Luke 20:9-19 Agatha Christie was the master of the murder mystery for more than 50 years. Her mysteries such “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Murder on the Nile” have been translated into 103 languages and have sold more than 2 billion copies world wide. Today Jesus tells us about MURDER IN THE VINEYARD and it is no mystery as to WHODUNIT? or as to the motive for the crime. Jesus’ Parable is based on two Old Testament Texts that were very familiar to his hearers-Isaiah chapters 5 & 8. Jesus’ story is designed to implicate his enemies in the plot to take His life. The first question we need to ask is… I. Whose vineyard is it? It belongs to God. Jesus said: 9) “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time.” Note well-in no way were these farmers THE OWNERS of the property. Anyone in Jesus’ audience that day would immediately recognize that Jesus’ story borrows from Isaiah chapter 5, an Old Testament parable. Isa. 5:1 “I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. 2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well”. It was HIS PROPERTY and all he wanted was the sweet fruit of obedient love from his people. Note well, before we get too busy throwing stones at the people of Jesus time, he’s also talking about you and me-about every sinner. The Isaiah story goes on to say: “Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.” What kind of bad fruit? Isaiah tells us: “The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.” The first world was destroyed because of violence. The Bible tells us in Genesis 6: 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is FILLED WITH VIOLENCE because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth I leave it to you to determine if we have made any progress since then in our attitude toward God. We didn’t create this world, we didn’t plant this vineyard; God did. Yet many live as though they are the rightful owners and need answer to no one for what they do. Dr. Bernard Nathanson was the Director of the Center for Reproductive Control in Denver. He resigned when it finally hit him how many lives were being taken and for what reasons. Pre-born children were killed because of a European vacation. Dr Nathanson, “I don’t want to have morning sickness on this trip.” Or there were Children killed because of a skiing trip and a dozen other selfish reasons. Dr. Nathanson said that he had presided over 600,000 deaths. We modern people may think we’re more civilized than the ancient people who sacrificed children to their gods, but we’re not. “He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness but heard cries of distress.” God still wants fruit. This fruit comes from being attached to Jesus-He is the Vine and we are the branches-Jesus said in John 15: 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. This is not a pretty story that Jesus tells, but then no murder story is. They were standing there with pre-meditated murder in their hearts. Look back at the text with me now: 11 He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty_handed. 12 He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. 13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’ 14 “But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

II. Bloodshed results from forgetting who owns the vineyard Bloodshed is the result when we forget that we must all answer to God. Judgment is waiting for those who reject the Owner’s claim upon their lives. Jesus could not possibly have spoken more clearly about this. Look at the next verse in the text. Jesus asked them: “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When the people heard this, they said, “May this never be!” 17 Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone ‘? 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”

III. The chief corner stone becomes the HEADSTONE for all who reject Him. Make no mistake-this was A POWER STRUGGLE. In their deliberations about Jesus’ execution, the Temple leaders told the truth for a change. They said (in John 11) 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” 49 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” In their desire to retain power, they crucified God’s only Son. This gross miscarriage of justice was actually God carrying out His own justice-in sacrificing His Son for the world’s sin-Paul writes in 2 Cor. 5:18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. There’s a lot of fuzzy, “politically correct” thinking about this today. Some folks think that Jesus is actually only one choice among many-You pick and choose what you want to believe-a kind of spiritual SMORGASBORD-take what you want from the many choices-one is as good as another. But Jesus says that he is the Chief Cornerstone. He said in v. 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” There is no injustice here-after all, the vineyard belongs to God, doesn’t it? He sets the policies. Reject them and you’re in as much trouble as were those who took the Lord’s life. We’re all sinners and we’re all responsible for Jesus’ death, but he has provided a way of escape. Paul writes about that in Rom. 3:25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood…. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished__26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. God has made the way to escape the justice sin demands, but there is no escape for neglecting such great salvation- Heb. 2: tells us: 2:1 We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. … 3 how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? You scream at a child who’s running into the street in front of a truck. This is the most strident parable Jesus ever told. But they were in great danger and he had to scream the truth in the ears. So Jesus had to warn them: 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” Albert Barnes explains the setting: “On whomsoever the stones falls, it will grind him to dust.” He’s referring to the custom of stoning as a punishment among the Jews. A scaffold was erected twice the height of the man to be stoned. Standing on its edge, he was violently struck off by one of the witnesses: if he died by the blow and the fall, nothing further was done; if not, a heavy stone was thrown down on him, which at once killed him. So the Saviour speaks of the “falling” of the stone on his enemies. They who oppose him, who reject him, and who continue impenitent, shall be crushed by him in the day of judgment, and perish forever. You don’t want to be on the wrong side on the last day. Stay as close to Jesus as the branch is to the vine. Bear fruit for him and enjoy his welcome into eternal life: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

Pastor Wayne Dobratz Trinity Lutheran Church Hampton, IA