Episode Transcript
CONSECRATE
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
HEAR
Luke 20:9–13 ESV
And he 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. When 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. And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’”
CONSIDER
As you know by now, I come from a long line of farmers. Over the years, we have farmed our own land and also the land of other landowners who rented it out to us as sharecroppers. Now that my father is retired from active farming, he rents out his land to tenant farmers, much like the case in today's text.
Whether it be planting, cultivation, or harvest season, Dad loves me to drive him around the farm, field to field, to see how the farmers are doing with the crops. This past summer I was driving my dad around in my truck when we had a similar experience as described in today's text. As we rounded the end of one field I noticed a farm truck speeding in our direction. As they got within a hundred yards of us they stopped on the turn row. In the city you would think nothing of it and keep right on driving. On the farm, it means one thing—they expect you to stop when you get to their truck and roll down your window. I began to get a little nervous. Perhaps they thought we were trespassing and were coming to ask us to leave? After all, as mentioned, we were in an unfamiliar vehicle to them.
As we approached, I could see the farmer had a bit of a scowl on his face. As I told Dad to brace for impact, I thought to myself, Oh no, here it comes. Then he spotted my dad seated across from me in the passenger seat. His face lit up like the sun with a huge smile, and he shouted with absolute joy, "Mr. Walt! It is soooo good to see you!" You can imagine the delight of my dad as he returned the joyful greeting and a gracious conversation ensued.
I thought to myself, This is exactly what the Father hoped for when he sent his Son to the world to check in on us, his tenant farmers, and see how we were doing with his land.
Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’”
He got the opposite:
But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. "This is the heir," they said. "Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours." So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. (vv. 14–15)
And that's exactly what we did. We threw the only Son of God out of his own vineyard, and we killed him. And guess what? He's given us a second chance. He has entrusted the farm back to the followers of his crucified and risen Son, and he has left on another long trip. He is coming back. This time, let's be prepared to give him a good crop report and an eager, joy-filled greeting: "Lord Jesus! It is sooooo good to see you!"
How about we start practicing that greeting now?
PRAY
Father, thank you for entrusting this world to us, a first time and now a second time. And we ask you for the grace to not only be good farmers, but to remember that it all belongs to you, that it's your farm. In fact, we belong to you. And what a great day it will be when you come back to your farm. We miss you. In fact, we long for you to be here. So prepare the way, Lord. Awaken our hearts. Make us ready and eager and joyfully longing for your return, where we'll say: "Jesus, welcome back. It's so good to see you." And we will spend the rest of eternity fellowshipping together on that farm. It's in Jesus's name, we pray. Amen.
