Shocked
Text: Luke 20:9-20
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Niels Bohr, a scientist who won the Nobel Prize in physics and was instrumental in laying the foundation for the field of quantum theory—so an expert in the subject—was quoted as saying, “Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it.” This man, who was the cutting edge leader in the field, said it because quantum theory completely flipped the understanding of the universe on its head. Everything we knew about how everything works—gravity, planets, stars, solar systems, chemicals, everything we’ve seen and observed—was useless when it came to understanding what was happening at the atomic level. The parts of an atom behaved in ways that could never be predicted by our old ways of understanding everything. Every new discovery in the field was dumbfounding. And if someone was not shocked by what they heard, they had not understood how everything we had known had changed.
Jesus presents a parable to us today that’s filled with shocks at every turn. We hear of a man who plants a vineyard. It’s his property, what grows there rightfully belongs to him. But he’s also leaving for a long time, so he rents it out to some tenant workers. The agreement with tenant workers of this kind—as were widely known, understood, and employed in the ancient world—was that they would tend and work the vineyard, and then at harvest time they could keep a portion of what was grown. But because it was the landlord’s vineyard, he would receive the harvest that was his agreed upon amount. So when the time for the harvest came, the lord of the vineyard sent a servant to collect what was his. And now for the first scandalizing shock: the tenants flat out refused to pay. Not only that, they also beat the servant and sent him back to the lord of the vineyard emptyhanded—a clear message of spite and rebellion. In a perhaps surprising turn, the master sends another servant, but they do the same to him. Then a third; but they wound him and physically throw him out of the vineyard.
The lord of the vineyard wonders what could work to shake these tenant farmers out of their hatefulness. In what’s likely a surprise to us, he sends his own son to these violent men, hoping they will respect him. But the plot thickens as they see him and conspire, “This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance will be ours.” That’s a shocking twist in logic—for tenants to think that what they’re renting will become theirs if they do something as evil as killing the landlord’s son. But they do it anyway. So what will the owner of the vineyard do? Perhaps the first predictable thing we can find in this parable: Jesus says the owner will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.
Those who are not shocked by this parable cannot possibly have understood it. But the scribes and chief priests were shocked—they knew exactly what Jesus was getting at. They knew the Scriptures inside and out, so they knew where Jesus was drawing for this parable. He was recasting Isaiah’s song of the vineyard: “Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.” But this was not just a song about grapes and agriculture. Isaiah continued, as the scribes and chief priests well knew: “The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting.” Israel had played the role of an unfruitful vineyard. Jesus here was saying that those tending to it—the scribes and chief priests—were the wicked tenants who pretended as if it were all theirs, refusing to give the Lord the fruits He desired.
Those who are not shocked by the parable have not understood it, but they did. So they blurted out, “Surely not! Surely he won’t take the vineyard from us!” And now for the final shock: Jesus looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” The Cornerstone, stable and steady, upon which everything is built, will destroy. Yes, it’s job will be to serve as the foundation of the Lord’s house of living stones, but if there’s any threat to that house, if there’s rejection of the Cornerstone that the Lord has chosen, if there are any who try to seize what belongs to the Lord as if it were their own, the Cornerstone will break them to pieces or crush them to dust.
The scribes and chief priests realize that this parable had been told against them, so they fall right into its fulfillment and start their conspiracy to kill the Lord’s Son. They gather spies and look for an opportunity to catch Him and turn Him over to the governor, who alone could pronounce the death sentence they thirsted for.
But perhaps the greatest shock of all is yet to be revealed. For in their worry about the vineyard being taken from them, the scribes and chief priests didn’t even think to ask who the next tenants would be. Or maybe they had their suspicions, but were too gobsmacked to take it in. The biggest shock is that God will give the vineyard to sinners, to Gentiles, to tax collectors and prostitutes. He will give it to the tenants who will give Him the fruit of repentance and faith. That’s what He wants—repentance, turning to Him, and trusting in His grace and mercy.
It’s a surprise to us that the kingdom of God is not given to those who have the greatest outwardly appearing righteousness. It’s not the ones who talk the most about their good works that inherit the kingdom. It’s those who have been forgiven who receive it. It’s those who have had their wrestling matches with God, who have cried out to Him in frustration and grief, those who have prayed until it’s just a whisper, those who have sprinted down paths leading away from Him until they hit a dead end and had to return in humility. Those who are given the vineyard are those who put their faith in the Son’s death at the hands of sinful men. It’s the ones who trust that they will be given the vineyard, the kingdom, the new heavens and new earth, not because of what they’ve done or not done, but because the Lord’s Son has died and willed it to them. They will be built on this Cornerstone and made part of the Lord’s house, His eternal temple, with Him in His presence forever.
Yes, you have sinned as surely as the tax collectors and sinners of Jesus’ day; even as surely as the scribes and chief priests did. It may even be the exact same sins. But you have put down your weapons. You have seen the Lord’s Son dead on the cross in the place of rebels and wicked tenants. And you have handed over the fruit the Lord of the vineyard wants. You did it this morning when you said, “Almighty God, have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and lead us to everlasting life.” That’s what’s due to Him. That’s the fruit He wants to receive. That’s the beginning of a plentiful harvest that He will love and approve of, as you’re forgiven and changed from the inside out.
As we enter these penultimate days of Lent, look not to your own self-declarations of how good you are, or what you think you deserve from God, or why you haven’t done what He has said you should. Don’t look to excuses or self-justifications. It’s shocking to hear that the Lord desires to show such mercy to sinners. It’s shocking to hear that even your best works won’t save you. It should be shocking to hear that someone—God Himself—died so that the vineyard is given to you. Live in that state of surprise. Be astounded. Let it drive you to repentance, to the cross. And there, be forgiven. Experience the surprising joy of resurrection and the promise of eternal life. In the name of Jesus, the Crucified One. Amen.
