 Life is all about stories and every person has a story. God, too, has a story – the grand metanarrative – that makes sense of every human story; for the sacred Scriptures make known two kinds of wisdom so that every human being can make sense of, and interpret properly, his or her story in light of His story:
+. a soteriological wisdom: to make us wise unto salvation which is by grace, through faith, in Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 3:15) +. a hermeneutical wisdom: to help us make sense of life’s story in light of His story and the many stories recorded in Scripture (Matthew 13:11, 16-17, 51-52; 2 Timothy 3:16-17) One third of the recorded teaching of Jesus consisted of parables. In the parables, Jesus is describing the kingdom of God in action and telling us something that happens when God is busy re-establishing Himself as King among humankind. In the parables of “the unknown hour” and the “two gates,” what essential teaching does Jesus share with us about how people are to respond to the Good News of the Kingdom so that we might benefit from its wisdom and grow in our discipleship as “a wise scribe, trained for the kingdom” (Matthew 13:52) Matthew 24:42-51 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Matthew 7:13-14 13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Points to consider: +. there will be a day of judgment and, on that day, every person will come before Him and He will separate the believers from the unbelievers “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:16-18) +. when the day of judgment arrives, a wise person will have… +. entered by the narrow gate that leads to life +. trusted in the saving work of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29) and is clothed in the righteousness of Christ (Romans 3:19-25a) “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe…” +. built one’s life upon the words of Jesus and puts them into practice (the parable of the two foundations – Matthew 7:24-27) +. Jesus, in the parable of the unknown hour, strongly encourages us to always be ready and prepared for His coming; “for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” +. a parallel parable that illustrates the vital importance of always being ready for His coming is “the parable of the ten maidens” +. the setting of that parable has ten maidens waiting for the bridegroom to come and for the wedding to begin; yet the wait is unusually long so that when the bridegroom did arrive, five maidens were ready but the other five maidens were not ready (and they missed out on the wedding event) +. no one knows the time of His return, except the Father, so one should always be ready and prepared! +. there are only two kinds of people…believers who have entered by the narrow gate that leads to life or unbelievers who have entered by the broad gate that leads to destruction +. as Luther reminds us in his writing, “Bondage of the Will,” there is no third or middle kingdom “I call a man ungodly if he is without the Spirit of God; for Scripture says that the Spirit is given to justify the ungodly. As Christ distinguished the Spirit from the flesh, saying: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh,” and adds that what is born of the flesh “cannot see the kingdom of God,” it obviously follows that whatever is flesh is ungodly, under God’s wrath, and a stranger to His kingdom. And if it is a stranger to God’s kingdom and Spirit, it follows of necessity that it is under the kingdom of and spirit of Satan. For there is no middle kingdom between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, which are ever at war with each other (Bondage of the Will:252-253). “For if it is only by faith that we are justified, it is evident that they who are without faith are not yet justified; and those who are not justified are sinners; and sinners are evil trees, and can only sin and bear evil fruit (BOW:301). “Christians know that there are in the world two kingdoms at war with each other. In the one, Satan reigns (which is why Christ calls him “the prince of this world”) and he holds captive at his will all that are not wrested from him by the Spirit of Christ; not does he allow them to be plucked away by any other power but the Spirit of God, as Christ tells us in the parable of the strong man armed keeping his palace in peace. In the other kingdom, Christ reigns. His kingdom continually resists and wars against that of Satan; and we are translated into His kingdom, not by our own power, but by the grace of God, which delivers us from this present evil world and tears us away from the power of darkness (BOW:312). In closing, let us impress these words from Scripture upon our hearts that address the need of every person to hear believe in Him and be ready for His coming: “And He will destroy on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of His people He will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken…it will be said on that day, ‘Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, that He might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation” (Isaiah 25:7-9) “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who has not the Son of God has not life” (1 John 5:11-12)  Life is all about stories and every person has a story. God, too, has a story – the grand metanarrative – that makes sense of every human story; for the sacred Scriptures make known two kinds of wisdom so that every human being can make sense of, and interpret properly, his or her story in light of His story:
+. a soteriological wisdom: to make us wise unto salvation which is by grace, through faith, in Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 3:15) +. a hermeneutical wisdom: to help us make sense of life’s story in light of His story and the many stories recorded in Scripture (Matthew 13:11, 16-17, 51-52; 2 Timothy 3:16-17) One third of the recorded teaching of Jesus consisted of parables. In the parables, Jesus is describing the kingdom of God in action and telling us something that happens when God is busy re-establishing Himself as King among humankind. In “the parable of the wicked tenants,” what essential teaching does Jesus share with us about humankind’s response to the Good News of the kingdom so that we might benefit from its wisdom and grow in our discipleship as “a wise scribe, trained for the kingdom”? (Matthew 13:52) Matthew 21:33-46 33 “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard sand put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. 34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants3 to the tenants to get his fruit. 35 And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them.37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ 39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” +. what did the parable mean “then and there?” +. the background to this parable comes from Isaiah 5: a vineyard is planted on a very fertile hill…in this vineyard, the owner cleared it of stones and planted it with choice vines…he expected it to yield grapes but it yielded only wild grapes +. vines and vineyards were a familiar part of everyday life…in this parable we have a large, absentee landowner with tenants working his property +. in this parable the tenants object to handing over the portion of the crop which has been set as their annual rent payment +. they want more, and preferably all, of the fruit of their own labors for themselves; and they refuse to honor the contract +. they beat up the servant who comes to them on behalf of the owner; over time, a succession of servants are sent and they are met with a hostile and violent welcome +. the climax of the story is when the owner sends the son; and the tenants kill him and throw him out of the vineyard; in response, the owner gives the vineyard to others +. God would send His people special servants to remind them who they were and what kind of lives they should live; yet they often rejected their message and would mistreat these servants; the final messenger was the son of the owner whom they killed +. because of Israel’s unfaithfulness and unwillingness to bear fruit the vineyard, warned the prophet, would be given to others – these “others” would be given the privilege of being His people and being engaged in the purposes of God +. Jesus pronounced this final warning and invitation during the Passion week: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate!” (Matthew 24:37-28) +. the parable makes it clear that Jesus sees His own death as the climax of the people’s rejection of God’s invitation to them to fulfill their ministry as His people +. Jesus saw Himself in continuity with the prophets, bringing the word of God and calling people to serve God +. Jesus also saw Himself as more than a prophet; He was the beloved Son +. the nation of Israel had a privileged position in God’s plan; they were the tenants of God’s vineyard, responsible for being fruit – for doing His will and working out His purpose +. what does the parable mean “here and now?” +. the parable addresses God’s judgment on the Jewish nation for failing to fulfill their part in God’s plan +. they refused to: bear the appropriate fruit…hear the word of His messengers…listen to and put their faith in the Son, the promised Messiah +. as a result, they forfeited their role as His tenants and the responsibility of making the Gospel known to the nations will be given to others +. what is your mission in life? +. nearly a decade ago, Paul Huneke and I had the privilege to write an article for Issues in Christian Education…and here is one paragraph from that article: Everyone has a mission, that is, everyone is being sent by God to do something, somewhere, at sometime; whether they fulfill the purpose for their sending, that is another matter. Personally we have embarked on many mission projects in our lives. Some of them are rather trivial, such as Tony’s fifty-year quest now to get a hole-in-one in golf. But other mission projects are much more important such as earning a paycheck to provide for our families; being a loving spouse and caring fathers to our children; and good friends to many. Yet our primary mission, the foremost reason that we exist according to God’s plan, purposing and sending, is to “go and make disciples of all nations.” This mission is to permeate all of our life and, if you are a Christian, it is to permeate your life as well. Forrest Gump, in the movie Forrest Gump, would periodically ask his mother, “Momma, what’s my destiny?” Your destiny, as a Christian, is to be and live as His disciple and to make disciples of the nations. +. the vital importance of bearing fruit in our lives as His servants and messengers; the kind of fruit that will last for eternity…sharing the Gospel others, teaching our children and grandchildren the Christian faith, praying for the salvation of others… In closing, let us impress these words from Scripture upon our hearts that address the great privilege we have to be, and live as, people in the world and bearing much fruit: +. “You are the salt of the earth…you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:13, 14-16) +. “Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me…” (Matthew 25:34b-36) +. “Come to Him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God’s sight chosen and precious; and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ…but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:4-5, 9) |