The fruits of the kingdom

The Parable of the Wicked Tenants

Mt 21:33-46

In this reading from Matthew, Jesus tells the parable of the wicked tenants and he’s talking directly to the chief priests and elders of the temple. Jesus was a huge problem for the temple hierarchy, he was a significant threat to them. They had a lot to lose; they had great wealth and they owned property and lands. So they were always challenging Jesus and questioning his authority, they were going out of their way to discredit him, and to make him look inferior. This parable was Jesus’ way of setting them straight.

Because this story is a parable it has two layers of meaning. In this story the vineyard represents Israel and the landowner is God the father. The wicked tenants represent the chief priests and elders who are supposed to be doing the work of God.

When the time comes for the harvest to be collected the landowner sends slaves down to the tenants but the tenants assault and kill the slaves. The slaves represent the prophets of God. The prophets were inspired by the Holy Spirit to bring the word of God. But often they were troublesome to the Jewish leaders, telling them things that they didn’t want to hear, pointing out their faults, and showing how the people were falling away from God.

The chief priests and elders instead of serving God, served only their own needs, becoming wealthier and wealthier, consumed by their need for earthly power. They ignored their responsibilities to God and his people. And the people became more and more disconnected from their Father in heaven. They were like lost sheep with no one to lead them.

So finally, the landowner sends his son to collect the harvest, and the tenants kill the landowner’s son too. In the same way, God sends his only son to spread the good news of the kingdom but instead of listening to him the chief priests will plot to have him killed.

During Jesus’ ministry huge crowds, amazing crowds in their thousands, gathered to be with him, to hear his words, to be healed, to find hope, to feel close to God in a way they never felt before. They accepted Jesus and loved him, and looked up to him. But to the religious leaders whose job it was to serve God and the people, he was nothing but a troublemaker and a threat to their position. The very people who should have been open to Jesus’ words and actions, were the ones who would reject him in a most absolute and brutal way.

So Jesus teaches them a lesson.

He very cleverly sets a trap for them: he asks the chief priests, “what do you think is going to happen to the wicked tenants in this story?”

And they suggest thta the wicked tenants are going to be taken out and killed and the vineyard be given to others who would provide the fruit. Jesus has painted them into a corner, and they’re condemned by their own words.

But Jesus isn’t finished with them. He continues by quoting psalm 118. He says to them:

The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes

A builder when building a wall will reject a stone that’s been damaged or broken and he won’t use it. Jesus is the stone that was rejected. He was beaten, crucified and pierced with a spear. He was physically damaged and flawed, he was broken. And he was rejected, utterly, by the religious authorities. But then, miraculously, this damaged, rejected stone becomes the cornerstone.

The cornerstone is the stone that is placed at the base of the building where two walls meet and traditionally it is the first stone that is laid at the start of building. It’s the most important stone because it dictates where the rest of the building is going to go.

Jesus is the cornerstone, and he represents the beginning of the building of the kingdom of God on earth. Through the power of God, Jesus, who had been broken and abused and nailed to the cross, was raised up again in glory… truly amazing in our eyes. Without question, Christ’s death and resurrection is the most amazing and the most important thing that has happened in the whole history of humankind.

Then Jesus tells the high priests straight out: the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. And he warns the chief priests, that if they stumble on this stone, that is, if they reject Jesus and his message, they will have their power and wealth taken away; they will be left with nothing.

Okay so now the chief priests and elders realised that they were the wicked tenants in the story and they got pretty upset. They were going to arrest Jesus but they were scared of the crowds who regarded him as a prophet. They couldn’t very well arrest a prophet because this would just confirm what Jesus had said about them in the parable.

So, the question is who is Jesus going to give the kingdom to? The kingdom goes to those people who produce what he calls the “fruits of the kingdom.” The good news is that we’re all included. And the even better news is that producing this fruit is not a difficult thing.

If we feel God’s love and fully realise it in our hearts and minds then we naturally produce the fruits of the kingdom. It’s not a barter system where God says, do these things and I’ll let you in. Jesus teaches us to live in God’s love and to embrace God’s love and when we do this, the fruits of the kingdom will pour out of us without us even trying; this process is as natural as grapes growing and ripening on the vine. And these fruits are in turn accepted by God. It’s not a payment, it’s a process.

The kingdom is a great cycle of giving and receiving. And the fruits of his kingdom aren’t grapes, they are the actions that we do for the love of God. We agree to be made whole by God’s grace and, in turn we give back to God the fruits of our love. God doesn’t ask anything extraordinary from us, only what is natural, reasonable and just. Jesus said: “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

What makes us worthy of the kingdom is the motivation behind our actions. Are we motivated by our love for God and for our brothers and sisters? Are we moved by our desire to glorify God and do God’s will?

Two people can each build a bridge. One person builds the bridge because they want to make a lot of money, the other person builds a bridge because they want to connect people and make people’s lives better. The bridge builder who wants to make people’s lives better is worthy of the kingdom.

Jesus is saying other things with this parable. We mustn’t abuse and ignore the messengers of God when they call on us to do the right thing. There is still so much injustice in the world today, we see the ever widening gulf between the rich and the poor, and the oppression of the weak by the powerful. Each day we witness greed and self-interest trampling over compassion.

We should listen to the prophets, those people filled with the spirit who tell us the things we need to hear and who tell us where we’re going wrong and who point out injustice and wrongdoing. Just like John crying out in the wilderness, telling people to make a straight path for the Lord.

Most importantly of all, and this is fundamental, we must not ignore God’s only son when he calls on us to follow him and when he calls on us to share in God’s kingdom… to be a part of this all embracing circle of love.

We are to welcome Jesus and follow him alone. Jesus is our anchor and bright guiding star. He calls us to do God’s will, single mindedly and completely just as Jesus did the will of his heavenly Father. And for our instruction, we have his teachings, and of course we have our Saviour’s never ending love and compassion to sustain us.

The fruit of the kingdom is produced when we do what is right, and for the right reasons. If we don’t return God’s love, and if we don’t partake in the cycle of giving and receiving, which is at the heart of God’s kingdom, then all that we’re going to be left with is… spiritual emptiness.

Everything is because God is. Nothing would be possible without God. He blesses us abundantly, giving us everything we need, and he showers us with gifts. God doesn’t stop giving, and he doesn’t stop loving, but if we are to share in the kingdom of God, it means we need to be part of a mutual relationship. The tenant and the landowner depend on each other.

It’s easy to go through life from day to day so caught up in the things we do, and the things that happen to us, that we don’t really think about how we’re giving back to God, or what kind of fruit we’re producing. But every day is an opportunity to produce so much fruit… a thank you, a smile, a kind word. Even refraining from doing something is fruit. If someone pushes our buttons, we can choose to get a hold of ourselves and respond with calm instead of anger. That’s fruit too.

The kingdom is assured for those people who act out of love for God, who is the source of all love. He brings us into life, provides everything for us, and because we have God in our hearts, we are able to bring forth respect for our brothers and sisters, compassion, loyalty, devotion, selflessness. That’s the beautiful covenant that we are a part of when we say “yes” to God. Jesus came to us to show us the way to walk in God’s love, and his death and resurrection throw open the gates to God’s kingdom where we can live forever in eternal joy with our most precious Lord.

Amen