Matthew 21:33-43 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost Sunday, October 8, 2023 “Tell Us a Story of Reckless Patience”
I was sitting quietly in my house about a week and a half ago when I heard a strange and sudden sound. It was loud and seemed close, not in the house but nearby. I had no idea what it was, though. It wasn’t as sharp as something like a gun firing or a firework exploding, but it had a definite pop to it. Only later did I find out what had happened when there were police cars on our block arresting the drunk driver who had hit a car almost directly across the street. It perhaps goes without saying that I am thankful that no one else appeared to be hurt, but that is certainly not due to the decisions or actions of that driver. What she did was reckless. Wouldn’t you know it, in the time between that event and today, I have read news reports about two other incidents involving drunk drivers here in Tucson. In one, a driver was going around 100 miles per hour not terribly far from here on Grant Road. In the other, sadly, a pedestrian in a crosswalk was struck and killed by a drunk driver. If you drink too much and drive a car, you are being reckless. You are not being concerned about the consequences or the dangers that are all too likely because of your decisions and actions. I understand reckless, but I don’t know that until preparing for this particular Sunday I had ever considered how patience could be reckless. Patience is a virtue the adage says, and it is true that God wants his followers to be patient and kind after the pattern he himself has set. The story that Jesus has for us today, however, invites us to think about patience that seems to fit that unique description: reckless. Jesus tells this story right on the heals of his previous. Those who were here at Grace last week heard the story about two brothers, one who said he would not do what his father asked but then did it anyway and one who did the opposite: claimed he would do what he was told but never did. Jesus pointedly concluded that story with a warning to his audience that they were not listening or believing John the Baptist’s call to repent. And then he has another story for them. Like many of Jesus’ parables, it starts out in a seemingly ordinary way: a landowner builds on his land in order to have a fully functioning vineyard. He plants the vines, fences them in, builds a watchtower, and digs a winepress. The vineyard has everything it needs. It is all set to produce fruit and wine. But the landowner would not be the one to tend the vineyard. He leased his property to farmers who would do that. Everyone was on board with the idea that when the harvest came, some of the fruit would go to the owner as payment for his land and his efforts. These sorts of arrangements if not commonplace were certainly familiar in the land of Judea at that time. But the payment didn’t come. The owner never received his fruit. The owner sent servants to go get what he was owed and instead of giving it to them, the tenant farmers beat and killed and stoned the servants. There’s a reason this story is known as the parable of the wicked tenants. The story has taken a turn to the gruesome and barbaric. And it only gets worse. Even more servants are sent, but they all are treated the same way as the previous. And then the owner makes a decision that we would have to consider reckless. He sends his son. Then, in a response that seems to surprise only the owner, the tenant farmers throw the son out of the vineyard and kill him. Suppose you were one of the Jewish leaders standing near Jesus and hearing this story. Would you think of Isaiah 5 and recognize that the vineyard represents the people of Israel? I suspect you would. The men who were there and did listen understood that this parable concerned them. They were the tenant farmers who were supposed to lead God’s people and help them do what God wanted, help them produce fruit. Instead, they did the opposite. God sent prophets, and they rejected and even killed them. He sent more prophets with the same result. Think about what this story says about God’s patience. The men standing with Jesus needed God’s patience, but they weren’t the only ones. Over centuries, God was patient with the Jewish leaders who were rebelling against him and his Word and leading his people away. And he sent prophets, and nothing changed.