Sermon notes from Sunday 9 July 2017 Keswick Portstewart
Luke 20 verses 1 - 19
It must be great being famous, always being recognised wherever you go, getting the best seats in restaurants but I am sure there are occasions when it is difficult. Your phone is tapped and your every move is watched and photographed. There is the awkwardness of people recognising you, your name is on the tip of their tongue but sometimes they don`t quite know it. Imagine ever having to say "do you know who I am?" There are occasions when failing to recognise someone could get you into trouble. When you look into a mirror as you are driving along and see a blue light flashing you know what that authority represents. Tonight`s episode is about recognising authority. Our story starts with people assuming they had authority over Jesus. They found him the hardest to stomach, they couldn`t stand him. Their response was clear - they wanted him dead. He was a threat.
We see in these opening verses an authority enraged. He had previously arrived in Jerusalem with a certain amount of fanfare. He goes into the temple and overturns the money changers and tables there. They could be forgiven for thinking he was quite mad. In chapter 20 where is he? "One day in the temple courts". He returned to the scene of the crime. There he is teaching and proclaiming the good news. It is no surprise that the temple authorities want to have a quiet word with him. All the Jewish groups have ganged up together and the question is reasonable - "who do you think you are?" In other words "what gives you the right to stand here and teach after all?" They had no recollection in their law about anybody having permission to chase the money changers out of the temple. It was not going to happen on their watch least of all by an uneducated Galilean. "Who do you think you are?" It is a question people have asked about Jesus, many of our unchurched friends have asked us in the past. They have probably said to us "what gives you the right, why bother us with all this God stuff?" This question in Luke 20 was quite ironic. Before his triumphal entry there was a deliberate statement. Jesus was fulfilling an actual prophecy that God`s king would arrive on a donkey, staking his claim, his authority in the temple. He was well within his rights to say "do you not realise who I am?" Jesus is not explicit here. He is the absolute master of dealing with conflict situations and how to handle hostile crowds. His timing is not quite right yet but what he tends to achieve here is to throw back their question by asking another question. It looks like an evasion but it is in fact a brilliant response. He asks the question "John`s baptism - from heaven or of man?" John was like the warm up act. He deliberately wanted to catch them on the hop. He puts them in an impossible position - verses 5 and 6. The alternative is too dangerous to think about. Popular opinion mattered. They were stumped if they accepted John as who he was. They could never admit to that. Why? Because that would jeopardise their own authority. He was a threat, a vested interest was of more interest to them than the truth. Human nature has not changed very much. It was far too much of a risk. In verse 7 they replied "we do not know." Jesus replied "why should I answer you then?" It was not an evasion but an answer. Not knowing the answer perfectly is a reasonable response but having the integrity to find out the answer is of course. Who is this Jesus? Who does he think he is? Who do I think he is? Sometimes it is easy to say "I don`t know" but as long as we do not sit on the fence. Jesus knows exactly what they are thinking.
An authority usurped - verse 9 onwards. To put this in a contemporary scenario - it is like a multinational corporation that has factories scattered throughout the world and is run by a man sitting on a yacht in the Mediteranean. I guess putting it from him his perspective - to be the owner of this vineyard while being completely conned. In Jesus` area the reality of this story was that there were certain absentee landlords. This man had a vineyard and he ensured he had tenants in it. It was reasonable from time to time to expect some if not all of the produce to come his way. There was no email or telephone. He has to send an agent to collect the rent - verse 10. The absence of their boss did not make their hearts grow fonder. Their behaviour is awful really. They beat the servant and sent him away empty handed. In verse 11 they did the same to the second servant. When it came to the third servant they wounded him and threw him out. It gets progressively worse. We can marvel at the violence that degenerates with each new person that is sent. The owner has only one option left - to send his son - verse 13 "whom I love, whom I trust, who I can rely on." Perhaps they will respect the son. Verse 13 is the most poignant verse in the bible. It seems naive, at worse it seems truly tragic. Think of this owner for a moment. What did you make of him? What has got into his head? Would you have done what he did? Then it gets really nasty - verse 14. Have you ever thought of the logic of these tenants? Did they honestly think that the owner would turn the vineyard over to them? This is the last man to stand. They have squatters rights. Kill the son then they would be sitting pretty, master of all they see. What is to stop the owner coming himself? There is one major flaw and that was it. What is the biggest surprise of this story? The tenants or the owners behaviour? Surely it is the owner. Why doesn`t he evict them after the first servant was hurt? In a legal case they would have been out like a shot. The landlord gave them chance after chance to do the right thing which they resolutely ignored every time. He shows remarkable patience and trust but also gullibility which could be translated as weakness. This is extraordinary and it asks the inevitable question - verse 15 "what then shall the owner of the vineyard do? He shall come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others." We might say that this is the correct action, who would not want some kind of justice in this situation? The punishment fits the crime. Give the vineyard to others. Fair enough after all they have done. Kill the tenants that seems harsh but it is just a story. Some are probably getting impatient. What has this to do with us today? Verse 19 the leaders, the people who challenged him at the beginning, they knew that he had spoken this parable against them. That is the key underlying this parable. They get it. They felt that Jesus was deliberately and specifically targetting them but why did they think that? Of course they wanted to arrest him.
An authority identified. Isaiah chapter 5 verses 1 - 7. This parable has its origins in the prophet Isaiah. Jesus updates this parable and adds a few details of his own. The vineyard is the house of the Lord almighty. Let us apply that prophecy into Jesus` parable. The vineyard owner is God himself. The tenants are the religious leaders of Israel who cultivate the people of Israel to produce fruit of a good conduct and life. How could they do that when they themselves were self centred? Who then are the servants? Isaiah doesn`t have the detail of that but Jesus has - they are the prophets God sends to the house of Israel to produce fruit, to call the people back to himself. It doesn`t end with 2 or 3 servants but rather scores are sent, some of whose writings are included in our bibles. He sends one after the other saying come back to me and their fate was often no better than the servants in Jesus` parable. Who is the son in the parable? Jesus is talking about himself. Perhaps they will respect him. These leaders immediately grasped what he was on about. Jesus was defending his actions in overturning the tables. He was God`s last resort, calling on God`s people to bear the fruit of obedience. There is something even more astonishing to realise. Jesus is a threat to the authority of these leaders. It is as if by killing God`s son they would then not be troubled by God himself anymore but that is insane. This is the logical conclusion for killing the son. The irony is that they actually know full well who he is. Why did they ask when they knew? Why kill him? It is like speeding up to avoid the police just beause they have the authority to catch you. They wanted to kill Jesus because he is a threat to their independence from God if he is the rightful heir of Israel. God sent him to restore the world to himself. Who does Jesus think he is? The Lord, my Lord, your Lord. We do not like that very much. I would be surprised if every one was happy with that thought - that there is an absolute ruler over all. There is a huge incentive not just to reject him but to kill him. This act is part of what the bible calls sin. I think one of the problems I have is to use the word sin, it is a word that has unhelpful connotations. Sin is related to all that. Sin`s best definition is living in God`s world as if it was mine. Living as a vineyard owner when we are only tenants. It is having ideas above our own station, usurping a throne that does not belong to us. Did you have any sympathy with the owner of the vineyard? Should that state of affairs have been allowed to continue? We don`t give Jesus a moments thought. We think he can be consigned as a relic of history. It is of course people`s preogative to think that, they have every right to think that but he is far more than just a historical figure. It is fascinating that we might object to the owner coming back. That is not what worried the people. He exposes the folly of that by quoting scripture again - verse 17 and the consequences of it in verse 18 are deeply serious. The Christian story does not end as the parable ends. He was rejected but then God made him the corner stone. Why? By defeating defeat, by being defeated. What else is the crucifixion if not a defeat? He is executed as the public enemy of the state. The 2 men on the road to Emmaeus were leaving because they thought he was the one redeemer of Israel but had now died. He defeats death and rises again proving to be the Lord he claimed to be. He shows he has the authority to clean up God`s temple, to come down and boss people around because he is the Lord. Who do you think you are? Here is the amazing thing - he is the Lord but not a dictator. God revealed through Jesus. He is the God of unique mercy. He dies on the cross as a means of no-one having to be cast out of the vineyard. They wanted to get him dead but that is the very act of mercy. He knows what we are like and what we want. We want to live in his world as if it is ours, as if he doesn`t exist. It is about me and the way I do things. He knows what we are like. That is why he died on the cross. That is why he showed the impossible. He sends his son. Perhaps they will respect him. It is so poignant. He is the Lord who forgives, who gives the tenants chance after chance after chance. He gives that to us too. Not just once or twice but 70 times 7. We even tried his religion, Christianity as if it is all about us and how we do things. Who do we think we are? He is the Lord not us. Thank God he is the Lord of mercy otherwise we would be damned. For some this is really new. You genuinely do not know what to think. Do not use sitting on the fence as an excuse. These leaders refused to face up to reality. Having gone through all the motions as if it is your world, if that is a realisation you are making tonight do not go away without thinking that through. Look how dangerous and challenging that is is - verse 18. Who is the Lord? Thank God he is the Lord of mercy. I hope we realise that this realisation is a reminder of his authority. It is not about being threatened but rather facing reality, realising who he is - the Lord. He rides into the kingdom city on a donkey. That is not normal but he is still the king. He uses that authority to bring kindness and mercy and forgiveness. Our Father is the one who sent the son to show forgiveness, mercy and justice. Who do you think he is?
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