( Mk.12:1 - 12 ) - [ Deutsch ]
Then Jesus began to speak to them in parables. "A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watchtower; then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard. But they seized him, and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. And again, he sent another slave to them; this one they beat over the head and insulted him. Then he sent another, and that one they killed. And so it was with many others; some they beat, and others they killed. He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally, he sent him to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' So, they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this scripture: 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone? This was the Lord's doing, and it is amazing in our eyes'?" When they realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowd. So, they left him and went away.
Dear brothers and sisters!
Jesus told this parable to the leaders of the Jewish community, the Pharisees and scribes just days before his crucifixion. With this parable he wanted to warn them not to turn away from him. You can already sense how badly they wanted to kill him. The Jews knew immediately who was meant by this parable. The owner of the vineyard was God, the workers were the leaders of the Jewish faith, those, that should look after God's people.
They also knew that the servants sent by the owner were the prophets who suffered a lot at the hands of the political and religious leaders. But what was new to them was the part about the owner's son that was sent last. But instead of showing him respect, they killed him. This is how Jesus foretold his own death. What angered the religious leaders even more was Jesus' statement that the owner would come and kill the workers, take the land and give it to others. God, they said, would never take the land from them. After all, they are the people of God. They would not allow this arrogant Jesus to undermine their authority. And yet, by reacting in this way, by resisting Jesus, they were actually opposing God and fulfilling what Jesus had predicted for them.
What has happened since then? Jesus was killed. God gave the vineyard to others. The Church of Jesus Christ works the vineyard of God and we, the Christians, are the workers in the vineyard. We come back to the picture of the parable: Jesus Christ founded the Church.
Like an effective farmer, he has provided for the Church to grow and bear fruit. He gave a new command that we should love each other as he first loved us. He gave the command to
spread the gospel throughout the world without any exclusions. He sent the Holy Spirit to bring forth fruit of love in us and through us.
The problem with the workers in the parable was that they pretended that the land was theirs. But when the owner sent a servant to get his share when they were to give an account of their work, they pretended to own the land and despised the demands of the owner. They did everything to show that they were in charge.
This was the problem of the religious leaders in Jerusalem, the problem for many leaders in the church and community, i.e. that it is so easy to overlook who owns the church. The more we get involved, the greater the risk that people will want to decide for themselves.
Wherever I spend my time, energy and money, I want to decide for myself what happens with it.
History is full of examples where people were very committed to the Church but then also expected that everyone else should do what they asked. That in itself is not the problem. Good leaders are people who get others to follow their lead. The problem arises when leadership is out of alignment with Christ's purpose.
A few decades ago, our church was offered a beautiful, large piece of land in the Drakensberg for our youth work. What a nice offer! There was only one condition, however, and that was that no blacks should be admitted to the retreats. Only this one condition and this beautiful property would have been ours. This reminds us of the temptation of Jesus. The offer was declined! As a church we could not endorse this as it would be witnessing against the will and whole life of Jesus.Sometimes there are also people in the church, serving on boards and committees who form pressure groups against the church or the pastor because they don't like what is being said or done. That in itself is fine. Leadership must take responsibility and see that nothing wrong is taught or done. Only if what they want to achieve is against the will of Jesus’ will they, like the workers in the vineyard, ignore the owner and act against his goals. It can also be the case that the pastor acts as if he/she were the owner and only wants to push through his or her own thoughts and goals. But he/she too, like everyone in the church, must ask what the owner of the vineyard, Jesus Christ himself, wants and expects.
That is why it is important in the church that we all ask again and again whether what we say and do corresponds with what Jesus taught and lived. It is not a question of whether we want to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ, but that we recognize that the Church belongs to him.
Amen.