Stories of Us: Of Guests & Tenants

We are continuing our series looking at some of Jesus’ parables. We’re examining these 1^st century stories to find what truths they hold for 21^st century believers. Last week we talked about a parable as a comparison. The Greek word from which we get the word parable means, literally, “to cast down beside.” As if we are placing two things side-by-side to compare them. But it is not a compare and contrast sort of comparison. It is a way to learn about something you may not understand by comparing it to something you understand. And that is what Jesus did with these parables. He took stories from everyday life, “ripped from the headlines” sorts of stories, and used them to illustrate his point.

Today we’re going to look at 2 parables that teach us about God’s grace.

Matthew 21:33-43

New Living Translation (NLT)

³³ “Now listen to another story. A certain landowner planted a vineyard, built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country. ³⁴ At the time of the grape harvest, he sent his servants to collect his share of the crop. ³⁵ But the farmers grabbed his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. ³⁶ So the landowner sent a larger group of his servants to collect for him, but the results were the same.

³⁷ “Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’

³⁸ “But when the tenant farmers saw his son coming, they said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Come on, let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ ³⁹ So they grabbed him, dragged him out of the vineyard, and murdered him.

⁴⁰ “When the owner of the vineyard returns,” Jesus asked, “what do you think he will do to those farmers?”

⁴¹ The religious leaders replied, “He will put the wicked men to a horrible death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him his share of the crop after each harvest.”

⁴² Then Jesus asked them, “Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures?

‘The stone that the builders rejected
    has now become the cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing,
    and it is wonderful to see.’

⁴³ I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the proper fruit.

This parable is part of an exchange between Jesus and the Temple leadership. It comes just a day after Jesus stormed through the Temple clearing out the moneychangers and people selling animals for sacrifice. So it’s a tense situation.

Traditionally this parable is seen as an allegory. An allegory is a story where each character represents something or someone.

In this, the ‘parable of the wicked tenants’ the landowner represents God. The tenants are the Priests, Pharisees, and scribes; the very people to whom Jesus tells the story. The servants represent the various prophets throughout the centuries. They came to collect the fruits of God’s covenant with Israel and were persecuted or killed. The son, of course, represents Jesus. God’s final effort to collect from the evil tenants. The new people who will produce that Jesus talks about are Christians.

This is the way we tend to hear this story. “Those evil Pharisees and Sadducees. It’s a good thing we Christians came along to set things right.”

I want to offer an alternate interpretation. Because something gets lost in that interpretation. That something is us. Christians.

Yes, I mentioned Christians as the “new people,” I think if we accept that we’re giving ourselves a little too much credit. If we take that interpretation, we assume that we are producing proper fruit, and we’re really no better than the temple leaders who probably assumed they were the good and virtuous land owner. And, honestly, I think if we look at this story strictly as an allegory, we miss the point.

Having said that, here’s what I hear when I read this parable. I read about a landowner who is more than patient, more than merciful. I think I might have sent a troop of soldiers after the first group of servants. Not this land owner. In fact, Jesus never says that the land owner sent troops or killed the tenants at all. The temple leaders assume that. I also see a group of tenants who are unfaithful. They made a deal, a covenant, with the owner. They would farm the land and produce fruit. They would return some of that harvest to the owner. Instead they renege. They decide they don’t want to give anything back. In fact, they decide the land is theirs. They are the ones doing the dirty work, after all. They’ve claimed the vineyard as their own. It’s a hostile takeover. A rebellion. Their purposes have taken precedence over the purposes of the owner.

As I read this story, it leads me to wonder where I fit in the story. I’m not the owner. I’m not one of the servants. Definitely not the son. I have, more than once, put my own needs and plans ahead of God’s. I have broken my covenant. I have neglected my call and as a result not produced the fruit of the kingdom. And so, I think of all the characters in the story, that’s where I see myself – as an evil tenant. There’s another way I’m like these evil tenants. More than once the landowner had the chance to get rid of these tenants. But he didn’t do it. He kept trying to reach them. He kept pursuing them. Just like they experienced the grace of the landowner, I have experienced God’s grace. Despite my failures, God continues to reach out to me. Continues to pursue me. It is by that grace that I can see my true role in this story. It’s through God’s grace that I can change my role and produce fruit.

Above all else, this is a story of failure and grace. A story of God’s determined pursuit of us, the wicked tenants. It’s a story of how God’s grace moves us from being like those evil tenants to being the people who produce proper fruit.

The second parable is another story of grace. A different look at God’s grace.

Matthew 22:1-14

New Living Translation (NLT)

22 Jesus also told them other parables. He said, ² “The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding feast for his son. ³ When the banquet was ready, he sent his servants to notify those who were invited. But they all refused to come!

⁴ “So he sent other servants to tell them, ‘The feast has been prepared. The bulls and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the banquet!’ ⁵ But the guests he had invited ignored them and went their own way, one to his farm, another to his business. ⁶ Others seized his messengers and insulted them and killed them.

⁷ “The king was furious, and he sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their town. ⁸ And he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor. ⁹ Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’ ¹⁰ So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing the proper clothes for a wedding. ¹² ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how is it that you are here without wedding clothes?’ But the man had no reply. ¹³ Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

¹⁴ “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

A wedding with no guests. Servants are killed. Cities are destroyed. Then the king tells his servants to invite everyone they find to the banquet. So they invite everyone. The good and the bad. We have a wonderful story about grace. The guests who come to the banquet did nothing to deserve their invitation. They were simply in the streets when the invitation came. And now they enjoy a banquet fit for a king! Grace!

And it’s easy to parallel that story to our own salvation. We are all offered the gift of salvation. Everyone. The good and the bad. When we accept that gift, we accept Jesus as our savior and we are redeemed. We are made righteous in the sight of God. End of story. Amen. Or not. The parable Jesus tells doesn’t end there.

The king finds one guy who is not wearing his wedding robe. So he goes to ask him why not. “Friend, where is your wedding robe?” The man had no answer. No excuse. So the king has his servants throw him out into the cold, dark night. But before that he tells them to bind him hand and foot. Then throw him out.

Seems like a harsh punishment, doesn’t it? Why is this man not dressed for the occasion? And why is his punishment so severe? Probably an even better question is what does this tell us about God?

Several weeks ago, I talked about cheap grace. Do you remember cheap grace?

German theologian Dietrich Bonheoffer defined it this way: “cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ." He said the attitude of cheap grace is one that says, “Of course you have sinned, but now everything is forgiven, so you can stay as you are and enjoy the consolations of forgiveness.” Bonheoffer taught about costly grace. Grace that requires change.

What if we look at the wearing of a wedding robe as an act of obedience? If being invited to the party is grace, what if wearing the robe is obedience? It is the cost of acceptance. The cost of grace. What does that say about God? What does it say about grace? What does it say about how we are to live as disciples of Jesus? In this story, we have a man unwilling to change. Ready to accept the king’s invitation, but unwilling to change himself. Grace requires repentance. It requires change.

Oscar Wilde wrote a poem called “The Doer of Good” that offers great examples of cheap grace. He tells of Jesus going into a town and seeing a beautiful mansion. A house that is opulent beyond belief. Jesus sees a man gorging on food and wine. He asks him why he lives so extravagantly. The man recognizes Jesus. And tells him, “I was a leper and you healed me. How else should I live?” Then Jesus goes outside and sees a beautiful woman dressed in flashy, crude clothes – a lady of the night. Wilde writes:

And behind her came, slowly as a hunter, a young man who wore a cloak of two colors. Now the face of the woman was as the fair face of an idol, and the eyes of the young man were bright with lust.

And [Jesus] followed swiftly and touched the hand of the young man and said to him, `Why do you look at this woman and in such wise?'

And the young man turned round and recognized Him and said, `But I was blind once, and you gave me sight. At what else should I look?'

And [Jesus] ran forward and touched the painted raiment of the woman and said to her, `Is there no other way in which to walk save the way of sin?'

And the woman turned round and recognized Him, and laughed and said, `But you forgave me my sins, and the way is a pleasant way.'

In these stories we see that despite our failings, God offers grace. The free gift of salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. But while God’s grace is freely given, we cannot truly respond to that grace without being changed. We cannot accept the invitation of salvation without changing from the clothes of our old life into our celebration clothes!

The truth is that we, just like the tenants in the first parable, are a short step away from evil. We are also one step away from the peace that passes all understanding, one step away from the love that cannot fail.  God pursues us, is determined that no should be lost. But the choice is ours. The good news is that despite our failings, God’s grace is available.