1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,333 Grace and peace to you from God our Father, for Lord Jesus Christ, amen. You be seated. 2 00:00:09,433 --> 00:00:15,233 When I was growing up in Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, there was a famous paper, 3 00:00:15,233 --> 00:00:23,633 O dia, the day, and this was more kind of a tabloid. So we had only two major 4 00:00:23,633 --> 00:00:29,566 sections in this whole paper. So the second was pretty much four of the last 5 00:00:29,566 --> 00:00:35,366 four or five pages. It was about sports and another major section of this paper 6 00:00:35,366 --> 00:00:44,766 was popular news. And it was filled with graphic pictures, car accidents, violence, 7 00:00:44,766 --> 00:00:53,066 crimes, and death. People that are being killed by drug lords, people that have 8 00:00:53,066 --> 00:01:02,833 been killed by robbers, even by the police. The paper was filled 9 00:01:02,833 --> 00:01:09,066 with so many stories of violence, bloodshed, and death that people would 10 00:01:09,066 --> 00:01:15,200 say, be careful when you read the Dia, the paper, because if we squeeze this 11 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:24,200 paper too much, blood were gonna flow from its page. I don't know about you, but 12 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:30,600 when you read the gospel for today, I think I have the same kind of a feeling. 13 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:39,433 This gospel today is filled with conflict, violence, bloodshed, and death. And I'm 14 00:01:39,433 --> 00:01:44,166 afraid if we squeeze this section of the Gospel of Matthew, a lot of blood were 15 00:01:44,166 --> 00:01:54,933 gonna come flowing. Jesus is speaking in our text. Here another parable, and then 16 00:01:54,933 --> 00:02:00,233 he tells the parable of the tenants in the vineyard. There was a master of a 17 00:02:00,233 --> 00:02:04,633 house who planted the vineyard and put the fence around it and dug a winepress 18 00:02:04,633 --> 00:02:11,066 in it and built a tower and leased to the tenants and went into another 19 00:02:11,066 --> 00:02:17,233 country. When the season for the fruit grew near, he sent his servants to the 20 00:02:17,233 --> 00:02:23,233 tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants, they took his servants and beat one, 21 00:02:23,233 --> 00:02:32,200 kill another, and stone another. And again, he sent other servants, more than the 22 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:41,133 first time, and they did the same, which means they beat, killed, and stoned them. 23 00:02:41,133 --> 00:02:47,533 So now the owner of the vineyard says, they're gonna listen to my son. I'm sure 24 00:02:47,533 --> 00:02:56,066 they will. They will respect my son. But when the tenants saw the son, they said 25 00:02:56,066 --> 00:03:03,366 to themselves, he is the heir. Let us kill him and have the inheritance. And they 26 00:03:03,366 --> 00:03:09,633 took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Beat one, kill 27 00:03:09,633 --> 00:03:16,466 another one, and stone another one, kill the son. You don't squeeze, you don't need 28 00:03:16,466 --> 00:03:21,933 to squeeze too hard to see the blood flowing from the text. It's flowing. And 29 00:03:21,933 --> 00:03:32,466 this is the gospel for today. Is this the gospel for today? Yes, it is. And I'm 30 00:03:32,466 --> 00:03:37,466 afraid there is more. Because you see, when Jesus answered the parable, he asked 31 00:03:37,466 --> 00:03:42,000 the question, when therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what he will do with 32 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:47,600 those tenants? And now people listening to Jesus say this, he will put those 33 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:56,766 wretches to the miserable death. More blood shedding. What's going on here in 34 00:03:56,766 --> 00:04:04,000 this text? We have to remember that this is Palm Sunday. Jesus just had entered 35 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:12,833 Jerusalem. And Jesus is very busy. He's in the temple, cleaning the temple, sending 36 00:04:12,833 --> 00:04:18,600 out sellers and buyers. He's healing blind people, lame people. Some people are 37 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:22,966 happy, some people are not really happy with Jesus. And they are asking, who is he? 38 00:04:22,966 --> 00:04:28,000 Of course the Pharisees and the Sadducees want to know with authority he 39 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:35,133 can do those things. And Jesus is not quiet. He fires back chief priests and 40 00:04:35,133 --> 00:04:42,366 the Pharisees. He has questions of his own. And he tells parables. He tells 41 00:04:42,366 --> 00:04:50,066 one. He tells another one. He tells the parable of the tenants. The question is, 42 00:04:50,066 --> 00:04:55,966 who is listening to Jesus? Well in the Gospel of Matthew, we have only three 43 00:04:55,966 --> 00:04:59,533 people that, or three groups of people that Jesus is always interacting with 44 00:04:59,533 --> 00:05:05,833 them. It's either the crowd, either the disciples, or either the religious 45 00:05:05,833 --> 00:05:10,766 leaders. The whole Gospel of Matthew evolves about those three groups of 46 00:05:10,766 --> 00:05:18,033 people. And here in our text we see all the three together. This parable is 47 00:05:18,033 --> 00:05:24,666 really straightforward. There is no doubt what Jesus is talking about. He's talking 48 00:05:24,666 --> 00:05:32,600 about God's incredible love and patience towards his chosen people. God planted 49 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:40,000 the vineyard and made all the provisions to care for his beloved people. But they 50 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:47,633 kept not listening to him. And God, he doesn't give up so easily. He's a loving 51 00:05:47,633 --> 00:05:56,200 God. He sent his prophets pleading for them to repent. They beat one, stone one, 52 00:05:56,200 --> 00:06:04,066 kill another one. And finally he sent his son. And now it's Jesus before them 53 00:06:04,066 --> 00:06:12,033 pleading, you are still God's people. You are beloved by my Father. This is why I'm 54 00:06:12,033 --> 00:06:21,000 here for you. And Jesus keeps talking. Listen, listen. Have you never read the 55 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:26,566 scriptures? The stone that the builders reject has become the cornerstone that 56 00:06:26,566 --> 00:06:32,633 it was the Lord's doing? And it's marvelous on our eyes. Therefore I tell 57 00:06:32,633 --> 00:06:36,966 you, the King of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that 58 00:06:36,966 --> 00:06:41,933 produce its fruits. And the one who falls in this stone will be broken to piece. 59 00:06:41,933 --> 00:06:49,200 And when it falls on anyone, it will crush him. Do you understand what I'm 60 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:55,400 telling you? The Father has sent me here to assure you that he still loves you 61 00:06:55,400 --> 00:07:03,933 and you are still his people. Can you turn around? Can you repent? Do you 62 00:07:03,933 --> 00:07:09,666 understand what is about to happen? You are severing yourselves from the Father. 63 00:07:09,666 --> 00:07:15,000 You are distancing, making a distance between you and God, his love and his 64 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:21,000 hope and his future. The chief priests and the Pharisees, they understood really 65 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:25,566 well what Jesus was talking about. Matthew says that they perceived that 66 00:07:25,566 --> 00:07:33,633 Jesus was speaking about them. However, they didn't repent. They didn't turn 67 00:07:33,633 --> 00:07:43,666 around. They kept trying to arrest him and kill him. Now, this gospel story is 68 00:07:43,666 --> 00:07:50,000 not only filled with conflict, violence, and bloodshed, but this story is very 69 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:57,400 depressing and heartbreaking. The question that we have to ask, and 70 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:06,233 nobody is bold to ask, but I will ask, where are we in the parable? Where do we 71 00:08:06,233 --> 00:08:16,666 fit in this story? Can we identify ourselves with the crowd that has 72 00:08:16,666 --> 00:08:23,266 palm branches in your hands celebrating the Son of David? And then a couple days 73 00:08:23,266 --> 00:08:32,066 later they say, crucify him, crucify him. Can you be the disciples? The delight in 74 00:08:32,066 --> 00:08:37,166 God's Word, we say, going to listen to you and follow you. You are the Christ, the 75 00:08:37,166 --> 00:08:42,266 Son of God, and then when the pressure comes, I say, I don't know the man. And 76 00:08:42,266 --> 00:08:49,233 now everybody runs away. Are we the leaders, the religious leaders of Jesus' 77 00:08:49,233 --> 00:08:58,366 time? I guess we could be so. Tenants that want to own the place. You want to be in 78 00:08:58,366 --> 00:09:07,333 control. But again, I'll be bold enough to say you are none of them. You are not the 79 00:09:07,333 --> 00:09:13,666 crowd, you're not the disciples, you're not the religious leaders. So who are we 80 00:09:13,666 --> 00:09:21,600 in this parable then? And I think here the church here helps us to understand 81 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:26,633 what's going on. Because when this parable is read this time of the year in 82 00:09:26,633 --> 00:09:32,000 the church, you think there is a mistake. This parable should be read during Lent, 83 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:37,600 which I tell you is read in Lent, but it's from the Gospel of Luke chapter 20. 84 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:43,066 But this time is being read in the season of the year that you talk about 85 00:09:43,066 --> 00:09:52,566 the church. It's talking about us, God's people. We are the people to whom the 86 00:09:52,566 --> 00:10:01,466 kingdom of God was given to. In fact, my friends, we are the new tenants. We are 87 00:10:01,466 --> 00:10:09,366 the new tenants. Does Jesus speak about judgment in this text? Yes, he does. But he 88 00:10:09,366 --> 00:10:17,533 also talks about God's grace, love, and mercy. The kingdom of God is Jesus 89 00:10:17,533 --> 00:10:26,533 himself coming to us. Not only coming to us, but going to the cross. And in the 90 00:10:26,533 --> 00:10:32,233 cross, Jesus is not being squeezed, but he'll be nailed on the cross to shed his 91 00:10:32,233 --> 00:10:42,266 blood to forgive our sins. Who are we? We are the new people. We are the new 92 00:10:42,266 --> 00:10:49,566 creation. We are the ones redeemed by Christ. We are the ones that have 93 00:10:49,566 --> 00:10:56,433 received the blessings of the kingdom. We have received Jesus. He is with us 94 00:10:56,433 --> 00:11:05,066 and the gospel is with us. We are the ones the kingdom was given to and the 95 00:11:05,066 --> 00:11:11,866 gift that he received in our baptism. God is patient. God is loving. And we see that 96 00:11:11,866 --> 00:11:17,533 very clear in the parable today. The religious leaders, they refused to listen 97 00:11:17,533 --> 00:11:24,766 to Jesus and Jesus kept talking to them, trying to bring them under his embrace. 98 00:11:24,766 --> 00:11:31,433 In this parable today, Jesus quotes Psalm 118. He quotes two verses of this psalm 99 00:11:31,433 --> 00:11:37,866 when he talks about the stone that the builders rejected. But this psalm is a 100 00:11:37,866 --> 00:11:45,266 long psalm, has 29 verses. In verse 1 and 4 it says this, I'll give thanks to the 101 00:11:45,266 --> 00:11:53,333 Lord for he is good and his steadfast love endures forever. Let those 102 00:11:53,333 --> 00:12:00,533 who fear the Lord say his steadfast love endures forever. This psalm talks about 103 00:12:00,533 --> 00:12:06,966 God's deliverance, God's love, God's mercy. But there is this verse 17 which by the 104 00:12:06,966 --> 00:12:14,466 way was Luther's favorite verse in this psalm when it says, I will not die but I 105 00:12:14,466 --> 00:12:24,933 live. I will proclaim what the Lord has done. I will not die, I live. And I will 106 00:12:24,933 --> 00:12:32,466 proclaim what the Lord has done. The Lord has done marvelous things. He gave his 107 00:12:32,466 --> 00:12:39,800 kingdom to us. We are blessed by Jesus, the gospel that came to give us life and 108 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:47,666 salvation. Amen. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard 109 00:12:47,666 --> 00:13:15,400 your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.