Ralph Porter

© 2002

    Don't you just love Christmas? In spite of fact that for many the holidays are a difficult time, it's still the happiest season of the year for most of us!

    I love Christmas! I love the sights and sounds, the smells of Christmas! I love a white Christmas. I love the stories of Christmas--don't you?

    Usually the stories of Christmas are told by someone else, about the Christ child. There's one unusual Christmas story. It's an unusual story because Christ told it about Himself. It gives us His perspective. It's found in Matthew 21-not where you'd expect to find the Christmas story! Let me tell it to you in a paraphrased form:

    Listen to this story.

    A wealthy farmer planted a vineyard. He built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing grapes, and put up a look out tower. Then he turned it over to farmhands and went off on a long trip. When harvest time came, he sent his servants to collect his share of the crops.

    The farmhands grabbed the first servant and beat him up. They killed the next one, and stoned the third. So the owner decided to send a larger group of men to collect for him, but they were treated the same way. Finally the owner decided to send his son, thinking, "Surely, they'll respect my son."

    But when the farmhands saw his son coming, they said to themselves, "This is the heir to the whole estate! Let's kill him and we can have it all for ourselves." So, they grabbed him, took him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

    Now, when the owner of the vineyard comes back from his trip, what do you suppose he'll do to those farmhands?

    "He'll kill those crooks-give them what they deserve!"- they answered. "Then he'll turn the vineyard over to other farmhands who'll give him his share of the harvest when it comes due."

    Then Jesus said to them, "Haven't you ever read what the Scriptures say?

        'The stone the builders threw out has now been made the cornerstone.

        This is God's work; and it's incredible to watch!'

    "That's what's going on now! God's kingdom is going to be taken away from you and handed over to a people that will produce appropriate fruit. Whoever stumbles on this Stone gets shattered; and whoever the Stone falls on gets smashed."

    When the religious leaders heard this story, they realized that Jesus was pointing at them-that they were the "farmhands" He was talking about! They wanted to arrest Jesus but they were afraid to try. They were worried about public opinion, because most people thought He was a spokesman for God, a prophet."

    Matthew was written to tell us what happened to God's plan for Israel. They expected Christ to come, establish His kingdom on earth and pour out God's blessing on His people. What actually did happen? Christ came as promised and clearly demonstrated Who He is. God's people rejected their Messiah and were therefore cursed instead of blessed!

    Matthew 19-25 describes the Messianic presentation and His rejection by His own people. Jesus formally presented Himself to His people (19-21:17). The response of the people to their Messiah is described in 21:18-22:46. That response is introduced by His cursing of the fig tree, which graphically depicts His rejection of the fruitless nation. Then Matthew proceeds to demonstrate how the fruitless nation rejects Him (21:23-22:46).

    Jesus' confrontation with their priests and elders is described in 21:23-22:14. They set traps for Him, hoping He'd hang himself. He invaded their territory and threatened their authority. Therefore they question his authority (21:23-27).

    Jesus responds to their questioning with three parables which demonstrate the implications of their rejection (21:28-22:14). The Parable of Two Sons points out the two alternatives God gives: to obey or disobey (21:28-32). Those who make a profession of obeying God ultimately rebel and ignore His wishes, while many of those who first say they won't obey Him-those worldly sinners-turn to Him and follow Him. It's the people who ultimately do what the Father desires that will receive the blessings of the kingdom God has promised to His people-not those who make a great religious show, but refuse to live in a way that pleases Him.

    The second parable is the Parable of the Evil Farmhands (21:33-46). This is where we find Jesus' version of the Christmas story. Let's see what happens in Jesus' version of the story. As the story begins, . . . .

    The owner fixes up his vineyard and rents it out to other farmers (33). He owns the land. He plants the vineyard. He fixes it up. He rents it out in exchange for part of the fruit harvest. He gives them everything they need, asking only that they produce fruit for his benefit. They were to care for his vineyard, and give him the profits when the harvest came.

    He goes on a trip, trusting the farmers to produce a profit for him. "While the cat's away, the mice will play!" --but a day of reckoning is coming!

    So, what do they do with his vineyard and his resources (34-36)? When the harvest arrives, he sends messengers to claim his share of the produce. the unfaithful farmhands attack the messengers-killing some of them and mistreating others. The farmhands keep all the fruit for themselves and attack his servants. They're using his resources to enrich and empower themselves. They're not tending the vineyard for the benefit of the owner.

    Finally, the owner sends his son, expecting them to respect him at least (37). The landowner tries to reach out to them, in hopes of restoring an appropriate relationship with the farmhands. So how do they treat his son (38-39)? They know he's the son. They plot against him, seeking to destroy him. They plan to seize what's his and keep it for themselves. They throw him out of his father's vineyard. Then they kill him, hoping to keep the inheritance for themselves!

    Jesus lets the people tell the rest of the story, . . . .

    What will the landowner do to the unfaithful farmers? The people are caught up in the story, they blurt out the logical response: "Those creeps must die!" They don't realize that they're condemning themselves.

    The evil tenant farmers-no match for the owner's power-were fools to believe they could defeat the master. He'll deal with them as they have dealt with his son (41a). "He'll bring those wretches to a wretched end!" The owner will judge the wicked farmhands and rent his vineyard to faithful farmers. They got it exactly right! Now Jesus will inform them that God is about to deal with them in accordance with the same principle!

    Jesus points out what Scripture says about the future of His people. He's been talking about them! God is going to take His kingdom away from evil people and give it to faithful people.

    God makes the rejected stone into the cornerstone (42). Even God's patience eventually comes to an end! God will take His kingdom away from the unfaithful people and give it to faithful people (43). The cornerstone God establishes will destroy the unfaithful people (44). Those who trip on the stone will break. Those the stone falls on will be smashed. It's futile to fight God!

    The religious leaders recognize Jesus' attack on them and want to silence Him (45-46). They look for a chance to arrest Him but the people won't allow that to happen. They think He's God's spokesman. They believe He's a prophet.

    There's much more to this story than just some interesting things Jesus told the religious leaders of Israel 2000 years ago! Just as the owner fixed up his vineyard, expecting fruit . . . Just as God prepared Israel as His vineyard, expecting fruit . . . God made the world and fixed it up, expecting fruit!

    God entrusted world to people, to care for and use it for HIS benefit! The people to whom God entrusted the world have used it for their own benefit. When God asks people to give Him what HE deserves, they rebel and fight back. We don't want to give Him what He deserves. We want to be in charge! We want to keep the profits for ourselves! We want to have it OUR way!

    God sends messengers to represent Him; they kill them. So He sent His Son. Surely they'll respect God' Son, won't they? No, they nailed Him to a cross. They killed the Son! So what will God do about man's rebellion? Though He loves us, and doesn't want to punish us, He is just; He must punish sin.

    That very death of His Son on the cross, has been accepted as payment for penalty we deserved to pay for our sin. Let's suppose for a moment that this Bible I'm holding was a record book in which all the sins I've ever committed in my life were recorded. It would take a much larger book than this to hold them all! But let's imagine that it does. Isaiah tells us that God laid on Him all our sins. When He died on that cross, He carried there the weight of all the sins I've ever committed. He has paid the penalty for all my sins so that I no longer have to bear that guilt. He took it on Himself!

    So that now God offers us a gift: eternal life. That gift is received by faith. Let's use these two chairs to demonstrate what God has done for us. I am sitting on this broken down, badly damaged chair. This chair represents my life and all that I have tried to do. You come along and offer me a new, solid chair. I can admire that chair all day. I can tell you how I believe that chair is able to hold my weight solidly. But unless I move over and sit in it, that chair will do me no good at all.

    That's how it is with God's gift to us. We are trying to rest on our own best efforts. We hope that they'll be good enough to get us through. But God has already told us that my best efforts will never be enough to satisfy an absolutely holy God. "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." "The wages of sin is death" We will never be able to make it while resting on our own best efforts.

    "But while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!" Now He invites us to stop trusting our efforts, and to trust Him. If we'll rest in what He has already accomplished when He died on that cross, God will give to us the best Christmas gift ever given: eternal life!

    God sent His Son into the world, so that whoever trusts Him might not perish, but might receive His gift of eternal life! He wants to give you that gift this morning. Won't you receive God's gift of eternal life?