Luke 20:9-20 (Lent 5C)                                                    
St. John, Galveston 4/3/22
Rev. Alan Taylor
 
+ In Nomine Jesu +
 
Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.
 
    The message this morning is based on the Gospel reading from Luke 20. The parable of the Wicked Tenants is about a Vineyard, the Church, which was planted in the world by God, the owner of the Vineyard. Having planted the Vineyard, the landowner sent servants into it to harvest fruit, so that the Vineyard might come to its fullest and richest purpose, that is, to produce fruit to the glory of the one who planted it. The Tenants, however, despised the servants of the landowner. The first, the second, and the third were mistreated and cast out of the Vineyard. Finally, the landowner decided to send His own dear Son into the Vineyard. The tenants killed Him too, apparently believing that they could take the Vineyard by force. 
 
    We’re going to delve into the parable here in a few minutes. First though, I’m going to ask you to bear with me for just a few minutes, as I read a portion of a letter, written in the middle of the 16th, about the year 1530, or so, to the people of Germany. 
 
    I quote, “Germany has never heard so much of God’s Word as now; at least we find nothing like it in history. If we permit it to go by without thanks and honor, it is to be feared we shall suffer a still more dreadful darkness and plague. Buy, dear Germans, while the fair is at your doors; gather in the harvest while there is sunshine and fair weather; use the grace and Word of God while they are here. For, know this, God’s Word and grace is a passing rainstorm, which does not return where it has once been. It came to the Jews, but it passed over; now they have nothing. Paul brought it to the Greeks, but it passed over; now they have the Turk. And you Germans must not think you will have it forever; for ingratitude and contempt will not suffer it to remain.”
 
    That letter, as you’ve probably guessed,  was written by Martin Luther. In the 16th century, the Gospel of God’s forgiveness and grace in His Son, Jesus Christ, had burst onto the scene, cutting through the morass of the doctrine of works righteousness, giving people hope and certainty regarding their relationship to God. The Lutheran Reformation was a remarkable period in the history of the German people, as well as, in the history of the world.  
 
    Luther though, recognized that people too often and too easily tend to take the Gospel for granted. Thus, he warned people what might happen if they disdained God’s word of grace and forgiveness, and if they ignored, or, worse yet, mistreated those who proclaimed the word to them. “Ingratitude and contempt (he said) will not suffer it (that is, the Gospel) to remain.”
 
    Sadly, Luther was right in what he had to say to the German people. Today, in areas like Brandenburg and Saxony, where Luther did most of his work, upwards of 70 to 75% of the people claim no religion at all. Folks, those are astounding numbers, considering that just 500 years earlier those very lands witnessed the rebirth of the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.  
 
    With the parable that Jesus told about those who despised His servants and the Gospel itself, and with the historical record of the German people, we have ample cause to look at our own situation and ask ourselves some pretty serious questions. Will the time come for us when the Gospel is so disdained, when it is so taken for granted, that it’s presence will have left our shores for other people and other nations?  
 
    For now, as a country, our statistics are considerably better than those of Saxony and Brandenburg. In fact, they’re pretty much the exact opposite, since 70% of Americans claim to be Christian. Perhaps though, the more pertinent statistic is what percentage of those who claim to be Christian actually put what they believe into practice by joining the Vineyard week after week to receive the gifts of God? Church, you know, used to be the excuse we would give for why we couldn’t do other things on Sunday. Now, those other things are often our excuse for why we can’t go to church.
 
    While it is true that we shouldn’t despise the preaching of God’s Word, since it can easily pass us by, leaving us with nothing, it is also true that God, in this case, the landowner of the Vineyard, is exceedingly long suffering and patient toward us. I’m reminded of the man who asked Jesus, “how many times must I forgive my brother when he sins against me, up to seven times?” The man who asked the question, no doubt thought he was being extremely patient and long suffering by allowing his brother seven strikes. Jesus though, said, “I tell you, not seven times, but 70 times 7.” That, of course, works out to be 490. But Jesus wasn’t setting an upper limit on forgiveness. He wasn’t saying, forgive your brother 490 times, but when he sins against you 491 times, you can lower the boom on him.

    In the Bible, seven is a number of fullness, or perfection. And so, the children of Israel were called to march around the city of Jericho seven times, which they did, before the walls of the great city crumbled. Namaan, the Syrian, who was afflicted with leprosy, was told to dip seven times in the Jordan river in order to be made well. In the case of the brother who wanted to know how many times he had to forgive his brother, seven seemed to be the right answer. Jesus though sets a seemingly infinite number, up to seventy times seven, (He said). Which is to say, repentance, the fruit the servants of the landowner were sent to harvest, is always met with forgiveness.

    I think sometimes of the faithfulness and patience of God in regard to a single place. Here in Galveston, for instance, and specifically, in this congregation. Over the last 104 years, or so, different men have stood in this pulpit to preach the Word of God. Some of you here this morning remember some of those pastors. Some preached through times of war. Others through times of peace. Some preached through disasters. Others through calm. Some preached through periods of health scares and crisis. Others through times of relative wellness. Conditions changed, but God’s gifts of grace and forgiveness never did and never will, because the very Word of God that calls for our repentance, also gives it, even as it gives us forgiveness and the promise of life everlasting.  

    And so, the landowner sent servant after servant into His Vineyard. And finally, He sent His own dear Son. The love of God for that which He planted, is without question, for what could not be taken by force, namely the Vineyard itself, was freely given.

     “I will rejoice in Jerusalem (says the Lord) and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit, they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.”
Indeed, 
Here might I stay and sing,   No story so divine;Never was love, dear King,   Never was grief like Thine.     This is my Friend,     In whose sweet praise     I all my days     Could gladly spend.
 
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
 
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.
 
+ Soli Deo Gloria +