to finish we see conflict resulting from the tenants who mistakenly assume they can claim what rightfully belongs to the landowner as their own.  They behave as if they own the vineyard, they mistakenly assume they are working for themselves, and they deny the fact that they are accountable to the landowner.  They attempt to rewrite the lease agreement to satisfy their selfish greed.

Verse 42 makes it clear that the cornerstone of the Kingdom of God is Jesus.  Jesus is the Son of God and He is the only way to God and His kingdom.  When people reject the authority of Jesus, Jesus, the cornerstone, becomes a stumbling block for them.  Jesus corrects the Pharisees for their misguided trust in themselves and for their selfish self-righteous ways.

Jesus predicts His rejection and their desire to kill Him.  But God is not mocked.  God reverses their rejection as establishes Jesus as the capstone of The Kingdom.  What has been taken away is not the nation of Israel but individuals who have failed in their stewardship role.  God’s kingdom is larger than Israel but Israel is included in it.

The Pharisees continued to do what they wanted to do and they did not accept the ways of Jesus.  As a result they missed the secret of The Kingdom of God.  They missed entering and inheriting The Kingdom.  It is Christ and Christ alone that makes one righteous.  Without Christ a person can not enter God’s kingdom.  Christ defines life in the Kingdom and Christ makes that life possible for all those who come to Him, fall on Him, love Him, serve Him, and bear fruit for Him.

In verse 45 we read that the Chief Priest and Pharisees knew that Jesus was talking about them.      After we looked at this parable this morning we each need to ask ourselves; are we going to accept the fact that this parable applies to us also?   If we are to learn from the example of the wretched tenants and avoid the punishment they received we need to heed the warnings of the prophets recorded in The Bible, we need to be accountable, and we need to accept the gift and the authority of God’s Son.

Whether we want to admit it or not we were created by God.  We were created to do His will and we were created for His pleasure.   We are God’s stewards.  We are tenants living on an earth that God created.  We are accountable to God and we are to give Him what is rightfully His.  Are we going to reject God’s Son?  Are we going to joyfully do the job God expects of us, which is producing fruit in our lives?

AMEN