Luke 20:9–20

⁹And he began to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. ¹⁰When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. ¹²And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. ¹³Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.' ¹⁴But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.' ¹⁵And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others." When they heard this, they said, "Surely not!" ¹⁷But he looked directly at them and said, "What then is this that is written: "'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone'? ¹⁸Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him." ¹⁹The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. ²⁰So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.

Life sometimes seems so difficult. It seems like problems at work overwhelm us, insecurity about the future, will we have our job? Will I be able to pay my house payments? Will I be able to survive during retirement? Do I have enough in my retirement fund?

However, what if you knew that you were an heir to a great fortune? How would that make a difference? Sure, you would still have to struggle to get by day by day now, but just having the confidence that by the time you had to retire you would be financially set for the rest of your life would reduce the amount of worry and stress.

That the inheritance might be ours: that is what the tenants of the vineyard told themselves. Let us kill the son of the owner, "that the inheritance might be ours." Funny that they thought that by killing the rightful heir they would get the inheritance. It didn't work out that way, but that is what they thought.

But there is a vineyard today, the vineyard of God. We too desire to inherit the vineyard. That is why we believe in Christ. That is why we are here this morning. That is why we call ourselves Christians. That the inheritance might be ours.

But all too often we are like the tenants. We actually reject the true heir by thinking that somehow we can get the inheritance for ourselves without the heir. We think that because we are good Christians, faithful church members, or are third generation members of the Lutheran church, that we are for sure the heirs to the kingdom of God. "My grandfather was a founding member of Emmanuel church." After all, we do all the right things, say the right things, worship the right way, pray the right way. We are zealous to serve the church in committees, boards, holding offices and so forth. Surely, if anyone is going to inherit God's kingdom it will be me.

That is what St. Paul thought too. He was "circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless."

But such thinking is like the tenants in the vineyard: "Let us take it by force," they said. If we think we can get the kingdom of heaven by our own merits, by our own righteousness, by our own pedigree without the Son, apart from the rightful heir, then we are attempting to take it by force. We are shoving out the legitimate Son, rejecting him, trying to kill him and get him out of the way so we can get the inheritance.

The Pharisees responded, "Surely not!" Even their sense of justice did not allow for such a travesty, yet the tenants in the story represented them! They were doing exactly what the tenants were doing; rejecting the Son and expecting to get the inheritance for themselves. They thought that because they were descendents of Abraham; righteous under the law; good people, religious zealots, devout believers, that for that they would receive God's favor.

But the moral of the story is that only the Son was the legitimate heir. Only the Son of God can truly inherit God's kingdom. It is rightfully his, not ours. We have no claim on God's kingdom. We have no claim to the inheritance. We are not the heirs. Only Jesus Christ, the Son of God has any right to the inheritance.

The Son came to take the vineyard back for his Father. But the tenants wanted it for themselves so they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. They beat him, whipped him, mocked him, and led him out to a hill and hung him on a cross to die. Little did they know that by his death he earned the inheritance for himself. He had done what the Father sent him to do. He earned his reward and the vineyard was now his. For it was by his very death that the Son purchased the vineyard; the price was his own blood.

As you know, there is no inheritance without a death. It was Jesus, the Son himself, who had to die. By his cruel suffering, by his rejection, by his sacrifice on the cross for the sin of the world, he became the rightful and legitimate heir. For our rejection of him, he died to forgive us. Even as he was hanging on the cross he forgave those who so cruelly beat and scourged him. He forgives you for all the times you have rejected him too. He forgives you for all the times you have nailed him to the cross by your sin. He forgives you for thinking that you deserved the inheritance or could get it for yourself without him.

And in your baptism, you are joined to the Son in his death and in his resurrection. By your baptism God makes you sons of God, because you are united to Christ, clothed with him, and hidden in him. Therefore, in your baptism, you become one with the true heir. You become an heir with him. He gives you his inheritance. In fact, Jesus himself is your inheritance.

You have not and cannot take the vineyard for yourself, but baptized into the true Heir, you become heirs with him as the Spirit of God pours Jesus into you and makes you one with him.

As heir of Jesus Christ, everything he is and has becomes yours. We usually think of receiving an inheritance as something of the future; something that happens after someone dies. Yes, that's true, someone has to die. But that someone has already died. And that inheritance is yours now, today. It is not a thing of the future, but was given to you when you were baptized and died with Christ and were raised with him in his resurrection.

Too often we think of faith in Jesus as a thing for the future. We think of it as merely a ticket out of hell, or a pass to enter into a better place. We think of eternal life as something that begins when we die. Such thinking only separates it from today, it makes it only relevant in the future. By such thinking we divorce our daily life from our faith in God. It seems as if faith has no real bearing on our life here today.

But eternity is not some future thing, it began the moment you first believed; at your baptism. You are not waiting to become sons of God and future heirs to his kingdom, but you are now sons and heirs. Your life in Christ is the life you are living today. The Son already lives in you and you in him. He has already begun his work in you; changing you, transforming you, creating a new heart in you. He is now at work in you to transform the world around you. You are his soldiers, a mighty army to bring justice and hope to the world. Through you God is rescuing his world and bringing about his kingdom. The Gospel you proclaim, the love you give, the sacrifice you make for others, the least of these, that you might touch their lives with the love of Christ is transforming the world one life at a time. Through you, God is answering your prayer, "Thy kingdom come." It is coming as you reach out to your neighbor with Christ's love and compassion. As you share a word of forgiveness, as you reconcile your differences with your brother, as you give your life as a living sacrifice.

God is doing a new thing. By the death and resurrection of Christ, he is creating a new world, a world restored to the beauty and goodness of the Garden of Eden. He is healing our diseases, comforting our sorrows, touching people with his love. A new day is dawning. And He is bringing it to pass through you; his body, the church as you live in your daily walk of life, touching others with his love, feeding the poor, giving drink to the thirsty and clothing to the naked. His work will be complete on the Last Day, the day of His coming again. On that day your eyes will behold and you shall see Christ as he is. On that day you shall see a new thing, a new heaven and a new earth and the kingdom of God will be established for all eternity. The vineyard will be restored and you will receive the inheritance which is yours through the Son.

Amen.