Setting and context are crucial to understanding anything, really. Our passage today again comes from the 21st chapter of Matthew. Jesus is now in Jerusalem and the crowds acclaimed him as the Son of David.
It doesn’t take very long for Jesus to turn some heads and turn things upside down. Literally, he overturns the money tables. He heals the blind and the lame. He curses the fig tree that isn’t bearing any fruit.
And then, upon returning to the temple, the chief priests and elders question his authority, with Jesus replying with his own question about the baptism of John. No one’s question got answered.
Then there is the parable of the two sons; one son first resists and then repents; the other son says yes, but as soon as he is out of sight, he does his own thing. By the time Jesus tells this parable, the tension is clear. And the religious leaders know that he is challenging their understanding about authority, faithfulness, and what God’s expectations are.
Even in the days of Isaiah, it’s clear that God’s people had turned from God. God planted a vineyard, expected justice, but instead saw bloodshed.
What kind of fruit is God finding in us? What are we doing with what God has entrusted to us?
Let’s look at the parable in Matthew, which gives us an allegorical interpretation: The chief priests and elders can be seen as the tenants. They rebel against the landowner (or God), they mistreat his servants (the prophets) and finally kill his son (Jesus). Jesus asks those present what will happen to the tenants, and they respond “that the miserable wretches will be put to death and the landowner will lease the vineyard to others who will give him the produce at the harvest time” (Mt 21:40-41).
Jesus doesn’t stop there though. He says that the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The very one they reject will become the foundation. It’s almost a sort of mini- Passion prediction.
What appears to be defeat will become victory. What appears to be the end will become the beginning. Rejection and betrayal of Jesus ultimately lead us away from the one who is life.
The parable teaches us to expect rejection, but not just of the Gospel or Jesus. We reject God, too. Throughout history, humans have demonstrated just how easily we can decide who is “less human”, “less worthy”, or “the other”. We see this in slavery, segregation, the Holocaust, apartheid, and countless other examples. Why? Because some people just refuse to accept the humanity of others. If we’re rejecting some of God’s people, then we’re rejecting the God who created them.
Those who are suffering, impoverished, and even illiterate acclaim rightly Jesus as Lord, and the educated leaders do not. The outcast and the poor suffer while the wealthy enrich only themselves. Seem familiar? The blind and the lame who can’t afford to buy the required offerings for the temple, are favored in God’s sight. The tax collectors and prostitutes enter the kingdom of God ahead of the chief priests and elders. The judgement ultimately falls on the religious leaders for their failure to produce the fruits of the kingdom- justice and loving-kindness.
That brings the parable back to us. If the fruit God desires is justice and loving-kindness, then discipleship cannot simply be something we say. It has to be something we do.
There is faithful discipleship when we use our hands and voices to cultivate Christ’s vineyard; serving others, advocating, and combating injustices, acting in ways that align with the kingdom of God.
Our good works don’t earn God’s love or salvation. But God’s grace frees us to do those good works. It’s not what we have to do, it’s what we get to do. Our good works are not the price we pay for God’s grace. They are the fruit of God’s grace already at work within us.
Even as we think: “I haven’t turned from God; I’ve been faithful”, We set up for the Rummage Sale, volunteer at the Food Pantry. We serve our neighbors. We care for creation. We speak up when others are treated unjustly. We love our families, our friends, and even those who are difficult to love. And those things matter. But they don’t earn God’s love. They don’t purchase our salvation. Paul reminds us in Philippians “Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ” (Philippians 3:7). For Paul and all of us, what matters is Jesus.
Paul uses a strong word when he describes all the things he once considered religious accomplishments. English translations often soften it by calling them “rubbish”. But the Greek word is much stronger. It can be translated as “shit”. Paul is making a point: none of the things he once used to establish his credentials can compare with Christ. They cannot save him. They cannot make him righteous. Christ is the one who saves. Christ is one who makes us righteous.
Our religious practices are not guarantees of salvation. Our accomplishments are not guarantees of salvation. Our salvation is found in Christ. And here’s the good news: Christ doesn’t wait for us to become worthy before coming to us. Christ comes to us precisely because we aren’t.
We may turn from him and reject him. But even through all of it, he returns to us in love and forgiveness. And we receive this love and forgiveness every week through Confession and Forgiveness. We pass the peace because we have been reconciled to God and to one another.
And then we leave this place and enter the vineyard, strengthened by the body and blood of Christ.
Christ is the cornerstone.
Christ breaks down the things we have built our lives upon- our pride, our greed, our self-righteousness, our need to prove that we are good enough.
The cornerstone confronts everything in us that cannot stand- not so that we can be left broken, but so that something new can be built on a solid foundation.
With Christ as the foundation, our lives begin to bear a different kind of fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, and gentleness.
On the cross, we see the open arms of Jesus. We see God’s love reaching toward us even when we have rejected him. And in the resurrection, God declares that sin, death, and rejection do not have the final word. Christ lives, and because Christ lives, we are given new life.
The stone that was rejected has become the cornerstone. And upon that cornerstone, Christ builds us into something new. Thanks be to God. Amen.
