Matthew 21:33-42 2024/9/22 Osaka Church
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit
There is nothing more miserable than picking up what has been cast away by others and living off of it. In such a life, one may be overwhelmed by the feeling that they themselves have been “cast away”. The Gospel of Christ first reached those who lived with such feelings. Those who could only think of themselves as “rubbish”. Prostitutes, tax collectors, those who were despised as sinners. Those who managed to keep themselves alive by mocking themselves, saying “I am barely surviving, I am only surviving on kindness, thanks to the favor of good people, strong people, righteous people, and people who live with pride…
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God reached such people first.
Today’s Gospel is a parable by the Lord Jesus about farmers who were entrusted with the management of a vineyard by their master, but who ended up killing not only the servants who came to collect the harvest, but even the master’s son, and stealing the harvest. This parable is directed at the Jewish people, chosen by God as His people, and especially at their religious leaders. They became arrogant about the special authority and status that God had given them, and in a sense, they usurped the “righteousness of God” that they had been given, and turned it into their own “righteousness.” The Lord further exposed them, saying that they were trying to kill Jesus, the Son of God, who was urging them to repent. Finally, the Lord quotes a verse from the Old Testament: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” In fact, Jesus was eventually “pulled out of the vineyard (Matthew 21:39),” that is, he was crucified outside Jerusalem, killed, and abandoned there.
Jesus was cast aside like a powerless, defeated man, thrown into the rubble of history.
But this “stone rejected by the builders” became the “cornerstone” and keystone of the “new way of life called the Church.” The Church continues to give the strength to live to people all over the world who believe that they have no choice but to “pick up what has been rejected.” To our eyes, this “seems strange” (Matthew 21:42).
Christ is the stone that was rejected in order to be picked up. We Christians have picked up the stone called Christ, which people who proudly say, “I can live a good, strong, and righteous life without the help of God,” continue to discard, or rather, do not even look at. We have picked it up and placed it as the keystone of our lives. The One we picked up was one who had been abandoned, and therefore knows the suffering of those who have been abandoned. He was the One who cried out on the cross in despair at being abandoned even by God, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” When we accept this One as the Lord of our life, then, at that moment, the Lord’s encouragement quietly but powerfully resonates within us.
If we are suffering from a sense of guilt, He says, “Take heart, your sins are forgiven you (Matthew 9:2). I do not punish you….Sin no more from now on (John 8:11).”
If we are suffering from illness, He says, “Take heart, your faith has saved you. Take heart (Matthew 9:22).”
And when you have finally lost the courage to live and are unable to move, He says, “Come to me, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).”