Luke 20:17-18 Jesus looked directly at them and asked, "Then what is the
meaning of that which is written: 'The stone the builders rejected has
become the capstone'?  Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to
pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."

 There is an old Jewish saying that I believe has direct bearing on what
Jesus says in our text.  The saying goes like this: "If a stone falls on
a pot, woe to the pot.  If the pot falls on a stone, woe to the pot.
Either way, woe to the pot!"
 As I was mulling over the words of our text and doing some reading here
and there that I ran across this ancient saying.  Of course, I find it
interesting that Jewish wisdom has such a saying.  I find it interesting
because if this saying was around during the days of Jesus as seems to be
the case, then clearly Jesus was using the knowledge of that saying to
drive home his lesson to the people before him.  The thing we want to
wrestle with is "What was Jesus' lesson?"  Our theme for today will be:
THE PARABLE OF THE TENANTS EXAMINED.  1st. The owner.  2nd. The Tenants.
3rd. The Servants and Son.  4th. The Warning Given.
 I think that most of us are sufficiently familiar with this parable that
we can simply begin to discuss it and what it is saying.  Please remember
to bear in mind that parables are earthly stories with heavenly or
spiritual meanings.  Meanings that don't have to be guessed at but rather
meanings that are often clear and plain to those who really care to
listen.  The same can be said of this parable.
 Obviously the owner of the vineyard, the one who bought, prepared and
set the vines is none other than our Heavenly God and Father.  I think it
also safe to say that the vineyard represents the world and all the good
things that God has given in the world.  And I believe the lesson is
clear.
 God our Father in his grace and mercy has provided all that is necessary
for our life and living.  Everything necessary to make a vineyard grow
and profit has been provided.  Nor is this an ordinary vineyard but
rather the best vineyard ever.  God has blessed the soil.  God has
provided only the best of vines and the hardiest of root- stock.  To be
honest with you, I have no doubt that had that vineyard simply been left
to itself it would have blossomed and grown better than any other
vineyard around.  Yet God does not want the wonderful fruit of this
vineyard to go to waste.  The Father wants others to enjoy what he has
provided, others to reap the benefits of the great harvest that He has
provided.  In other words, God has provided this vineyard for the sake of
the tenants, that they might have and enjoy the blessings of his
goodness.
 You have to keep that point in mind.  God wanted the tenants to have and
enjoy his blessings.  God wanted the tenants to reap of his bounty and
share in his perfect goodness in providing.
 But we have tenants with a problem.  Please note that these tenants,
just like any other tenants would have made a deal or signed a contract
with the owner.  That contract would have simply stated that a portion of
the crop was to go to the owner.  That's what the term "tenant" implies.
It implies that there was a deal.  It implies that for the privilege and
bounty of the vineyard, the tenant would be sure to share the blessings
with the owner.  But again, our tenants have a problem.
 The tenants forget who the real owner is.  Since the owner is gone,
since the owner is far away it is rather clear that the tenants have
determined in their hearts to replace the owner and make themselves the
lords of the vineyard.  They have in essence torn up the contract,
reneged on the deal and shown themselves to be men of selfish and wicked
heart.
 Dear people, we know that the people who heard this parable understood
that its lesson was speaking about them.  Speaking about a people who had
the blessings of God and had decided that God could take a back seat or
even worse that God could be tossed out and left by the side of the road.
 I don't know exactly how these people came to the conclusions they did,
but I do know why they came to the conclusions they did!
 Sin.  That's right, it's that little ugly word that the world so
despises.  It is a word that says we have a problem, a God problem, an
eternal problem, if you would an ownership problem.  Sin makes us forget
that God is God.  Sin makes us forget that everything we have and
everything we are is a gift of the grace and mercy of God.  And so we
begin to have the attitude that we are the masters of our fate, we are
the ones calling the shots, we are the only ones that we will have to
answer to.  Sin blinds.  Sin deceives.  Sin, if not checked, brings about
destruction.  And how that happens is brought forth in our parable.
 It is brought forth in the fact that the Lord sends his servants and
eventually his Son to gather what is rightfully his.  Did you hear what
was said, "To gather what was rightfully his"!  God, or if you would, the
owner of the vineyard, simply asked for the fruit that his vineyard had
produced, asked for the fruit that the contract with the tenants declared
was his.  They didn't want to give it.
 They began by mistreating the servants.  There was no doubt who the
servants were.  They would have come with official letters and seals.
They would have come as the gracious representatives of the owner.  They
would have appealed to the contracts.  They would have pleaded with the
tenants not to disregard the truth and rights of the contract and the
owner.  Didn't matter.  They began by mistreating the servants.  They
beat them, dishonored them, threw them out, and wounded them, which means
they attempted to kill them.  You do understand that the servants were
the representatives of the owner?  What they did to the servants showed
how they felt about the owner!
 And then the Son came.  The owner, thinking that perhaps it was all a
horrible misunderstanding, sent his Son, the Son the tenants knew, and
since they knew that Son the owner must have figured they would see the
truth and right of what was asked.  The son they killed.  I don't know
how you can think that you can kill the son and then it will all be yours
since the owner will still be alive.  Evidently you think the owner is
powerless and weak.  Evidently you think the owner will be overcome and
surrender his rights because you kill the son.  I can't even imagine
thinking that way.  I would be thinking that killing the son would bring
the wrath and anger of the owner upon me.  But they don't seem to think
clearly and so they kill the son.
 Welcome to what sin does to you.  You don't think clearly, can't see the
facts, don't understand the danger that you are in.  You are just
operating on what you want, what you see, what you consider to be best.
You want all the fruit for yourself.  Never mind that this rented
vineyard is producing three times more than any other vineyard.  Never
mind that you have the sweetest deal in the world and that if you follow
up on your part you will keep harvesting three times the fruit and raking
in the blessings.  Sin has the upper hand and you have despised the
goodness of your Lord.  You want it all for yourself and the Lord of the
vineyard is just out of luck!
 Do you see the warning given, a rather loving warning if you ask me?
Jesus has given this warning before it all takes place.  And the people
before him recognized the warning, recognized the danger posed and they
all say, "May this never be!"  The people grasped the warning, they saw
the horror of the lesson that Jesus had presented.  They were hoping that
such would never be a part of their life.
 But it would be.  God had sent his Son to bring home the fruit of his
people.  God had sent his Son to collect what was his and the people
would kill the Son.  God had sent his Son to bring eternal life and
salvation and all he was asking for was faith.  Trust in Jesus.  Trust in
my love and grace.  Trust that it has all been done for you.  Trust my
Son and this vineyard, this place of blessing and wonder, will continue
to be yours.
 And Jesus knows their hearts.  That's why he gives that little extra
warning: "Then what is the meaning of that which is written: the stone
the builders rejected has become the capstone?"  Now honestly, I don't
like the NIV's choice of translation here.  Much better to translate
"keystone" or better yet, "cornerstone."  The keystone was used in the
building of an arch and was key to holding the whole assembly together.
The cornerstone back then was more than just some sort of decoration.
The cornerstone was where everything was measured from.  It set the
straightness, determined the levelness of the whole building.  Psalm 118
is a Messianic Psalm and that's where this quote is taken from.  That
line is speaking about Jesus, speaking about the cornerstone that God
supplied for his perfect and eternal kingdom.  But the unbelieving
builders rejected the stone in what they were doing.  However, God still
uses the stone and he is indeed the heart and core of the eternal mansion
that God has built.
 Very much this parable and what is being taught is all about Jesus and
what He came to do.  He came to reveal and represent the Father.  He came
to establish the Lord's eternal kingdom and give it by grace through
faith to all who would believe.  That's all that God asks, to believe in
Him and His Son.  To believe that Jesus suffered and died for you and
then rose from the dead just to win for you forgiveness and eternal life.
 That's it.  That's all that God asks.  What more that God wants from you
he will supply through the Holy Spirit working in your heart and mind.
The Holy Spirit will take this wonder and joy of the Gospel and change
your life and heart.  He will make you a child and heir of God.  He will
make you a servant and a son who carry out the will of the Father.  He
will make you a faithful tenant who willingly and gladly gives to the
Father the fruit that He asks.  It all falls together in Jesus.
 By the way, did you catch that little line in verse 19?  It said, "they
knew he had spoken this parable against them."  They knew what Jesus was
talking about.  They knew and still they plotted his death.  No wonder
Jesus was so blunt.
 Now go back and contemplate that ancient Jewish saying. "If a stone
falls on a pot, woe to the pot.  If the pot falls on a stone, woe to the
pot.  Either way, woe to the pot!"
 We cannot do it without Jesus.  We cannot enjoy the blessings and
wonders of God without Jesus.  We cannot continue to enjoy the fruit of
the vineyard without giving to God what is his due.  Faith.  To trust and
believe in Him.  Faith is to understand that we have nothing and are
nothing without Him.  Jesus is our everything!
 And if you think you can do it without Jesus, what a foolish pot you
are, what a foolish tenant you are.
 May our heart and life be one where we are the tenants of God's
vineyard, giving him his fruit, our love and our praise for all that He
has given us.  Amen.