December 8, 2015

“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”  Matthew 21:33 – 41

“…the case of all mankind is identical with that of those rebels. We are the rebels; our Heavenly Father is the King from whom we have revolted, and the Son of G-d has done everything that was necessary to induce our heavenly King to pardon us. A Lutheran minister, when announcing the forgiveness of sins, or absolving a sinner, does nothing else than communicate to him the intelligence that Christ has interceded for him in his sorry plight and that G-d has restored him to favor.” C. F. W. Walther (1811 – 1887) The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel, “For All The Saints” volume III (p. 26)

Everything we have has been leased to us by G-d. That is our Christian understanding. We do not own anything: our homes, family, possessions, children – everything belongs to G-d to whom we have been entrusted as caretakers. The care of all of these things is in our hands. So how do we thank G-d for these blessings? We are rebellious and ungrateful. Instead of saying thanks, we decide that we deserve more. Instead of caring for what we have, we abuse it to the point of tossing it aside when it has lost its usefulness. Instead of inviting others to share in our blessings, we hoard what we have and protect it from “outsiders” with every possible piece of armor we have. And though we deserve a miserable death for how we have abused these blessings, instead G-d pardons us through the Son, Jesus Christ. Next time the pastor offers forgiveness for your sins, remember the inestimable gift you have received, and then live into the blessings you have.

Pastor Dave