Matthew 21:33-43. God’s Grace Demands Gratitude

Everything we have depends on God’s grace.  We have no right whatsoever to expect anything good for the way we have treated our creator.

Jesus told the following parable about some wicked tenants,

“There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country.  When the season of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants, to get his fruit; and the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.  Again he sent other servants, more than the first; and they did the same to them.  Afterward 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 have his inheritance.’  And they took him and cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him.  When therefore 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 let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

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

‘The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes’?

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it.” Matthew 21:33-43

The religious leaders of the Jews recognised that Jesus was talking about them.  In today’s societies there are relatively few who acknowledge that all they have is a due to the grace of God

The church reformer, Martin Luther recognised that this grace was not just about material benefits but even more profoundly concerned a person’s ability to stand in the presence of a holy god.  We are dependent on grace for forgiveness of all we have done wrong.  Luther wrote early in the sixteenth century,

“Although out of pure grace God does not impute our sins to us, He nonetheless did not want to do this until complete and ample satisfaction of His law and His righteousness had been made. Since this was impossible for us, God ordained for us, in our place, One who took upon Himself all the punishment we deserve. He fulfilled the law for us. He averted the judgment of God from us and appeased God's wrath. Grace, therefore, costs us nothing, but is cost Another much to get it for us. Grace was purchased with an incalculable, infinite treasure, the Son of God Himself."

This grace demands a response of genuine gratitude.  This is the message of the whole Bible.

Adam

He was created by God ‘out of the dust of the ground’, a man is just a physical being with a limited life, yet we are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27).  Man was given authority to rule God’s world as his tenants.  God walked with Adam and Eve in his garden until that calamatous day when they rebelled, went independent, and decided that they would decide what is right and wrong, they ‘ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.’  Adam and Eve and their family were expelled from the presence of God, yet there was still hope when people relied on the grace of God and then lived according to his wishes.

There are two family histories given in Genesis chapters 4 and 5.  One outlines the descendents of Cain who had murdered his brother Abel.  There is no mention of God at all in this genealogy.  They were a godless line that ends with the egocentric bully, Lamech.  The other line is that of Seth.  In this we read of Enoch,

“Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.” Genesis 5:24

Noah

It is surely no coincidence that Enoch’s son, Methuselah, became the oldest man who ever live.  Methuselah’s grandson was Noah:

“But Noah found favour in the eyes of the LORD. . . Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” Genesis 6:8-9

In Noah’s day there was widespread godlessness in the people of the world:

“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.  God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.  So god said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them.” Genesis 6:11-13

Note that the cause of the problem was man’s rejection of God, for that is the essntial meaning of ‘sin’ but this results in a great catalogue of ‘sins’, violence, theft, immorality and the like.

After the flood in which Noah and his family were rescued in the ark, God reminded Noah that his grace to mankind would still continue. When he said,

“Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.” Genesis 8:21

All we have, even our hope, is dependent on the grace of God, but clearly he expends, no demands a response of genuine gratitude from us.

Abram

It was God who subsequently chose a descendent of Noah’s son Seth, the father of the Semitic people, a man called Abram and told him about the grace God had for him:

“I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all people will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:2-3

The source od this grace and blessing was God himself.  God’s blessing would also be given to others who acknowledge his rule.  The next sentence makes clear the response God expects to see,

“So Abram left, as the LORD had told him.” Genesis 12:4

Abram’s commitment to the Lord was clear for all to see.  Whenn he entered the land of Canaan he went Shechem where the Canaanites had a religious shrine, the ‘Great Tree of Moreh’.  The Lord appeared again to Abram at this site and his response was very public,

“So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.” Genesis 12:7

Abram’s devotion to the one true God continued throughout his life.  When he subsequently moved to the hills east of Bethel,

“There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.” Genesis 12:8

God kept reminding Abram. Many years later,

“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, ‘I am God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless.  I will confirm my covenant between you and me and you will greatly increase your numbers. . . I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you . . .” Genesis 17:1-6

The problem Abram had was that his wife, Sarah, was infertile.

“Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.” Genesis 21:1

A year later the aged Sarah had a son they called Isaac, which means ‘he laughs’. Acknowledging God’s grace to us should always fill us with great joy.

BVP