The Father's Vineyard

Rankings today captivate much of our attention in our culture. Of course there are sports rankings that some of us pay attention to from time to time. There are college rankings, like US News and World Report ranking what they think are the best colleges and universities. Go onto Zillow.com to look at new homes to buy, and you’ll see off to the side what ranking the local schools have. The assumption is that rankings somehow are guided by actual research and give us a sense of what things are the best. So we trust JD Power and Associates to tell us what cars rank highest in overall satisfaction. We turn to Consumer Reports to see what our new toaster oven did in the kitchen equipment rankings. We check the New York Times best seller list to see what books are the most popular, or what movies are doing well at the box office. In many ways, our society is obsessed with rankings.  

During the days of Jesus there were clear social rankings among various groups. On the highest end were the rich and powerful, but also those who ostensibly lived their lives in service to God. These were the chief priests of the temple and scribes, the religious leaders. They were highly respected, honored, and powerful. 

On the total opposite end--the low end of the social rankings--were people like prostitutes, tax collectors, and people who had reputations for being “sinners.” In the first century many ranked prostitutes among the lowest of social groups; we can guess why. Tax collectors were seen as greedy and corrupt. They worked for Rome in gleaning revenue for the empire. Many of these folks were Jews and were seen to be helping the Romans, and they often had a reputation for skimming money off the top for themselves at the expense of everyday Jews living in that region. 

So people saw priests and scribes on the high end of the social rankings, and prostitutes and tax collectors on the low end. But when Jesus enters Jerusalem, he deepens his direct confrontation with those on the high end of the rankings. By this point in the story, he had just overturned the literal money tables in the temple. Now he’s overturning expectations of who is first and who is last. 

Preachers (like me) can often make Jesus out to be someone who is basically really nice and agreeable, someone who preaches positive, family-friendly messages. Jesus came preaching love, and so we may wonder why it was that he got himself into so much trouble. Well, this part of Matthew shows us why he got in trouble. He came to confront the religious leaders who were in charge. He knows these actions will cost him his life, but he presses on in service to the truth. 

The leaders have noticed the stir he has caused, so they come to him in the temple and say, Who do you think you are? “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority?” Jesus responds by asking his own question, which the leaders refuse to answer, and so he gives them a parable:

A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, “Son, go and work in the vineyard today.” ²⁹ He answered, “I will not”; but later he changed his mind and went. ³⁰ The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, “I go, sir”; but he did not go. ³¹ Which of the two did the will of his father?’ They said, ‘The first.’

(Matthew 20:28-32)

What the chief priests soon realize (21:45) is that Jesus is placing them into the category of those who said they would obey the Father, and did not. And then Jesus tells them something even more highly offensive and inflammatory. He says, “Here’s the truth: the tax-collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.” To be clear, Jesus is not trying to get people to be tax collectors and prostitutes, he’s trying to convince the outwardly religious folks to trust in God. 

It’s as if Matthew is posing a question: which of the two sons in the parable will we be? 

So there is Jesus, standing in the temple and disrupting the expectations of the religious leaders while confronting them in their chosen path.  What they can’t yet see and understand is that Jesus will take the path of the least and the last. In his cross and his death, he will empty himself completely of grasping power or reputation. And will become the one who is truly faithful. He will empty himself and therefore be highly exalted. He will face utter defeat and death, and receive resurrection and ascension. He is the new temple. He is the faithful son. 

To be ranked with Jesus is to share in his mission. It is to share in his death and resurrection. It is to share in his life and endless new possibilities. It is to share in his joy, his love, and his peace. May God’s Spirit strengthen us to work joyfully in the vineyard, where the first will be last, and the last will be first.