Stories by Jesus
The following is written by our good fried Kevin Beck. You can check out all of his stuff at Transmillenial.
The Extraordinarily Gracious Landowner
Native American author Leslie Marmon Silko writes, “You don’t have anything if you don’t have the stories.” Jesus understood this, and he entrusted everything to his stories about God and the kingdom. Many of them have become familiar—maybe too familiar. We’ve grown so accustomed to them that we might find ourselves dulled to their unlikely twists, alarming language, and staggering conclusions. Yet when we read the stories anew, they will shape and reshape us in God’s likeness.
Take his most famous story, the one normally called “The Prodigal Son.” A son announces his desire to receive his inheritance before his father dies. Instead of kicking him out of the house with nothing, the father writes the check. Are you kidding me? Then as we might guess, the ungrateful son blows it all on sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll. When he returns home broken and looking for a job, the father welcomes him with open arms and hosts a celebration. Come on! Who would actually do that? But that’s not the end. To top it off, the father’s other son feels cheated because he has been working loyally all along. The father reminds him that he shares in all of the father’s possessions, and he can throw a party for himself and his friends any time he likes.
Dare we really believe that this is the way God treats the wasteful and the unappreciative—the rebellious wayward son and the jealous dutiful son? I don’t know about you, but I’m still trying to get my head around all that.
As fantastic as that story is, it’s not nearly as astonishing as the one inappropriately called “The Story of the Wicked Vinedressers.”
A landowner established a vineyard and leased it to tenants. At the harvest, the landowner’s servants came to collect the produce. The tenants saw an opportunity to seize the land for themselves, so they assaulted and killed the owner’s servants. This happened twice, until the landowner decided to send his son to the vineyard. He assumed that the tenants would show the son proper respect. They, of course, didn’t and subsequently killed the son too.
Jesus concluded the story with a shrewd question. “Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
Before going any further, what do you think the owner would do? What would you do? Ok, now back to the story.
With his question, Jesus invites the religious leaders to make a judgment. He offers them an occasion to expose their true intentions. Our answers always reveal more about us than they do about God. Jesus recognized that the religious elites desired to sit in the place of God, to restrict access to God, to determine who is in God’s good graces, to pronounce the word of God from on high, to exalt themselves above all that is called God, to take their seat in the temple, and to declare themselves to be God.
They could have refused to answer the question. Or they could have invited Jesus to finish the story on his own, “Go ahead, you tell us. It’s your story. What will he do?” However in their self-confidence, they stepped up to the plate and took a swing. They were more than willing to make a severe judgment. “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”
With this pronouncement of a death sentence upon the tenants, the religious cohort unveiled their assumptions about God. They imagined a vengeful God, a wrathful God, a God who considered certain unacceptable people to be miserable and worthy of destruction. People behaving badly were beneath their level of righteousness and were less than capable of being forgiven and redeemed. The sinners had brought their demise upon their own heads. They had earned the wages of sin. It was their own fault.
We might read Jesus’ response casually—assuming he concurs with the religious leaders’ judgment. (How did you answer Jesus’ question?) That assumption would cause us to misread what Jesus actually said. In his telling of the story, the owner simply passes the administration of the vineyard to others. However, the owner does not kill the original tenants. Instead, Jesus quotes Isaiah 28 where God promises to annul death. Far from being slaughtered, Jesus suggests that the unfaithful tenants are blessed by the new administration.
Naturally, this infuriated the leaders because they fancied themselves as the favored class through whom God would bless (or curse) others. They couldn’t fathom the possibility of their being at the mercy of anyone.
Now you can see how scandalous this story is. Jesus has God showing compassion to the wicked vinedressers. If that weren’t startling enough, Jesus sees the killing of the son as the means through which death is annulled and forgiveness is extended. Jesus contrasts the leaders’ covetousness for judgment to God’s gift of mercy—and mercy always triumphs over judgment.
This one story contains the power to recast everything we think we may already know about God, ourselves, and others. It tells us that the power of judgment is in God’s hands alone—not in ours. And it indicates that God’s judgment is always followed by his mercy. Paul said it like this, “Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand” (Romans 14:4). Did you get that? The servant will stand regardless of what anyone thinks because it is in God’s ability to raise up.
Jesus’ story of an extraordinarily gracious land owner portrays a God whose ways never cease to astound us. Jesus’ God always acts with merciful compassion, and when we finally embrace that kindness we can begin to live compassionately as agents of divine mercy. As Leslie Marmon Silko reminds us, “You don’t have anything if you don’t have the stories.” With this story, we can see that we truly have it all.
A BIG THANKS TO KEVIN FROM BOLDGRACE FOR WONDERFUL WORDS OF GRACE.
Wonderful words of grace indeed Cliff, thanks for sharing this one. It reminds me of the pure grace of God, and the fact that through these stories told by Jesus Himself we can only be humbled by the wonder of it all. The good news of the gospel seems too good to be true, but praise God it is true.
All the best to you and the rest of the grace gang as you prepare for the grace gathering. Wished I could join you all, Take care my friend.
Is there something in our hearts that lead us to grace?
Without learning, without seeing, do I know your face?
Having never met you seems you are here with me now.
I find I know you well, can you tell me how?
For years the truth has been misguided
Lead by those who fear Poseidon
Through everyone and everything we all seem to be connected
With strength and courage we are all graciously infected.
Today I recognize my own free will
by my own heart I hear you still
The spell has been lifted and my eyes can see
You are in the face of the one next to me.
Thanks Randy. I really wish you could be there too.
Mindy—-those are beautiful words of grace. Your heart always astounds me.
Kevins words are inspiring.
Thanks for posting this and for the kind words. Y’all (how’s that for a southernism?) are really helping to reshape the world in the image of grace, the image of God. Thanks!
Sometimes I wonder if mankind can ever come out from behind it’s delusion that true motivation only comes through fear, and from the overwhelming desire for self-preservation. We can’t (or just refuse to) believe that love is a far greater motivator and encourager than fear can ever be. Fear only drives us deeper into ourselves, but love draws us out of ourselves and into God.
People won’t let go of the idea of an angry God because we think we need that image to keep ourselves in line. We are afraid of the freedom that comes from love and unconditional forgiveness. We fear “what we will do” without that hammer constantly ready to drop down on us. We fear God, but more deeply, we fear ourselves. To counter, we fill our arsenals with all the weapons we can find to fight against our natures and the thing inside that drives us to fail. We seek religion, structures, and processes to fight the fear of self, and God.
We don’t trust God. Our fear of Him is always greater than our love for Him. And that’s the way we like it. That’s the way we can control God. We can beat Him at His own game.
Funny thing is, I think God is OK with that. He won’t “make” us believe that He is not angry with us. He showed us how He feels, but if we won’t accept it, He won’t make us. I think it saddens Him to see us waste our lives in the bondage of fear, and never really experience the incredible freedom He intended for us all along. But, that’s life on earth. It will accomplish its purpose, and we will soon understand why life happened the way it did. It was/will be exactly what He wanted it to be. Someday, we will all be released from our fear… completely. And only then will we be at peace… only then will we know pure love.
Bravo Bruce. As has been said many times before……The Gospel is such good news that even Christians can’t believe it.