Sermon Tone Analysis

Everyday we are asked to make choices.

Am I going to wake up so I can get to work on time…Am I going to eat breakfast.

Am I going to eat a breakfast that could put me in a coma it it is so full of sugar or am I going to eat well… I get cut off in traffic and spill my coffee all over myself…Am I going to say bad things about them and speed up shaking my fist in the air!

Am I going to take time to read to my son or am I going to sit in front of the T.V. ignoring his  crys of Daddy, daddy daddy will you…Daddy daddy will you read to me…

 

*Matthew 22: 1-14*

Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready.

Come to the wedding banquet.’

5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business.

6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.

7 The king was enraged.

He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come.

9 Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.

12 ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’

The man was speechless.

13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

One can hardly begin to understand why the king would be so harsh to this person not dressed in wedding clothes!

What is going on here in this passage?

We have people being murdered just because they invited people to a wedding not once but on two occasions, then we have a king who is enraged and sends his army to destroy the murders and burn the city!

Then we have a king who invites others to come because the original invitations were given to people who did not serve to come.

Lastly we have this man who shows up dressed inappropriately and therefore is left to darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth!

What just happened?

Did we miss something here?

As a matter of fact we did.

You see this parable has to be read in its context.

Starting at Matthew chapter 21:28

 

/The Parable of the Two Sons/

28 “What do you think?

There was a man who had two sons.

He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

29 “ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

30 “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing.

He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

31 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.

32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did.

And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

/The Parable of the Tenants/

33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard.

He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower.

Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey.

34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.

36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.

37 Last of all, he sent his son to them.

‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir.

Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’

39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“ ‘The stone the builders rejected

has become the capstone‌a‌;

the Lord has done this,

and it is marvelous in our eyes’‌b‌?

43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.

44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”‌c‌

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them.

46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

*Matthew 22:1-14*

3 choices are made in this parable that we are asked to make daily in our lives.

The first one is *Choosing to Forget*

In the parable of the two sons 21:30 we have a son who forgets! Choosing to forget, choosing to leave something behind.

How many of us have done what this son did?

Not feel like going to that work party even though you said you would so you make up your mind to forget it!

You stop worrying about that homework assignment, “oh I forgot” That person who called that you really didn’t want to talk to…”Sorry I ‘forgot’ to call you back.

Reading what happens in the parable of the tenants its more than forgetting…Its losing all control and forgetting who is in charge of the vineyard!

Their forgetfulness leads them to kill the heir, the vineyard owners son!

Their forgetfulness is one of resistance.

The vineyard was suppose to create great fruit…They had squandered that opportunity and now sought to rule the vineyard ( a place that was suppose to be beautiful) in a way that they wished!

Their way produced a withered and empty harvest.

Surely Jesus was indeed doing as verse 43 states.

HE was talking about the Pharisees who were squandering an opportunity to bring peace into the world!

He’s also talking to us reminding us of the opportunity we have here on earth

I believe this evening Matthew 21:1-14 is speaking to us about us! Are we choosing to forget?

Are we forgetting how awesome, and amazing the presence of God is, how freeing and are we missing out on the opportunity to share Christ’s love with our world because we to resist just as the vineyard workers?

Are we too like the son who tells his father I will do everything that you ask…Then sit around worried about our own business?

You see verse three should convict all of us in some way…“But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business…Jesus sure your important, sure following you is priority but have you seen this world we live in?

Why is it so crucial that I be so concerned about others all the time.

I need to take care of myself!

My family… If you would have given me more money I would be able to care for more people but instead here I am working in the fields earning my living, Jesus I am at the office, at WORK JESUS!

I think we all have had these thoughts.

IT should convict us when we read these parables this evening!

We have fallen into the trap that life is all about ME! MY FAMILY, MY CHURCH.

Jesus is using the parable of the vineyard which is so awesome to think about.

It is laboring work working in a vineyard under the hot son but seeing the fruit is worth all the labor.

You pour all of yourself into this plant that may be knocked over by a huge storm each night you lay down your head.

You spend all your energy, your very blood nurturing this plant so it will bear fruit.

Which would produce the wine they could sell that would provide for their families.

It is an outpouring so similar to what Christ calls for us to do with each person in or world!

The first choice we see in these parables is a choice we are given every day.

ARE we are going to *FORGET* why we are here?

The second choice in these parables is… Are we choosing to be *Faithful*.

The first son rejected his father at first but later changed his mind and was faithful to his father!

The second son appeared to be faithful didn’t want to upset his dad but then failed him greatly by not keeping his word.