The Son and the Stone

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In today's Gospel lesson, Jesus tells a parable to the people, neither the subject nor the interpretation of which are particularly difficult to grasp. The theme of the careful vineyard owner and his unfruitful vineyard echo throughout the Scriptures, and especially from the Song of the Vineyard in Isaiah chapter five.

In the parable, as St. Luke records it, the Lord of the vineyard planted the vineyard and then leased it to some tenant-farmers. Then he went away for a long time. At the right time, he sent a servant to collect the rent. But the tenants would not give it, and instead they beat the servant and threw him out. The landlord sent a second, and then a third servant. And each time the tenants treated the servant worse than the one before. But still no rent paid.

Finally, the landlord says to himself, “What shall I do? I will send my son, the beloved; perhaps they will respect this one.” But the wicked tenants saw instead an opportunity to kill the heir and seize his inheritance for themselves. So they killed the beloved son. Therefore, the landlord came, destroyed the wicked tenants, and gave the vineyard to others.

This is one parable which Jesus does not need to explain, for the people, and the scribes and chief priests hanging around the crowds, all understood it. After all, they had the prophet Isaiah to explain it to them centuries before. And the story had not changed. The Lord of the vineyard was still the Lord of Hosts, and the unfaithful and wicked tenants were the leaders of Israel, specifically the religious elite.

In this parable, in contrast to Isaiah's telling, you can see rather clearly the progression of the history of Israel. The Lord planted the vineyard, tended and watered it, and made it ready to bear good fruit for Himself. That is, He made a covenant and sealed Himself to it, to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to be the God of the people of Israel and that they would be His people. He brought them into the land of Canaan, into the promised land flowing with milk and honey. He made them who were no people to be a chosen people and gave the wanderers a land and an eternal throne. And He looked for them, His chosen and beloved planting, to bear good fruit – to keep the Torah, to honor His Word and do His statutes.

But they produced stink-fruit. The people of Israel gave off sour wine which set their children's teeth on edge. They whored after foreign kings and pagan idols. They forsook the fear and love of God and made allegiances with false friends. They devoured the poor, the orphans, and the widows, and fattened themselves from the land.

In all this, the Lord sent to His people servants to bring forth what was rightly His. He sent the prophets to speak to His people of old in many and various ways. At various times and in myriad ages, the Lord sent His messengers to His people, to call them to repentance and faith, to call them to offer the right sacrifices of a broken and contrite spirit.

And to what end? “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!” (Matthew 23:37). Over and over again, the people of Israel rejected the prophets in every age. They ignored Isaiah, imprisoned Jeremiah, and exiled Amos. Elijah had to flee into the desert in fear of his life. The prophets called out the the people with the Word of the Lord, but they would not listen. The tenants would not pay the rent. The vineyard would not produce good fruit.

So the Lord of the Vineyard cries out: “What shall I do? I will send my Son!”

The Lord sends His Son, the Beloved. Now, at this point, many person might wonder, what sort of father is this landlord? After all, these tenants have already shown a propensity for violence and a blatant disregard for the rights of the landlord. Does this guy really think that sending his beloved son will actually get the point across and cause these ne'er-do-wells to pay up? Come on now!

But that is exactly what the Father does. Into the vineyard that produces stink-fruit He pours more water and fertilizer. To the tenants who beat, shame, and mistreat His servants He sends His Son. To the city that kills the prophets and stones the messengers of God He sends His final, ultimate messenger to call them back to faith in Him.

And yes, the Father does know what will happen to His Son. He knows full well that they will lay hands on Him, put Him through a sham trial, beat and scourge Him, and put Him to death for their own crimes.

In like manner, the Father knows what your sins are and what your sinful nature is going to lead you to do with His Word, over and over again. He knows that you will crucify the Lord in your heart by your unfaithfulness and unrepentance. He knows that you will stone the prophets by ignoring their proclamation and rejecting their calls for repentance. He knows that you will lay hold of His gifts and produce with them not the fruit of the Spirit but the stink-fruit of self-righteousness and pride.

By your sins and unbelief, you have laid unholy hands on the Beloved Son, also, to put Him to death. For all mankind is complicit in His death, because He died for the sins of all mankind. The scribes and the chief priests may have been the orchestrators, but they knew that it was expedient that one man die for all, than that all die. For those who killed the Son, those who rejected the chief cornerstone, they will be destroyed by the Lord and Father of all.

For the Beloved Son is sacrificed for the sake of all people, even the wretched tenants who would usurp the Father's vineyard. This Son, the messenger the tenants killed and the stone that the builders rejected, is now the Lord of all and the chief cornerstone.

The Beloved Son was twisted and disfigured in agony and death upon the cross for your sins and for the sins of all people. And yet, in the Great Reversal, God has made that cross to be the device by which Jesus is shown to be the chief cornerstone, the stone by which all others are measured and judged.

In this great reversal, the Son is given over into death in order that you may indeed lay hold of His inheritance and claim the title of heir for yourself. His riches are now yours, and your filth and rags remain upon Him, nailed to His cross. His righteousness is yours, and your sinfulness is buried with Him.

Our Lord Christ, the Beloved Son of God, is now the chief cornerstone of His people. You are measured not according to the ruler of the world, but according to His line and measure. He is made the touchstone and cornerstone of your faith, because He has died and been raised to be the substance and the object of your faith and trust. In Him you trust and build your faith, because He is the foundation upon which the house of God is built. He is the good seed which was planted in the vineyard, which was planted into the heart of the earth, which is now planted into your heart, that you might produce good fruit.

The stone has fallen upon you and crushed you under the weight of the Law. You are broken in spirit and crushed in heart, but your faith has been rebuilt upon the same stone. You stumble and fall upon the rock of the Law, because your sinful nature cannot keep its demands. But you continue in faith, being built upon the chief cornerstone and grafted into the good and perfect vine.

The standard is set – Christ Jesus is the chief cornerstone. He is the foundation of your faith. And against this standard, all else is counted as loss. Count your former glories, your pride and your joy in this world, all that you are and have, as rubbish and loss. Be found in Him who is your life and light and salvation. Be built upon the Rock that stands firm and never wavers. Know Him and the power of His resurrection, that you may attain the resurrection from the dead.

His oath, His covenant and blood

Support me in the raging flood;

When ev'ry earthly prop gives way,

He then is all my hope and stay (LSB 575.3).

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.