Matthew 21:28-32 October 11, 2020 Grace-Vail and Grace-Benson We like options. Go to the office, or work from home. Not: you must work from home because everything is locked down and you can’t go out of your house. Take a walk outside, or read a book inside. Not, you better stay inside because it is so incredibly hot that you’ll be singed if you stay outside any longer than 5 minutes. We like options, and God has determined to give a certain amount of options. Jesus’ story teaches us how to handle options in life. We have a lot to learn because we don’t always do so well with the options we have. You go to the kitchen thinking, “I’ll have a salad,” but along the way you see a donut, and the salad is not interesting anymore. You start a day thinking, “I’ll listen to God,” but along the way all kinds of things get you off track and derailed, and at the end of the day you wonder, “what went wrong?” Though God could choose to exclude all other options besides himself, he chooses to leave other options available to us, yet he leads us to grow in the habit of choosing him over all else. Jesus told this story on the Tuesday before he died. On Sunday he had entered Jerusalem to a crowd praising him as king, waving palm branches. When the ultra-religious leaders and the experts in the Old Testament law saw, they were disgusted and upset. These were people who if you asked them, “Will you do the will of God?” They would have said, “Yes that’s exactly what we want, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.” Jesus was there to say, “But what if what God wants is for you to believe in what John the Baptist said? What if to do the will of God is to believe in and follow me?” They were totally unwilling and unprepared to do that. The option was open to them; but they were refusing. So Jesus told them a simple story to put his finger on the problem and point them in the direction of a solution. There was a master, a vineyard, and 2 sons. He told them to go and work in his vineyard. He gave the command, but he didn’t force them to obey, he left the option open to them. Now I’m going to add a few details to the story to make it clear, there were options available to these 2 sons. What options? I’ll start with the second son. He got up in the morning. His father said, “Go to the vineyard and work.” The son said, “Yes.” He thought, “I’m an obedient son, I do what my father wants. I’ll go to the vineyard today.” But when he got to the vineyard, he took a look, and it was kind of ordinary. Kind of basic. Nothing exciting that he could see. He thought, “You know, this isn’t really the place for my skills to be put to the best use. I’m a talented person, I’m a smart person, I can do more for my father than work in the vineyard today. I need a place where I can really do something significant.” Then he remembered the olive grove. It was right next to the vineyard. The olive grove was a place where he could really reach his full potential. It was more of a challenge for him, it would mean more exertion and effort, and he was up for it. So he went to the olive grove, and worked hard all day cultivating and digging and moving things around arranging them the way he thought best. All the while he thought, “Wait til my father sees what I’ve been up to.” The first son got up that day, and he wasn’t thinking about the olive grove or the vineyard. He was thinking about the sugar cane field. There was so much sweet sugar, and it grew so easily, it took almost no effort at all. He’d gone there many times before, and that was his intention. His father came
and said, “Go to the vineyard and work.” He said, “I will not.” On the way to the sugar cane field though, he started thinking about those other times he’d gone to the sugar cane field. The sugar was sweet at first, but there always came a point where he’d start feeling sick, and weak. At the end of those other days, he felt so ashamed. He wouldn’t even go to see his father, he couldn’t stand in his presence after wasting all that time in the sugar cane field. Then he remembered his father’s command. “Go to the vineyard and work.” He thought, “I know what the sugar cane has for me; temporary sweetness along with long-term shame. Why not go to the vineyard instead? I’ll just see what’s there today.” So he changed course and went to the vineyard. And he really enjoyed it. There was more hard work to be done, but he found it satisfying. There was actually just as much sweetness in the vineyard, only without the negative aftertaste like the sugar cane. At the end of the day, he was amazed at how fast the time had gone, how much he enjoyed himself, how happy he would be to spend some time with his father and tell him all about it. He passed the olive grove and thought, “There’s no way I’d ever be prepared to work there, I don’t have what it takes, but my father never asked me to go there. He wants me in the vineyard, and that’s where I want to be.” The 2 sons went to their father. He asked the second son, “Did you go to the vineyard like you said you would?” And the son said, “No, dad, I went to the olive grove instead. I can’t wait til you see what I did. I really accomplished so much for you. It was so much better than the vineyard would have been.” The father’s heart sank. He knew that the next day, the olive grove was going to be leveled. Every tree uprooted and burned. A deadly tree disease had started in the grove and the only solution was to destroy it all. The son’s work was absolutely worthless. And it showed that his son thought he knew better than his father. He knew just how much better it would have been for his son to be in the vineyard instead of the olive grove. With a heavy heart he turned to the other son, he figured this son had been in the sugar cane field like so many other days before. But he asked anyways, “What about you, what did you do today?” And his son told him, “Dad, I finally listened to you. I was on my way to the sugar cane, but I changed courses and ended up at the vineyard, and it was great. I worked all day, and I think it might have done some good. But the time went fast, I even enjoyed some sweet grapes.” The father was so glad for his son. He figured there would be some days that he’d go back to the sugar cane field; but he knew the vineyard was the best place for his son, his son had experienced its goodness, and the desire to go back would only grow the more time he’d spend in the vineyard. Now the story is simple; but the application isn’t. Which of the 2 sons characterizes you and God? Which of the 2 are you more similar to? We need to admit and see that we all can be both. We all have been both at various times. You have your own sugar cane field that allures you with its sweetness, but which has produced the bitter regret and shame and wastefulness. Perhaps harder to see and admit is that the olive grove holds a certain attraction for us as well. This desire is much more subtle, but perhaps even more deadly to our relationship with our heavenly father. The shocking point that Jesus makes in explaining this story: If you were to put two people side by side: on the one side, a prostitute, someone who earns their livelihood from having sex for money;
and on the other side you have a morally upstanding, ultra religious person, and neither is connected to Jesus through faith; which of the 2 is more likely to enter the kingdom of God? We’d think, well, at least the religious person seems to care? At least they seem to want to be close to God. But Jesus said, “No the sex workers are entering the kingdom of heaven ahead of the ultra religious morally upstanding. Or: take 2 people; 1 is a greedy businessman who cares only about profit, who is constantly selling people out, ripping people off for money, and put them next to a charity giving, generous and law abiding citizen; and if both do not have faith in Jesus; which is more likely to come to him? Jesus said, “Not the charitable law abiding one, the tax collectors are entering in front of the experts in Old Testament law.” How could that be? The reason is the tax collectors and sex workers were in the sugar cane field. A person like that usually, not always, but usually they’re not really satisfied with themselves. They go there because it’s the best they know. It beats the dry barren desert, but they know sex work and greedy theft is not really a sustainable solution to having a happy life. They’re usually more open to going to the vineyard and at least checking it out. The experts in the law, the ultra-religious chief priests, they thought they had the answers. They thought the olive grove, not the vineyard, was the place to be. That was as good as it gets, a place where you work hard and you reap the benefits of your hard work. You’re not stealing, you’re not selling yourself for sex. God must be more pleased with you that those others. But Jesus said no, you don’t know how deep sin stains and pervades if you think that your performance for God will save you. You’re in a worse position because you think everything’s good. You’re not open to the vineyard at that point, because you’re so confident of your work in the olive grove. So the implication for you and I is; yes beware of the sugar cane; don’t go looking to pay money for sex, by the way, the word for prostitute is porneia in Greek. It’s where out word for pornography comes from. Don’t go to pornography. Don’t be a tax collector, someone whose bottom line is profit and you’ll stoop to any low to get there. But if you find yourself in those behaviors, and you feel awful about it, and you wonder, would God ever have me in his vineyard? The answer is yes. Hear in this parable a word of hope. Leave the sugar cane field behind, and go to his vineyard. But perhaps more dangerous and more needing to be avoided for people who make a habit of worshipping on Sundays, who have a history of hearing and desiring God’s Word, who really want to do God’s will; be aware of the olive grove. Be careful not to think that what you can do for God in the olive grove is more significant and important than what he has done for you in the vineyard. Beware of thinking that you know better than God where you should spend your time and energy and resources. He wants you in his vineyard. Don’t let the illusion of the olive grove derail you. There’s danger in trusting religious-ness and moral excellence apart from Christ. The experts in the law and the ultra-religious priests where the ones who killed Jesus. The tax collectors didn’t do that. The prostitutes didn’t do that. The religious elite did. When your pride takes over in your heart, you can also functionally push Jesus aside, off the throne of your heart. When you and I stop paying attention to how much we need Jesus, when we forget how similar to the sex workers and greedy businessmen we are; we are in danger of losing the life only Jesus can give. We’re in danger of thinking,
“the olive grove is the place for someone like me,” and despising the vineyard. We need to repent. We need to change our mind, like the first son. The word has to do with a change of mind, but also a change of feeling. To feel differently about the vineyard, along with feeling differently about the sugar cane and the olive grove. How can we do that? It’s not as easy as telling yourself, repent. Change the way you feel. That’d be like seeing a salad next to a donut and saying, repent of the donut. Want the salad more. In most cases that kind of self-command doesn’t work. We need the beauty of the salad to be made more clear to us, and the ugliness of the donut. We need the true nature of the vineyard to be shown for what it is; along with the true nature of the olive grove and the sugar cane field as well. What can cause this change in us? Imagine that in the story there were actually 3 sons. We can act like both of the first two. But the third son is different. This son only always went to the vineyard every day, never a thought of the olive grove or the sugar cane. But this son was willing to be treated as the first and second son deserve. Jesus came; and if he had wanted to; he could have arranged for a prostitute or tax collector to take his place on the cross. They would have deserved it, not him. But instead he took their place, he took your place for the times that you have treated your sexuality like yours to do with what you want. He took your place for the times when greed has caused you to take advantage of others. All to let you in, to make a place for sex workers and pornograhers; to make a place for greedy businessmen and ruthless theives. At the same time, Jesus, if he had wanted to, when he was standing before the high priest and the ruling jewish council on an early Friday morning; he could have had angels come, and tie them up, and spit on them, and beat a crown of thorns into their heads, and drive nails into their hands, and let them hang out in the open to die. But he didn’t. He let it all happen to himself so that he could make space for people who for so long have relied on their religious performances, a space for them to repent, and believe and turn to him and find a place in the vineyard, the kingdom of heaven. Jesus has made a place for you for the times you look down on others in pride, when you look down on the humble word of God with pride and disdain, when you think you don't need to listen to your heavenly father, but that he should be pleased with all the work you does for him. Jesus by dying and rising makes a place for you in his kingdom. Seeing him reverse places is the power-source needed to actually change your mind; to change your feelings about God, to change your desires away from laboring anywhere else, to a contentment to simply have a place in the vineyard. So if you’ve said before, “I’ve been in the sugar cane too long. There’s no place for me in the vineyard,” today is the day to turn and go and find what you’ve been looking for all along. If you’ve been hard at work in the olive grove, slaving away in religious observances, hoping it’ll make things right with God, today is the day to turn, change courses and find your spot in his kingdom. Join the sex workers and swindlers who are entering the kingdom, and rejoice that yuo have a place and so do they. You can rejoice because it’s a place with Jesus. 4 quick points of application. 1. Watch out for the times you think that to be ultra religious means that someone is close with God. Watch out for times that you think that to be blatantly sinful means a person is beyond hope. See how Jesus makes room for both alike, and how both need him
equally. And if and when your church attracts prostitutes and tax collectors, welcome them. Don’t look down on them if they don’t really know the rules or the lingo or the culture that you might be familiar with. Welcome them as Jesus does. You can learn a thing or two from them, while they may learn a thing or two from you. Next one, 2. Work in the vineyard in humble faith. Even if the work God has set before you seems humble, ordinary, unspectacular; work at it with all your might, confident that as you serve Jesus in your own unique way, he can make great things happen. Don’t get lured by the olive grove which says, you should be more important and accomplished. There’s plenty of room for accomplishment and improvement in God’s vineyard, but there will be times when humble faith and persistent work is needed. Times when you don;t see what the master plan is; but you can simply trust that the master has a good plan, and be satisfied to play your role. John the Baptist is a great example of this. Out in the wilderness, not a temple. Wearing camel hair, not priests robes. Eating bugs and honey, not religiously purified food; he simply accepted his place in the vineyard, content to proclaim and baptize as long as God wanted him to. Content for God to call him home, even if it meant beheading at the whim of a young girl and her evil mother. He was happy in the vineyard even with all that. No sugar cane as sweet, no olive grove as significant as playing the role God assigned him to. And you can trust the same is true for you, no matter how humble your life may appear. It’s a good life, because it's spend in his vineyard with Jesus. 3. Keep turning, keep repenting, keep being open to God changing your mind about him, changing your feeling about who he is and what he’s done and what it means for your life. Repenting is a never done in this life process. But it’s an adventurous journey at the same time. It’s a growing in the ability to more quickly spot the lies you believe and by God’s grace get more aligned with the truth. Keep seeing your need for daily and hourly repentance, and ask God to do what only he can do. Finally #4. Enjoy the kingdom of God. This kingdom gives you options that would never have been possible for you. There’s no stay at home order. No scorching heat. Only glorious freedom to be the person you were always meant to be. In Jesus’ kingdom there is adventure and creativity and inventiveness and goodness and joy. Because it’s a kingdom of the master Jesus. He’s not in the olive grove of religious performances. He’s not in the sugar cane of greed or sinful indulgence. He’s in the vineyard of grace, where death itself has been defeated and life reigns because he lives. Let the vineyard attract you more than anything else, because in it you’ll find Jesus, and in him, you’ll find your heart’s desire and so much more. So, why not go and see? Sounds like a great option that God has laid out before you. Amen.