“Jesus Masterfully ‘Turned the Tables’ on His Enemies”
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
Dear fellow table-turners with our Savior, grace, mercy, and peace
from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord [Amen.]
“Help us to serve You evermore
With hearts both pure and lowly;
And may Your Word, that light divine,
Shine on in splendor holy
That we repentance show,
In faith ever grow;
The pow’r of sin destroy
And evils that annoy.
O make us faithful Christians.”
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
647:3)
Gospel
Reading......................................................................................
St. Luke 20:16b-20
16bWhen they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” 17But he looked directly
at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘The stone that the
builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? 18“Everyone who falls on
that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will
crush him.” 19The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him
at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against
them, but they feared the people. 20So they watched him and sent spies, who
pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so
as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.
Prologue: Surely most, if not all, of us have had “the tables
turned on us” at one time or another. What does that phrase mean?
“According the Oxford English Dictionary, if you ‘turn the tables’ on
someone, it is generally understood that you have reversed the fortunes in
your favor to some capacity, … ‘by turning a position of disadvantage into
one of advantage.’ Useful saying, especially for motivational halftime
speeches at sporting events, but where does it come from?
“… from board games!
“Backgammon and similar games belong to a class of board games referred
to as ‘tables,’ … . If the game wasn’t going in your favor, you would have
to ‘turn’ them, figuratively, if you wanted to win. … The phrase is a
metaphor, a substitute for the common idea of a ‘comeback,’ … .” (©2016
Mental Floss, Inc. All rights reserved. Mental Floss® is a registered
trademark owned by Felix Dennis. mentalfloss.com is a trademark owned by
Felix Dennis.)
Well, there are at least two explicit instances in Holy Scripture
of tables being turned. In the Old Testament book of Esther we read: “On
the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the edict
commanded by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of the
Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the
Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them.” (Est 9:1-2 NIV) Then
in Saint Matthew’s New Testament gospel narrative we read: “Then Jesus went
into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the
temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of
those who sold doves. And He said to them, ‘It is written, “My house shall
be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.”’” (St
Matt 21:12-13 NKJV)
In short, that idiom “turn the tables on us” refers to someone
gaining an advantage over someone else who until that time had (or at least
thought they had) the upper hand. It’s what Jesus frequently did with His
opponents, especially the scribes and Pharisees, who wrongly thought they
had Him in an inescapable trap.
In our own lives, it may have happened when we were confident of
that job promotion that would result in a significant pay increase … but
another worker gained that advantage; or we were certain we had performed
better than just well enough to have earned that last place on the team …
but another player gained that advantage. In various situations we’ve all
experienced that feeling of helplessness when “the tables were turned on us”
thereby changing a bright anticipation into a dark disappointment. In
fact, that’s what today’s Gospel Reading described, namely, that …
“Jesus Masterfully ‘Turned the Tables’ on His Enemies.”
As Jesus drew nearer to His time of intense suffering and inhumane
crucifixion execution on Calvary’s cross to atone for the transgressions of
all sinful mankind, He also became more pointed in His justified indictment
of those self-righteous do-gooders who would carry out His heavenly Father’s
divine sentence. He did so with a material story that communicated a
spiritual meaning. It was a parable in which He first of all illustrated
that …
I. Self-centered Unrepentance Leads to Even More Serious Sins. (9-12)
9[Jesus] began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard
and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while.
10When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would
give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and
sent him away empty-handed. 11And he sent another servant. But they also
beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12And he
sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out.
Let me try to retell this part of the parable in a more
contemporary style. A financially-strong landowner planted 2,000 acres of
corn in the bottoms, was suddenly called away for an extended period of time
during the growing season, and prior to leaving he leased the
already-planted land to a co-op of farmers to care for it while he was away.
The farmers agreed to pay the landowner 1/3 of the value of the crops that
the land produced. Harvest time came and the farmers sold the crops for a
large sum of money. Shortly thereafter the landowner sent an employee to
collect his portion of the proceeds. The farmers, however, not wanting to
give up any of the money they made off the crops, physically assaulted the
collector and chased him away with zero payment. That same thing happened
with two more collectors.
Now before we go any further with this illustration, let’s realize
what the message was that Jesus was teaching. In order to get it, we have
to remember that Lent’s emphasis is repentance as we prepare to celebrate
the high and holy festival of our Lord’s resurrection from the dead. And
the necessary result of repentance (after recognizing our sinful
disobedience, grieving our sinful disobedience, confessing our sinful
disobedience, and receiving God’s gracious forgiveness for our sinful
disobedience) is that “‘good works are bound to follow, which are the fruit
of repentance’ (Augsburg Confession XII 6).” (Luther’s Small Catechism with
Explanation. Copyright © 1986, 1991 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis,
MO. Page 227.)
Throughout the Old Testament era God sent many prophets such as
Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel to His chosen children, the
Israelites, calling them to repentance after they repeatedly rebelled
against Him. He wanted them to not only recognize their sinful
disobedience, grieve their sinful disobedience, confess their sinful
disobedience, and receive His forgiveness for their sinful disobedience, but
He also wanted them to show forth the “fruit of repentance,” namely, lives
of sanctified obedience to Him, who identified Himself as “Yahweh,”—the God
who would make Himself known in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Sadly, however, God’s chosen children, whom He dearly loved,
treated His prophetic messengers with scorn, contempt, disrespect, and even
hatred. They repeatedly mocked them, beat them, treated them shamefully,
wounded them, and refused to heed their call to repentance that God issued
through them. At long last God decided to pursue one last course of action
coupled with merciful compassion for His dearly-loved people. Even more
sadly is that His chosen people then discovered that …
II. Stubborn Persistent Unrepentance Leads to Eternal Death. (13-16a)
13Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my
beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ 14But when the tenants saw
him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that
the inheritance may be ours.’ 15And they threw him out of the vineyard and
killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16He will
come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”
So, back to our wealthy landowner. Frustrated and thoroughly
agitated by the treatment of his collectors and the refusal of the farmers
to pay what they owed him, the landowner developed a plan that he was sure
would succeed. He sent his own dearly-beloved son to collect what the
farmers owed thinking that they would honor and revere him. But they didn’t!
Instead of honoring and revering him, the farmers contrived a plan
that they thought would both eliminate having to pay the landowner what they
owed him and simultaneously give them the opportunity to gain ownership of
the land they had farmed. Their devious plot was a simple one: kill the son
who was set to inherit the land they were lease-farming and then buy the
land for themselves. You see, “having a sinful desire for anyone or
anything that belongs to our neighbor”—that’s what coveting is, namely, a
sinfully greedy desire “to get our neighbor’s possessions openly or by
trickery” (Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation. Pages 89-90.)—is sin
against The Ninth Commandment. And all sins incur the righteous wrath and
rage of almighty God, thereby making us sinners deserve only punishment.
But instead of laying that just judgment of guilty on us who
deserve it, God “turned the tables on us” by laying that just judgment on
His own dear Son. “Christ was [our] substitute. He took [our] place under
God’s judgment against sin. By paying the penalty of [our] guilt, Christ
atoned, or made satisfaction, for [our] sins (vicarious atonement).” (Ibid.
Page 136.) Saint Paul declared that tables-turning truth in last weekend’s
Epistle Reading: “For our sake He [God] made Him [Jesus] to be sin who knew
no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor
5:21 ESV) And on Good Friday we’ll once again hear that annual reminder
that “[Christ] was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our
iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with
His stripes we are healed.” (Is 53:5 ESV)
Okay, the conclusion of this sermon takes us back to the sermon
text itself which revealed that …
“Jesus Masterfully ‘Turned the Tables’ on His Enemies.”
You see, upon learning that the farmers had killed his dear son, our
landowner proceeded to inflict the severest punishment upon the farmers who
did so, namely, death. He did so not because of their crass sins but
because they refused to recognize their sinful disobedience, grieve their
sinful disobedience, confess their sinful disobedience, receive forgiveness
for their sinful disobedience, and strive to change from their sinful
God-displeasing disobedience to God-pleasing sanctified obedience.
Their and our only sure hope to avoid being crushed by Jesus is to
fall upon Him with wretched repentant brokenness, begging Him with today’s
Collect: “By Your great goodness mercifully look upon Your people that we
may be governed and preserved evermore in body and soul.” We do so because
of the comforting reassurance contained in today’s Introit antiphon:
“Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people!” (Ps 3:8
ESV)
So as we race to the completion of another Lenten season, let’s
remember and make an active ongoing part of our daily lives the
encouragement of the Lent Gradual: “[O come, let us fix our eyes on] Jesus,
the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand
of the throne of God.” (Heb 12:2 ESV) Let’s do so with daily contemplation
of the significance of our Baptism, daily reading and study of God’s Holy
Word, daily recalling of Holy Absolution, and frequent partaking of Holy
Communion. Let’s do so ever realizing that …
I. Self-centered Unrepentance Leads to Even More Serious Sins. (9-12)
and …
II. Stubborn Persistent Unrepentance Leads to Eternal Death. (13-16a)
Let’s do so keeping in our minds and our hearts the
Spirit-inspired encouragement from God in today’s Old Testament Reading:
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I
am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will
make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will
honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I
formed for myself that they might declare my praise.” (Is 43:18-21 ESV) as
well Saint Paul’s words in today’s Epistle Reading: “For [Christ’s] sake I
have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order
that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my
own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ,
the righteousness from God that depends on faith. I press on to make [the
resurrection from the dead] my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his
own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing
I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ
Jesus.” (Phil 3:8b-9, 12b-14 ESV)
God grant it all for the sake of Jesus Christ, His humble Son, our
holy Savior. [Amen.]
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
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