Sermon Index
April 3, 2022、Lent 5C
9[Jesus] 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.
Before a building or house or road or bridge is built, surveyors will carefully mark where it should be constructed. A peg or some marker is placed. From that point measurements will be made to build the house. This is the purpose of the cornerstone. Nowadays, the cornerstone is often a decorative stone or marker added at the dedication ceremony when the building is complete. But in the old days, it was the first stone, placed by ancient surveyors like the modern surveyor’s peg. It was the most important stone.
Jesus says that he is the cornerstone from which we measure our religion and our lives. After telling the parable of the Tenants, which condemned the religious leaders and foretold the future of Judaism and Christianity, “17He [Jesus] looked directly at them [the scribes and the chief priests] 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.”
In these words, Jesus says that he will be the new way to organized our religion and our lives. As described in the Parable of the Tenants, it is to give the fruit of our lives to God and to respect those whom God sends to us.
When Jesus is our Cornerstone, we build our religion, our faith, and our lives on Him. This Cornerstone is a part of who we are. Jesus is not an add-on. Jesus is not another app we add to our smart phone. He is our OS operating system. Without Jesus we are nothing, we can do nothing. Everything is meaningless and in vain. His Incarnation, Birth, Baptism, Ministry, Suffering, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension become part of our lives. And so, we participate in his Baptism, and he participates in our baptism. We share his Suffering on the cross, and he participates in our daily suffering and troubles, which is to say, when we suffer, he not only knows our pain, but he suffers, too. When we die with Christ, he dies with us. And therefore, we join in his Resurrection as we are resurrected and ascend with him to eternal life.
Jesus criticized the religion leaders of his day, the scribes and chief priests. The modern Christian church must learn from this parable to keep Jesus as our Cornerstone. The history of the church has seen what happens when doctrines and practices are based on other stones, stones of power and control and money and glory and pride and stone-headedness. Every new schism and dispute claims that the old church is built on wrong things. Likewise, Martin Luther and the Reformers called on the church to get back to Christ. And other reform movements, from ancient times to modern times are the same. “Get back to Christ. Get back to the Bible. Get back to faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone.”
When Jesus told this parable, he was teaching people and preaching the gospel in the Temple (20:1). And so, this parable is for everyone, including us. We too are to give the harvest fruit of our lives to God and to respect those whom God sends to us. They remind us to build our lives on nothing but the Cornerstone which is Jesus Christ. God sends preachers and teachers and parents and friends and books and internet postings and the Bible and hymns and praise songs that remind us what our foundation is. Of course, we must be careful of those that point to someone or something else, or that are only seemingly Christian, but are really works-righteousness and building ourselves up on what we do without the help of Christ or the Holy Spirit. The words sound lofty, but they condemn us because they demand the impossible. They demand righteousness without the cross and forgiveness of Christ. They tell us to build, but give us no tools. They do not give us Jesus. In Lutheran terms, they give us the Law but not the Gospel.
The Gospel is what Jesus did and does for us. He loves us even though we are sinners who don’t always give the fruit of our lives in love and service to God, even though we often wander off and take measurements or standards of conduct not built squarely on the Cornerstone. God does not abandon us. The Parable teaches that. God sent his servants many times. God does not give up on us. He even sends his Only Begotten Son to us. That is love. That is what keeps us built on the Cornerstone of Christ.
Amen.
Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church